Operation Mikado
If you look on the 'Global Aviation Hercules' site # 30 shows a Chilean AF Hercules alongside XV292 at Easter Island . Pic taken by me on 24/4/82 as we departed by VC10.
Concerning Mikado, I've seen no mention of another alternative SAS delivery method that appears to have been seriously considered. This emerges in Jeremy Brown's A South American War. (The author was Air Attache in Brazil in 1982.) It seems that, whilst at Ascension, and with no prior training or preparation, a VC 10 crew was briefed by a SAS officer to prepare to carry a SAS unit to Belize, where a civilian aircraft would take them on down to Argentina. However, should that aircraft not materialise, the VC 10 would be required to do the job. Things got as far as loading all the SAS kit before a call came to stand down.
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Another rumour (!) was that there was also a feasability study done on fitting AAR kit to the Shacks. It was going quite well until it was pointed out there were no Avgas tankers!!
Another problem with tanking a Shackleton was to find a tanker that was slow enough to give the fuel, even if capable of AVGAS!! If I remember, range speed was about 160 kts? (Friday afternoon cruise was 180 kts with endurance at 140 kts). Flying into a headwind, we were regularly overtaken by trains on the East Coast line.
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Op Mikado never materialized and Op Plum Duff´s infiltration by Sea King helo was in the public domain (first, because ZA290 wreck was discovered in Chilean territory and because, later, Hutchings and Ewen ST wrote extensively about that).
Op Kettledrum involved HMS Onyx and SBS troops, but Onyx never went near Puerto Deseado Airbase, the designated target.
Op Shutter remains a mistery.
How the troopers were infiltrated near the airbases? According to James Adams´"Secret Armies", the infiltration was made by submarine. In that respect, the Dagger in HMS Conqueror Jolly Roger could be a "leak" (the "official" explanation - if a Jolly Roger has an official explanation - is because Conx disembarked some SBS near South Georgia)
An helo was involved? A radar echo was detected near Comodoro Rivadavia on the night of May 22nd. A Pucara (first) and a Mirage III (later) was launched to investigate, and informed three helos were in close formation. The Mirage driver locked a Matra 530 IR on a helo but hesitated to launch. The helos, flying with no lights vanished shortly after. There were reports of troops informing the helos were here or there, disembarking troops. Hours later, a sentry in Comodoro Rivadavia base informed about intruders, and a firefight erupted.
Because Op Shutter files are closed, we could only argue about it...
Regards!
Op Kettledrum involved HMS Onyx and SBS troops, but Onyx never went near Puerto Deseado Airbase, the designated target.
Op Shutter remains a mistery.
How the troopers were infiltrated near the airbases? According to James Adams´"Secret Armies", the infiltration was made by submarine. In that respect, the Dagger in HMS Conqueror Jolly Roger could be a "leak" (the "official" explanation - if a Jolly Roger has an official explanation - is because Conx disembarked some SBS near South Georgia)
An helo was involved? A radar echo was detected near Comodoro Rivadavia on the night of May 22nd. A Pucara (first) and a Mirage III (later) was launched to investigate, and informed three helos were in close formation. The Mirage driver locked a Matra 530 IR on a helo but hesitated to launch. The helos, flying with no lights vanished shortly after. There were reports of troops informing the helos were here or there, disembarking troops. Hours later, a sentry in Comodoro Rivadavia base informed about intruders, and a firefight erupted.
Because Op Shutter files are closed, we could only argue about it...
Regards!
I did hear that the Bucc couldn't be considered for the Black Buck missions (from Ascension) because they would run out of engine oil on the trip!
There was also rumour that the RN popped into IWM Duxford to take a look at their Gannet AEW when this was all kicking off.
I'm pretty sure that Duxford's Vulcan is without its AAR probe too???
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"Information held within the MOD archives is indexed by file title and file reference. A search of these has identified 3 files relating to Operation Shutter.
One of these (DEFE 58/274 Examination of Argentine Air Efforts during the Falklands Campaign) is retained under a retention instrument until 2025. The other two are currently being reviewed; if approved, it is likely that these will be retained under a retention instrument until 2026. Once these retention periods have expired the information will be reviewed again to determine whether the sensitivity of the information still applies".
One of these (DEFE 58/274 Examination of Argentine Air Efforts during the Falklands Campaign) is retained under a retention instrument until 2025. The other two are currently being reviewed; if approved, it is likely that these will be retained under a retention instrument until 2026. Once these retention periods have expired the information will be reviewed again to determine whether the sensitivity of the information still applies".
Forgotten Voices of the Falklands: The Real Story of the Falklands War
By Hugh McManners
Their in-flight refuelling systems had to be upgraded, and in fact we had to borrow one probe from a bomber in the Imperial War Museum's collection at Duxford, which I understand was returned after the war.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/24101413@N03/7719991608
Refuelling probes
AA62,
I was waving to you as you left Easter Island and XV 292 disappeared off the face of the earth re-appearing in Tahiti some three weeks later and returning to the UK with refuelling probes removed from Vulcans that were in American museums by parties of Techies from the Det at Offut.
As Max Boyce said " I know because I was there ".
A mention was made in an article in Air International some years ago entitled " Labours of Hercules " on how an un-named South American country had a sudden increase in the number of Hercs it was operating!
I was waving to you as you left Easter Island and XV 292 disappeared off the face of the earth re-appearing in Tahiti some three weeks later and returning to the UK with refuelling probes removed from Vulcans that were in American museums by parties of Techies from the Det at Offut.
As Max Boyce said " I know because I was there ".
A mention was made in an article in Air International some years ago entitled " Labours of Hercules " on how an un-named South American country had a sudden increase in the number of Hercs it was operating!
http://www.iwm.org.uk/sites/default/...%20Duxford.pdf
See following PPRuNE thread.
http://www.pprune.org/aviation-histo...ey-gannet.html
Gopher,
I was waving to you lot too ! I knew what the Chilean Herc was doing there before we left . We took XV 292 to Easter Island from March AFB. It seemed a very long way at night !
I was waving to you lot too ! I knew what the Chilean Herc was doing there before we left . We took XV 292 to Easter Island from March AFB. It seemed a very long way at night !
[URL="http://www.falklandswar.org.uk/matthei_interview.htm"]
I visited their industries of war material and I had contact with British senior officers. While I was there, I signed contracts to buy six Hawker Hunter and six Vampires. They knew me, we had a fluid relationship. Been at London, I went to the Soviet Union, I gave the British a copy of the visit's report I gave to the FACH. They knew I was their friend, although Chile, ruled at that time by a socialist government, was considered by them a member of the "East block".
They will sell us, at one pound, Hawker Hunters. These would arrive by plane immediately. Also a long range radar, air-air misiles, and aerial recon Canberra aircraft. This material was very important, especially the Canberras because we didn't have any before. They fly very high, like the Americans U-2 and they have huge cameras. Also, they would send us a 'Moondrop', specialized in intelligence, communications and electronic espionage. It was very much like a passenger 707 but modified.
And the Argentinean spies?
There were no Argentinean spies and we didn't have spies in Argentina either. With this plane we did high altitude flights over Chilean Territory, getting signals from the other side. Ours, because of the Andes and type of plane, couldn't fly that high in order to gather signals.
Who piloted the plane?
The British, although we had our observers on board. They gave us the necessary information about the Argentineans but nothing we didn't know before. This flight didn't help us, but was done, so for the story, is good to know. The British were impressed for what they saw thru our systems in the south and the long range radar we had in Punta Arenas.
I visited their industries of war material and I had contact with British senior officers. While I was there, I signed contracts to buy six Hawker Hunter and six Vampires. They knew me, we had a fluid relationship. Been at London, I went to the Soviet Union, I gave the British a copy of the visit's report I gave to the FACH. They knew I was their friend, although Chile, ruled at that time by a socialist government, was considered by them a member of the "East block".
They will sell us, at one pound, Hawker Hunters. These would arrive by plane immediately. Also a long range radar, air-air misiles, and aerial recon Canberra aircraft. This material was very important, especially the Canberras because we didn't have any before. They fly very high, like the Americans U-2 and they have huge cameras. Also, they would send us a 'Moondrop', specialized in intelligence, communications and electronic espionage. It was very much like a passenger 707 but modified.
And the Argentinean spies?
There were no Argentinean spies and we didn't have spies in Argentina either. With this plane we did high altitude flights over Chilean Territory, getting signals from the other side. Ours, because of the Andes and type of plane, couldn't fly that high in order to gather signals.
Who piloted the plane?
The British, although we had our observers on board. They gave us the necessary information about the Argentineans but nothing we didn't know before. This flight didn't help us, but was done, so for the story, is good to know. The British were impressed for what they saw thru our systems in the south and the long range radar we had in Punta Arenas.
What the heck is a Moondrop?
Regards,