Falklands Crash Sites

[reydelcastillo]

Scotish Cop Ref # 100

Yes Sir , that is correct , the capture ones are same as the one destroyed by Shrik missil - They belong to the GADA 601 ( Triple A ) - The one Hit was the one operated by Tenent Dachary and his crew - Total of 4 in the Sky Guard killed only surviving the crew that was operating the cannons -
The one hit , was airlifted by C-130 back to continent before the end of the conflict -
The Vulvan raid that hit that Sky Guard is the one that had to land in Brazil due to problems in refueling

Regards Enrique

[MAINJAFAD]

Captured Radars

Yes, the Skyguards are still in use to monitor low flying, and used as threat emitters at Spadeadam, before that they, along with the 30mm guns were operated by a RAuxAF Regt Sqn at Waddington. As for the bigger radars, the TPS-43F was put into RAF Service as the Radar Type 99, operated by 144SU at Wattisham from 1984/5, TCW at Brize Norton from 1989 and 1ACC at Boulmer from 1995 as part of the Mobile Radar Reserve force with deployments all over the place. (Had it deployed to my unit as a gap filler during the early 1990’s, The operator cabin was like a freezer, and it had purple CRT displays which looked really weird compared with orange ones found on most RAF Radars). It was phased out in the late 1990s while deployed on Cyprus. As for the TPS-44, It was planned to be put into RAF service as the Radar Type 100, however for some reason this never happened, and the only time I ever saw any of it was the antenna platform at RAF Locking in the mid 1980's. One story I would love to hear is what ‘Equipment Denial’ actions were carried out on the two big radar’s by the Argentines before the surrender. (I’ve heard rumours about nasty stuff being poured into cooling systems and timing boards going under the hammer).

[reydelcastillo]

Mainjafad Ref # 102

Thank you for the information on the radars , as far as what was done to the ANTPS 43 Westinghouse when conflict ended I really don't know - That one was the one Air Force had in use -

As far as the ANTPS 44 Cardion , which was the one I operated during the conflict , remember we were hit by naval artillery the night of may 11 , which put it out of service - We didn't need to do anything since it was already damaged by shrapnel from the naval artillery -
And going back to this particular event , that night we were operationg , suddenly naval bombardment starts hitting us , we just run out of the cabin , one soldier is killed right there , I remmember laying on the flor at the entrance of the radar and naval proyectils exploding for what to me seemed to be above ground and shrapnel hitting every were - When hit , very loud explosions and very bright light and seems as everything shakes -
I still think that they were exploding just above ground , with proximity amunition ( Does naval 4.5 amo have proximity detonator ? )

That Cardion had impacts on the side of the antena and the side of the cab were electronics sit , several panels dammaged -

[Navaleye]

Does naval 4.5 ammo have proximity detonator ?

Yes it does. Mainly used in the Falkland/Malvinas campaign because of the wet, boggy nature of the land. We called it VT Fuse high, the others two options were VT Fuse Low for delayed action and DA (explode on impact). Your own side had the same problem with your 120mm mortars which tended to make big holes and throw soil around.

[reydelcastillo]

Naval Eye Ref # 104

Thank you for the info , it clarifies a thought that I had for many years -
It must have been that type of amunition that hit us on the knight of June 11 -

Thank you , Regards Enrique

[Navaleye]

Air burst shells are always the weapon of choice if you are attacking troop emplacements or soft skinned target due to its increased lethality. DA would be used against harder targets. Ardent's NGS against the Pucaras was done exclusively with air burst as far as I recall,

[Logistics Loader]

i remember there being wreckage of a Wokka below Mt Kent...

[MAINJAFAD]

Yes there is a Chinook Wreck just off the ‘road’ that goes around the top of Mt Kent, it was taken out by a Harrier GR3 flown by Flt Lt Mark Hare on the morning of 21st May 82, with 30mm Aden cannon fire. There is wreckage of a Puma not that far away from it taken out in the same attack.

Both aircraft were from Batallon De Avivcion de Combate 601 (The Argentine Army's combat helicopter unit).

Chinook was AE-521 , while the Puma which was only damaged was AE-501 (It was finally destroyed by a BL755 CBU dropped from a GR3 flown by Sqn Ldr Jerry Pook 5 days later).

There is a third helicopter wreck close to Mt Kent, in the shape of Puma AE-508 that was lost in confusing circumstances on the night of 30th May 82. The Argentine Army reported that it was shot down by a British missile, though no British unit claimed a engagement that night, hence there is a possibility that it was an Argentine own goal. That wreck is about 2Km to the East North East of the Chinook.

I've had chance to have a good look at the Chinook wreck, last time I was down south (about 10 years ago), Didn't bother to take a look at the Puma, didn't have the time.

[petop]

I was in the Falklands in 91. Went to the Mt Kent Chinook and Puma crash site. I have photos somewhere, will try and scan and post.

[petop]

[MAINJAFAD]

The Westinghouse TPS-43 was still going strong, last time I saw it. After UK service it spent a few years in storage before being refurbished and sold to Pakistan.

Shame that Argentina never settled the bill with Westinghouse - made getting spares for the radar a little difficult for a while.

Didn't know that it had been sold off, though the fact that the Argentines never paid for the thing is one of the more famous stories about that radar (Did GW1 didn’t it as well?).

(Off Topic) Do you know what happened to the Type 94's that were down south ? Where they sold off in the end, I was down south when 751SU was kicked into touch, and was involved in the rip out (Which wasn't helped by the fact that when the radar was first deployed, a Wokka could lift each cabin fully intact. Something they couldn't do when the time came to remove them).

[reydelcastillo]

Just this one

I didn't know that we also owed money to Westinghouse for the Radars - Are yo sure ?

On the Sky Guard , yes four life lost , the two inside plus two soldiers that were by it when it was hit -

The canons operators were the only one that survived -

Regards Enrique

[Navaleye]

I'm led to believe it was new kit in 1982 and because of the financial difficulties in argentina at the time, the funds were never transferred. Westinghouse just assumed that the UK was new lawful owner and expected payment. They didn't get it and the sourcing of spare parts was via the US Military.

[MAINJAFAD]

Thats what I was told, when I got a close look around it in the 1990's.

[reydelcastillo]

Naval Eye

Good afternoon Sir

Interesting , we forwarded the bill - I hope we did it only on that Radar -


Regards Enrique

[BarbiesBoyfriend]

I haven't read the whole thread.

A ex AAC mate of mine (CF) tells me he visited many of the crash sites just after the war.

I believe it was in order that human remains would be properly dealt with.

[AR1]

RE: Kent wrecks.
I never found the 3rd wreck. - Which I was told was a Huey. The Puma was in two pieces about 10m or so apart and was fairly close to the Chinook, the occupants of the first Kent site had one of the blades on display, complete with cannon holes in it.

Also nearby where a number of personal shelters in the rock formation at the base of the mountain, looking at it back then you could clearly see the pattern of CBU explosions across the rocks. I wouldn't have wanted to been around there when they came down. below taken in 86

[Navaleye]

Jualbo,

Tony Penfold account also may be important. I think that read in somewhere that he attacked the Dagger when was going up after the launching.
Was HMS Glamorgan the air control ship that day? What did they see?

Yes it was. I need to check from reference material, but I believe the D in Glamorgan counted 3 of pairs of high level contacts, 5 miles apart and reported this to the CAP. I will check and get back to you.

[jualbo]

Hi again. I found that more or less, at the same time that Ardiles was flying over Falklands there were the following argentinean flights on air in the zone:

-Torno flight: 3 Daggers (Dimeglio-Aguirre-Román) aproaching at low level over the north shore of Falklands, so probably not detected by HMS Glamorgan. They attacked Glamorgan as well as Alacrity and Arrow.
- Buitre flight: 2 Mirage III CAP (Gambandé-Yebra)
- Dardo flight: 2 Mirage III CAP (Gª Cuerva-Perona)
- Fortín Flight: 2 Dagger CAP (Donadille-Senn)
- Rubio flight: 1 Dagger CAP (Ardiles)

And also probable (according to FAA cronology -Fuerza Aérea Argentina-although contradictory in time with other sources):
-Fierro Flight: 1 Dagger CAP (Díaz)

Regards

[Frans175]

Food Evening Gentlemen , Please let me introduce myself , Frans , No aeronautical background , served in the Royal Dutch Diving Engineers 108 DKPLT in 1990. The Falkland conflict is of personal interest to me.
I was happy to find this tread, as I was looking for the same informatie for the last few months and found it.
I do need to apolagise because my english is not as good as it should be
Here is a photo the three Daggers before they took off.

Source: a modelairplane site
Please let me know if it's ok for me to post the other photo's of Dagger C-404.

Regards,
Frans