Lurk,
Extraordinary. Great to hear that we were, to all intents and purposes, ready to go. Two things that aren't clear (to me anyway) firstly why the aircrew would not have joined the Regiment boys on the egress after dumping the Herc. I assume because the proposed exit route to Chile would have tested even the hardiest of SAS souls.
Secondly why an airborne drop would not have worked. Landing a C-130 on an unlit runway at night vs a night time parachute drop. Both high risk. If getting the aircraft overhead the target was achievable without AAR (as you suggest) it must have been decided that planting it on the runway offered the best chance of getting B Squadron elements in one place at one time.
Lastly they would surely have had a difficult task finding and slotting the Super Etendard aircrew once things had kicked off? Would they have been sequestered away from the airfield? Akin to a Spetznaz raid on the OM of a V-Bomber base I suppose.