Falklands 40

[Ignore the HUD]

If it's the AD radar I'm thinking it is, it was a (Westinghouse?) TPS-43 (retrieved from failing memory!). It's unserviceablity - if ever it was - was extremely short lived as it was fully operational and part of FIADGE from August 1982, if not before.
I was part of the team that relocated a TPS 43 and a 44? from Stanley to Canopus Hill overlooking the airfield. One had some damage which I was told was a result of a Black Buck mission . I believe both of them ended up back in the UK.

[ORAC]

The TPS-43 was renamed the T99 radar and went on to serve with 1ACC (144SU) replacing the T-259. It was deployed to Cyprus during GWI to supplement 280SU and was eventually replaced by the T-101 and was taken out of service in 1999. Don’t know what happened to it after that.

[Prangster]

A salutary tale Bergerie1, In October 1940 expat Brits living in Argentina formed The Fellowship of the Bellows (bellows create and air force) to collect money for Beaverbrooks Spitfire fund. that they did so with an element of humour detracts not one whit from what they achieved, their motto was funds through fun ultimately 63000 Argentines were fully committed, the tariff of donations was quite rigid. First donation you became a wiff,, then a puff, puffs became gusts then breezes. It got complicated when you reached hurricane force, after all they were raising funds for Spitfires! RAF museum records show 10 million Argentine pesos rattled into our coffers
The fellowship spread rapidly through South America with Brazil to the fore.

Maybe we should rethink the scheme crowd funded F35B anyone?

[1066]

Downwind.Maddl-LandThere
Thanks for that. There must have been some AD radar by July 17 because were told to hold off. We were holding out to the east on the centre line, in and out of the cloud at 150-200ft. When we started winging about the delay, we had been going over 12 hours, we were told PSA was Air Raid Warning Red. OK we'll hold off. Popped up 100ft and hid in the cloud.
My boss, was stood behind looking after the new GOC, Maj Gen Thorne.
Interestingly no one ever thought to brief the "Dam Truckies" about any AD procedures.
Having done four trips by then, with no outside help, we rather resented the mega controlling AD environment which had started with the arrival of the Rangatira on the morning of July 14. It was a beautiful clear still morning and the sound of the Rangatira droping anchor echoed all round Stanley Harbour.
Later in Feb '83 we took part in a tris-service Exercise on West Falkland. 2 hours Low Level with a air drop near Black Mountain on W Falkland only to be told on recovery that radar recoveries were mandatory. Unable, "stuck anti -icing valve". Landed off a visual recovery.
1066

1066
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[MAINJAFAD]

The TPS-43 was renamed the T99 radar and went on to serve with 1ACC (144SU) replacing the T-259. It was deployed to Cyprus during GWI to supplement 280SU and was eventually replaced by the T-101 and was taken out of service in 1999. Don’t know what happened to it after that.

Sold to Pakistan apparently, One of the 2 radars captured in June 1982 was got operational in some form as a friend of mine from my first operational tour got an AOC's commendation for fixing it. The one he got working was the Army Cardion TPS-44. The TPS-43 was quite heavily sabotaged and Westinghouse wouldn't do a support contract until the British got it out of the South Atlantic. Both of the Captured radars were returned to the UK in early 1983 (I happened to met the guy who set up their transport to the UK a few years back and he told me some of the bun fights he had with the CBFFI staff at the time trying to get the kit back to the UK). I do have some photos of from the files at the UK national archives somewhere which do record what the original plans for setting FIADGE up were but can not locate them at the minute. S-259 was down there by the time the war finished, followed by an S-600.at the end of the year.

[beamer]

Flew from ASI to Stanley, at least that was the plan, and just before PNR we got a authenticated coded message to turn around and head back from whence we came. Upon landing at ASI the next day after about 20 hours airborne, we shut down and not a word was said. Eventually we wandered up to Ops and made some enquiries only to find that newly arrived OC Phantom Det had made a unilateral decision that the weather was unfit for the F4 and therefore also unfit for Albert which was of course total bollocks !

[1066]

Beamer,
That rings so true!
There was a real culture clash between AT ops and the controlling AD approach. We were used to making our own, individual captain, decisions down route.
Another airbridge was kept holding and like me started pushing to be allowed to land. After landing he told OCOps that he had only 10 mins fuel left before diverting to Montevideo.
Reply, " Oh we won't have let you do that". C130 capt, "You'd have to shoot me down to stop me!"

Experiencing the "Admin normalisation" at ASI and PSA was frustrating to say the least.
The SWO opening the door of our concertina for Stn Cdr's inspection, not long after we had turned in after a northbound night was followed by a loud shut that f'ing door from our Flt Eng.
I don't think we were subject to any more such inspections after that.
Being asked by RAFP on arrival at PSA for a Gen Dec, (General Declaration, a standard form for International flights). "We've not needed one of those before!" "It's just like RAF Germany, Sir"
Studious scanning of area around PSA Twr. " It does not look like Germany to me!" Prior to this the only question on arrival at PSA was, " do you have any mail?"
1066

[beardy]

Hopefully David (call me Dave) Cameron won't preside over Falkxit.
This is for the Bennies to decide whether you like it or not.

[mole man]

What about the Oil?????

[Asturias56]

https://navitaspet.com/project/the-sea-lion-field/
https://rockhopperexploration.co.uk/2024/01/sea-lion-corporate-update/

First oil 2026- 2027

[AndySmith]

I was part of the team that relocated a TPS 43 and a 44? from Stanley to Canopus Hill overlooking the airfield. One had some damage which I was told was a result of a Black Buck mission . I believe both of them ended up back in the UK.



Which radar was it just up the hill, SW from the control tower? Westinghouse? I remember being told the that an American took just one printed circuit card with him before our boys arrived. We were told he was from the manufacturers and the loss of that one card was enough to make the radar useless.

1066

Sold to Pakistan apparently, One of the 2 radars captured in June 1982 was got operational in some form as a friend of mine from my first operational tour got an AOC's commendation for fixing it. The one he got working was the Army Cardion TPS-44. The TPS-43 was quite heavily sabotaged and Westinghouse wouldn't do a support contract until the British got it out of the South Atlantic. Both of the Captured radars were returned to the UK in early 1983 (I happened to met the guy who set up their transport to the UK a few years back and he told me some of the bun fights he had with the CBFFI staff at the time trying to get the kit back to the UK). I do have some photos of from the files at the UK national archives somewhere which do record what the original plans for setting FIADGE up were but can not locate them at the minute. S-259 was down there by the time the war finished, followed by an S-600.at the end of the year.
I have been working on a piece, on and off, about what happened to the Argentine radars immediately post conflict. I am good friends with the Officer in charge of the Cardion radar, he now lives in Atlanta. The Cardion was initially located on Sapper Hill, until it was shelled the night of 1st May. It was then relocated to the edge of Stanley. When I was interviewing the radar commander, he recalled it as being next to the first airstrip built in Stanley further down the airport road before Hookers Point. However, we since found some video footage of the radar around the time of the surrender and it was just across the road from the buildings in White City (Davis Street IIRC) - and he confirmed that he must have been mistaken after all these years. I would be interested to hear any new information about the radars post surrender.

The Air Force radar was further in town, located towards the end of Dairy Paddock Road for the entirety of the conflict, close to the junction of what is now the Stanley bypass. It was damaged in the early hours of 31st May by the BB 5 sortie.

A huge amount of the Argentine Archive has now been published online and it's been interesting trawling through the information regarding the radars and CIC in Stanley.

[beamer]

1066. - Oh heavens, I had forgotten about the ‘concertinas’ - I also remember the story about the ill- fated inspection made about an hour after the crew got to bed after the return flight. I guess it all started to go wrong when they started making little mini-roundabouts and painting rocks white in the vicinity of the Admin kingdom at ASI.

Random memories:

Sleeping on a garage floor in Two Boats.
Piles of rifles and helmets in Stanley.
Those nylon sheets at the Upland Goose.
Going for a yomp and finishing up in a minefield.
Sundowners at the Exiles Club.
Pen-pal letters from young ‘ladies’ courtesy of The Sun.
Little yellow tablets !
Getting very drunk on the Rangetera ( sp ? )

[Ddraig Goch]

Did I hear properly the other day (Wed- Now) that the RN are removing their presence from the Falklands?

[Asturias56]

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1862676/Royal-Navy-scraps-warship-patrols-around-the-Falkland-Islands

Useless article from the people who brought you a picture of a battleship instead on an SSBN this week :p

just telling people that its been 8 years since a "major" warship visited the FI and it's all left to a small patrol boat and 4 Typhoons

Not exactly news

[212man]

Did I hear properly the other day (Wed- Now) that the RN are removing their presence from the Falklands?
Yes they are, but it’s not exactly leaving a gaping void. They have HMS Forth there - an offshore patrol boat with one 30mm canon and two ‘fifty calibres’.

[Asturias56]

Been like that for years - the Patrol boat (s) are fine Have you ever looked at the Armada Argentina?

"It remained to be determined how the several envisaged new-acquisition projects would be funded. For instance, the proposed submarine acquisition from Brazil would require extensive refurbishment of the vessels prior to being ready for renewed operational service with the Argentine Navy.[51] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentine_Navy#cite_note-52) As of the end of 2022, the mooted submarine deal with Brazil had not yet been finalised and the process of refurbishment not yet begun. In 2021, one analyst noted that over the past thirty years the Argentine navy has lost many core capabilities, including its aircraft carrier (along with most of its fixed-wing combat aviation), submarines and area air defence vessels. Most of these seemed unlikely to be reconstituted."

They have 4 modern French Gowind patrol boats - otherwise its a very sad sight