PSA RUNWAY ATTACKS
Mainjafad
“On the other hand why, if the Harriers could do better, the best anti-runway mission of the whole war was carried on May 1st? What happened with all the subsequent SHARs and Gr3 antirunway missions?”
The full story of this is complicated.
PSA runway was attacked by GR3s and Seajets several times after May 1. The Seajet night raid (Toss Bombing) led to the sad loss of a FAA pilot in a takeoff accident, and was not repeated. No hits were achieved.
1(F) pilots carried out two GR3 raids on the airfield with Sea Harrier defence-suppression support, neither of which significantly damaged the runway. (On the first of these the KRETS were improperly fused by Navy armourers, thus reducing their cratering effect). 1(F) had little control over bomb fusing and weapon loads for most of the war.
Next, on the suggestion of a 1(F) pilot, GR3s formated on Seajets in daylight Toss Attacks releasing 9 bombs per salvo. If this had been continued they would probably have achieved a deep-penetration hit eventually . However, RN Commanders refused to send more Seajets on Toss bombing raids. 1(F) were then tasked by the Navy to continue these alone, a pointless exercise as the GR3 had no Toss Bombing computer capability at all. (All weapon aiming throughout the war was fixed sighting)
Later on, as PW2 became available, 1(F) tried mutual designation in an extreme High Dive profile, using VIFF to stay out of the Roland/35mm envelope. No results were observed, and they were ordered to stop because HQ 18 GP advised them that their onboard LRMTS was ‘not compatible’ with the PW2s in use. (1(F) had been advised by CTTO several months before that they could, in emergency, use their own laser to designate.)
The full story is in RAF Harrier Ground Attack Falklands