"Mog" Morgan talks Harriers, Sea Harriers and the Falklands
My only experience of being overflown was by a CH53 on SPTA. He went right over my CH47 by about 50’ when we were both at low level. I certainly knew all about it but I’ve had much worse in the mountains.
Dan Winterland wrote:
Well, I enjoyed several beers with Mog at Wildenrath in 1975 - and with Sharkey at Deci ACMI not long after the South Atlantic war. Both very brave and whatever people might think about Sharkey's behaviour in later years, don't forget that fighting the SHAR in that wretched part of the world was no picnic!
Very different personalities. And I know which one I would prefer to have a beer with!
All three episodes were well worth listening to. And again, ‘Hostile Skies’ is a great read.
Mog, I’m not so sure that it was your vortices that took the Puma out. I can well imagine that the pilot was pretty scared to see you homing in on him and at such low level may have simply struck the ground trying to evade. There was always much debate in helo crewrooms about the effect of jet wake but I don’t recall there ever being a definitive answer. Have you ever heard anything by way of confirmation?
Mog, I’m not so sure that it was your vortices that took the Puma out. I can well imagine that the pilot was pretty scared to see you homing in on him and at such low level may have simply struck the ground trying to evade. There was always much debate in helo crewrooms about the effect of jet wake but I don’t recall there ever being a definitive answer. Have you ever heard anything by way of confirmation?
mog
The pilot reported that he lost control of the aircraft after I passed overhead. He thought that he had had a tail rotor failure and tried to throw it onto the side of the hill. From my inspection of the wreckage, he most certainly did have a tail rotor failure - caused by the tail hitting the ground hard! There was a classic "barley twist' in the t/r drive shaft. I first saw this type of damage at the court martial of a Puma pilot at Odiham in the early 70s. (He got off).
mog
mog
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I had just turned 18 and was sat safely in college in Cheshire when the Falklands fighting was at its peak. I recall we were like giddy schoolgirls watching the preparations as the Task Force sailed south, none of us imagined for one second that we could have been there ourselves, we were just “kids” after all. When we heard that there were British servicemen who were younger than us who had been killed in the fighting it came as a real shock. The laughing stopped.
I remain forever grateful to Mogwi and all the others who served.
I remain forever grateful to Mogwi and all the others who served.
For those of you who have watched part 3 and had a flickering BS caption, I should explain. I said that I entered the final engagement at 760 kts - what I meant was 670 kts. 760 would have been nice but 670 was still 60 kts above VNE!!
Blame the lockdown!
Mog
Blame the lockdown!
Mog
you must have been pretty much transonic. Were there any changes in handling characteristics that you noticed? (If you weren’t too busy with other priorities!)
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The SHAR seemed to handle pretty well at that speed. The big thing both Mog and I noticed was the vicious snap roll when we fired the AIM9L. As Mog mentioned, quite attention grabbing at that height and speed!
Mogwi , maybe this photos rings a bell (or two), taken from Hermes (near Canary Islands) and mentioned the encounter in Hostile Skies.
Ka-25 (NATO reporting name Hormone)
Soviet cruiser Marshal Timoshenko (Kresta II class)
Regards!
Ka-25 (NATO reporting name Hormone)
Soviet cruiser Marshal Timoshenko (Kresta II class)
Regards!
Just finished watching the three videos. Incredible stuff. My cousin was down South on one of the civilian ships and told of seeing the A-4s at close range. A very good friend is an old 1F boy and the names Mr Morgan related are familiar to me from my friend's stories. Thank you for the excellent videos.
Surely the UK has a film industry of some sort that could make a film about the islands.
To be clear - when I said film - I meant a full dramatic production.
It was the first air sea war - very significant.
CGI is now good enough to portray Sea Harriers, Skyhawks and Etendards mixing it up, other battle scenes and how intimidating the South Atlantic weather was.
The script would virtually write itself.
The invasion.
A lash up convoy sent south.
Black Buck.
Air war heats up - Harriers and Mirages - showing the split second decision making and fear of fast jet combat.
The Belgrano - and then the centrepiece - second act - would be the Sheffield sinking.
We cut to Special Forces planning Mikado - see how it might have played out - sequence ends with chopper crew surrendering to Chilean police.
Meanwhile the spooks are buying up all the Exocets, and in Washington, the Americans and Brits are arguing over SIGINT access to US satellites.
Cut back to hot war - Coventry, Argonaut, Antelope.
Third act, San Carlos, the yomp to Goose Green, a horrible overnight fight with no cover and death of H. Jones, Mount Kent, Bluff Cove and the Fall of Stanley.
Black screen - 907 died over 74 days of fighting etc.
We then roll credits with the faces of real veterans - and maybe last of all - Simon Weston - an inspiration.
Bish bash bosh - done.
Maybe we could even sneak in a scene of a young Harrier pilot spotting a Puma - and knocking it out of the sky with jet wash...
BTW - no unintentional offence to anyone intended.
I genuinely think it would make a cracking and highly educational feature film...
Righto - casting call.
Who would play Sharkey Ward...
Last edited by tartare; 22nd Oct 2020 at 00:05.
Have a read of the list of sorties on 21 May alone in this entry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle...n_Carlos_(1982)
Far from boring... as I'm sure many of those who were actually there would attest.
If it's too sensitive for the British film industry to do alone - maybe they can get some kiwi help.
They've told quintessentially British stories before:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6_Days_(2017_film)
I'd be asking these guys to do the CGI: https://www.wetafx.co.nz/
My friend Peter Jackson is a complete aviation nerd - WW1 admittedly, but there you go.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle...n_Carlos_(1982)
Far from boring... as I'm sure many of those who were actually there would attest.
If it's too sensitive for the British film industry to do alone - maybe they can get some kiwi help.
They've told quintessentially British stories before:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6_Days_(2017_film)
I'd be asking these guys to do the CGI: https://www.wetafx.co.nz/
My friend Peter Jackson is a complete aviation nerd - WW1 admittedly, but there you go.
Last edited by tartare; 22nd Oct 2020 at 03:39.