Originally Posted by
NutLoose
...Wasn't the Illustrious a bit of a self licking lollipop, it carried enough SHAR's to protect itself, so the reason the carrier was there was effectively to provide protection for itself?
Why so much bitterness? Ask the sailors, soldiers and airmen deployed to the Falklands in 1982 whether they regarded INVINCIBLE, the SHAR-equipped sister ship of ILLUSTRIOUS, as a
"self-licking lollipop". ILLUSTRIOUS relieved her on station:
HMS Illustrious (R06)
...The war was won before Illustrious could be finished, but she did perform a useful service in the aftermath. Until the RAF airfield on the Falkland Islands was repaired, air defence of the area was the responsibility of the Fleet Air Arm. After Hermes returned to the UK, Invincible remained on station in the South Atlantic until September 1982. To relieve Invincible, the newly completed Illustrious was rapidly deployed, with 809 Naval Air Squadron (Sea Harrier) and 814 Naval Air Squadron (Sea King) embarked. Additionally, a pair of Sea Kings from 824 Naval Air Squadron were attached to the air group, which had been converted to operate in the AEW role. So rapidly was Illustrious deployed that she was commissioned while at sea. Rear Admiral Derek Reffell, Flag Officer, Third Flotilla, commanded the relief task group from Illustrious during this period. After the RAF airfield was repaired, Illustrious returned to the UK for a full shakedown cruise and workup period, and was formally commissioned on 20 March 1983...
Sea Harrier, the forgotten hero that won the war in the Falklands.
...The Navy’s SHARs went on to score 20 kills (none of which was achieved using the famous trick of stopping the plane midair by pointing the jet nozzles slightly forward inducing a 2g deceleration) to no loss in air-to-air combat. However, two were lost to ground fire (radar guided 30mm AA and a Roland missile) and a further two were lost to accidents during the conflict. The kill-to-loss ratio does not reflect the skill and braveness of the Argentinean pilots who had to face a truly astonishing fighter, which had remarkable slow flight characteristics, even without the thrust vectoring, and a superior radar...