Archimedes,
Mate, we are arguing different points. You again address points that are well made but not anything to do with what the Argentines thought about the raids and therefore their effect. I understand your thinking but consider the British planners' opinion irrelevant.
I have read another source which deals with Grupo 8, although it refers to it as a brigade. It mentions that the Mirage III they used had less internal fuel than other aircraft so was used for medium to high ingress initially. It goes on to recount the early engagements where Grupo 8 lost a Mirage to a Sea Harrier and a damaged one to friendly AAA. They started out with 17 and lost 2 apparently - no where near the attrition suffered by other types. Do you concur or am I muddling brigades and grupos?
Which base did they fly from? I can find Mirage III at two locations.
So we have two plausible reasons for Grupo 8s re-task. The first being that the Argentinians genuinely wanted it to defend against Vulcan attack, the other that early encounters with DCA (flown by RN and RAF pilots), distance to the islands and (possibly) tank jettison making it un-employable as anything else.
Either, both or neither may be correct. Thanks for your input.
I have just read the post above, hence the edit. The presence of Mirage III in BA prior to Blackbuck is very interesting. One could either draw the conclusion that the FAA were mindful of the threat from the start or alternatively that the FAA didn't change anything due to the raids.
This is fascinating, thank you.
Last edited by orca; 11th Mar 2012 at 03:41.
Reason: Last post and this written simultaneously!