Originally Posted by
BomberH
JaJ - keep on reading.
JJP (that's Jerry Pook) has written - in my opinion - an entirely real account of what went on. His comments on senior RN officer conduct - on Hermes - are, again in my opinion, totally justified.
I feel confident that others will soon comment on what you are looking for in your Point 2.
But I will commit wholesale to an appalling understanding from the hierarchy on (in) HERMES of what we (the RAF Harriers) could do - and what we could not do.
The understanding of HERMES Command was dreadful, but the fear of those working for Command to tell them that they were wrong was even worse.
That was, now, some 38 years ago.
I really hope that it would not be repeated now.
As an aside, the arrival of and departure from HERMES of Chinook BN following the attack on Atlantic Conveyor should by itself create a whole book on how things should not be done. If the hierarchy of HERMES had had their way, BN would have been thrown overboard Vietnam-style into the sea. As it was, as we all know, BN went ashore with very little support, and became a serious war effort winner.
yes it was an eye opener. Pook’s very short aside towards the end on the captain refusing to allow night qualification for Hermes newer SHAR pilots explained Sharkey’s complaints about illustrious carrying out so many night CAP and I guess the fatigue mentioned in Morgan’s book. The Hermes captain was South African ex Buccaneer ?