Including the generals, it appears?
does make a lot of sense in terms of its straightforward simplicity, as such.It does seem a lot of what-iffery versus just bolting-on a refuelling probe to the Mirage IIIs & Daggers. IAI already had one with the necessary plumbing for the Kfir.
I can't argue with that analogy of the Mirage III/Skyhawk mix mate.The Mirage and Skyhawk fleet is probably one of the best mixes that a nation on a tight budget could put together in that era.
I've always championed that Australia/RAAF should have had such an arrangement within it's ORBAT....
Very cordial of the Kiwi's......We did, it's just that the A4s were Kiwi owned.
Very cordial of the Kiwi's......
One has to admit, that camo on Kiwi Skyhawk's was both cool and very effective.
Regards
Pioneer
Very cordial of the Kiwi's......
One has to admit, that camo on Kiwi Skyhawk's was both cool and very effective.
Regards
Pioneer
Once the British withdrew from EoS and the US to the Philippines they really didn't have much choice who to fly their Skyhawks with.
It was cool, I saw them at Avalon back in the day.
The whole affair leaves an impression that the Argentinean side had no shade of a plan in case there is a real attempt by Britain to retake the islands and everything they did was down to knee-jerk reactions. Almost as if they put all their chips into diplomatic pressure. Which didn't work.IIUC nobody in power seriously thought of invading the Falklands, until Admiral Anaya made it a condition of the Navy's support for Galtieri's power grab. Surprisingly enough there doesn't seem to even be any tabletop or map exercises for the Falklands done by the Argentines, even if only for officer training. No wonder they lost.
...so it probably wasn't a hardware problem.
The Aussies operated A-4s until 1981 off HMAS Melbourne, then sold them to New Zealand in 1984.
UK withdrawal from EOS was done by 1971, and the US were in the Philippines since the 1950s (withdrawal from Vietnam/Cambodia was done by 1975).
The RAAF had had a "reserve" component called the Citizen's Air Force (CAF) that, until its flying squadrons were disbanded in 1964, flew the Vampires the active squadrons had gotten rid of long before. If the CAF's squadrons had been kept, they could have flown the Sabres until 1981, then taken the ex-RN A-4Gs (and gotten some surplus A-4Fs from the USN's storage yard) to keep on operating.
Even with good planning and better use of available resources Argentina would struggle.
Would be awesome if someone started such a thread Rule for cool - cough, cough......The twists and turns of RAAF fleets are a thread of its own.
Combined response:...so it probably wasn't a hardware problem.
But some relatively small hardware changes (and a few other things that were completely within Argentina's capabilities at the time) would have made it a lot more likely to succeed.Make no mistake, Argentina had considerable materiel shortcomings. They had no counter to SSNs so couldn't use their navy without risk of total destruction. Their air force was at the very limit of its tactical range without the use of Port Stanley airport. Their maritime patrol capabilities were very marginal and recce capability in general although by being on the islands this might be manageable. Even with good planning and better use of available resources Argentina would struggle.
Send those guys to Port Stanley
They squandered a month while the task force was at Ascension which they could have used for preparation and planning.
Obtaining those things also required planning *welp*But some relatively small hardware changes (and a few other things that were completely within Argentina's capabilities at the time) would have made it a lot more likely to succeed.
Combined response:
But some relatively small hardware changes (and a few other things that were completely within Argentina's capabilities at the time) would have made it a lot more likely to succeed.
I mean, every air force has a unit whose job is to fix and repair the runways. Send those guys to Port Stanley, and tell them you need another 2000ft of runway. Or however much more flat ground there is available there. Use some of the "instant set" concrete cure methods, so the runway is plane ready in a week.