A-4 Skyhawk Vs AV-8B Harrier Falklands War Dogfight | DCS | 

General Store: teespring.com/stores/growling-sidewinder-store F-16 Viper HUD Hoodie: teespring.com/classic-hoodie-f-16-viper-vs-m?pid=212&cid=5819 F-14 Tomcat "Cat Person" Hoodies: teespring.com/f-14-tomcat-cat-person-premi?pid=227&cid=2664 F-14 Tomcat "Cat Person" T-Shirt: teespring.com/f-14-tomcat-cat-person-class?pid=2&cid=2397 F-18 Murder Hornet: teespring.com/new-american-murder-hornet-f-a?tsmac=store&tsmic=growling-sidewinder-store&pid=2&cid=2397

3:35 Harrier: *shoots misile* A4: “my countermeasures are beyond your understanding”

4:00 has got to be the coolest scene of 2020

There actually was one instance where an A-4 had dropped its ordnance and positioned itself behind a Harrier for a gun kill, but it's 20mm cannons had jammed. The Argentines A-4's had older versions of the Colt 20mm cannons that were notorious for jamming solid if the aircraft pulled more than a few G at any time. Coming off their bomb runs often jammed their cannons solid, so they basically were totally defenseless against the Harriers without even cannon. They also had poor RWR, and often had to be told about the presence of Harriers by the GCI radar sites at Stanley. They really didn't have a chance against the Harriers. In Sharkey Ward's book on the subject his squadron chose to fly at the lower altitudes because that's where the Skyhawks flew. The other squadron on the other carrier flew at high altitudes and thus never scored many kills because one, they were told to turn off their radars by the CO who believed their radars were garbage, and two, because the A-4s were down low. It was this command of turning off the radars and flying high that allowed the Etendards to fly in under the CAP undetected and sink the Sheffield with Exocets. So half the Harriers flew up high in the Northern sector, while the Southern squadron flew at lower altitudes and racked up the majority of the kills.

I love how you give a little history lesson before hand. I think you should do more history lessons!!

So he hit the turn, shot your missile with his missile, laid down some gun fire and avoided you by a mere few feet, all within like 2 seconds? Get this man some recognition.

3:50 god damn that was straight outta Ace Combat!

The A4 Skyhawk is a formidable aircraft in the right hands. In New Zealand our A4's had the early block F-16 radar and a glass coctpit. We carried sidewinders and mavericks as well as laser guided bombs and had a modern Feranti Head Up Display. We did a simulated attack against an Australian base called RAAF Tindal back in the 90's. We put 5 skyhawks against the base and the Aussies put 4 hornets in the air. We managed to fight our way into their airspace and shoot down all 4 hornets without a skyhawk loss. With the right avionics the right training and weapons the skyhawk is lethal.

That miraculous appearance of the Skyhawk emerging from the fireball of the 2 missiles colliding - one of my all time favorite DCS images! Priceless!

I got chills when I saw both missiles destroy each other and the A-4 coming out of the explosion

Absolutely love these documentary style commentaries and historic engagements, Growling's channel is so underrated

The Sea Harrier was smaller and lighter than the AV-8 and most importantly had radar

I'm a sci-fi novelist, a friend asked me if DCS inspired any of the aerial dogfights in my stories or if I gamed. I told him no,. I didn't know what DCS was, though I've watched my son and grandson game other such. So I've come looking. Now, what do I see four minutes in? DAMMN!!

So like all conflicts its hard to find articles and accurate numbers to support what really happened the Argentinians dismiss British claims and the British dismiss Argentina's claims, Such is the nature of these conflicts but one thing is for sure, the Men who climbed into these aircraft whether they were British or Argentinian all struggled to fit their massive balls into the cockpits of these aircraft. Much Respect to all troops and pilots etc who had to be a part of this conflict. Hope you guys enjoyed the video and thank you all for watching. Take care and stay safe.

growling sidewinder be like: let's do some dog fights with the ground attack aircrafts

At 3:20 my mouth dropped. Not only in shock but pure love for this game. Dogfights like this on DCS is what makes this game for me. You don't expect it to turn out like that.

loved the historical bit, nice to see some attention on my country. This was the only modern conflict we fought and our air force was so far behind. The british pilots did great too, lots of training makes a big difference. Keep it up Some cool stuff argentinian A-4 pilots did: due to having unguided bombs and having to get close to the target, and the anti air capabilities of the british ships being so good, the argentinian A-4s flew so close to the water the glass of the cockpit would get full of salt. Ground crew hated the added maintinance but this allowed the pilots to get right up to the ships

I attended a lecture by a Harrier squadron commander who served in the Falkland at the Air & Space Museum in the late ‘80s. He had a very interesting response to an audience member who said something like “Bet you wish you’d had one of our big American carriers.” He replied that weather conditions were such that Harriers could land in conditions that would have precluded USN flight ops, describing how they could fly low and slow in misty conditions, find the wake of their carrier, and steer to a landing in very low visibility conditions.

As a DCS Harrier pilot. (My first and main airframe) I find it very effective to put flaps into stol so they extend to 25 degrees to improve turn rate then retract them to auto to regain energy. Also another thing to note is when I fly on the cold war servers where the harrier is guns only and your fighting mig 21's mostly, the harrier can climb with a mig 21 for quite some time, sometimes even leading to the kill.

It is nice to see an iconic plane from my homeland featured in this channel, Amazing duel! Greetings from Argentina Growling

That A4 held on really well

I'm Argentinian, an i'm very proud that we could give fight with outdated planes, vs the state-of-the-art Harrier! Cheers!

For those who who want to know more about the Falklands War, particularly the aerial angle, the following books are recommended (sorry for the repetitive names): "Air War: South Atlantic" by Jeffrey Ethel, a general overview of the conflict's air operations on both sides The memoirs of the Royal Navy's two Sea Harrier squadron commanders during the war: "Hostile Skies: The Battle for the Falklands" by Cmd. David Morgan and "Sea Harriers Over the Falklands: The Black Death" by Cmd. Nigel "Sharkey" Ward "Skyhawks over the South Atlantic: Argentine Skyhawks in the Malvinas/Falklands War" by Santiago Rivas, obviously focused on the Skyhawk pilots and their missions "RAF Harrier Ground Attack: Falklands" by Jerry Pook, a look at the lesser known but still crucial role that Royal Air Force Harrier GR3s played in the war "Vulcan 607" by Rowland White, a look a the role that the UK's Vulcan strategic bomber played in the war and what was at the time the longest distance bombing raid ever attempted And for helicopter aficionados, "Down South: A Falklands War Diary" by Chris Parry, the memoirs of a Royal Navy Wessex pilot who took part in both troop transport and anti-submarine ops during the conflict

100k!!! Congratulations man, you deserve em. You got me into DCS and I've put 60 hours into it in like a week lol. Keep it up :)

As other's have mentioned it was a sea harrier in the Falklands conflict which was different to the AV-8B. The AV-8B was Harrier 2 while Sea Harrier was Harrier 1 with improved Air to Air capabilities. The US supplied the UK with AIM9L sidewinders which included stripping their operational squadrons of them. They were a difference maker and performed far better than in the videos.

Growling Sidewinder thanks for uploading this air combat simulation. I am Argentine and as you say, the A4 were not armed for such air combat missions. It should be added that the A4 had no anti-missile countermeasures, no chaff or warning radar. Without a doubt, the one that made the difference was the AIM-9L Sidewinder air-to-air missile, which was 80% effective in kills. A big greeting to all who pass through your channel

Never seen two missiles hit at 4:00, what is this epicness! Love your channel @Growlingsidewinder

This was one of the best dogfights I've seen on this channel

I'm loving this channel. I was watching different DCs videos and it was basically the pilot getting annoyed with people the whole time. This is much more relaxing.

3:36 Well now we have something bigger to put next to the exhibit of the 2 bullets that collided mid air

Love the history and the footage showcasing it. Researching history is always time consuming. Editing just goes on top of it. So I appreciate the effort.

Both A-4 and F5E are great budget planes; it would be nice to see you fly them vs contemporary fighters (or near enough).

That missile on missile explosion with the Skyhawk coming out of it was awesome! Bet you couldn't pull that off on purpose if you tried (although if you could, that would be truly epic).

The biggest winner on that island that I can remember was the sheep.

In truly "the missile knows where it is" fashion, the Harrier's gun pipper is positioned based on how you're manoeuvring such that if you manoeuvre to keep the enemy aircraft on the pipper, the pipper is where the rounds will hit the aircraft. It knows where the enemy aircraft is based on how you're manoeuvring to put the aircraft in front of the pipper. It then adjusts the pipper so that you put the aircraft in the right place to score a hit. Err... It works, and it's way more useful than that awful snake thing in the Mirage. Just how much wine and strong cheese was consumed during the design of that thing?

In the early 1990’s, I was on 75Sqn, RNZAF and we were on exercise in Thailand and Singapore. Our A4’s were modernised with F-16A radar and Aim-9L. We exercised against the Harriers on HMS Invincible and the combination of good pilots and equivalent missiles had us come away with a superior K/D ratio. Our pilots said the main drawback for the Harrier was it just bled energy in turns. That, combined with the fast roll rate of the A4 (~720 deg/sec) made it very hard for the RN pilots to win a dogfight.

Never have I seen two AAM collide and detonate. Moments to savour. That's like one in a million, dude. So glad you caught it on vid.

Awesome history lesson before the battle! 0:00 History Info 2:26 Flight Start

@Growling Sidewinder thanks for giving us this fight we've been asking for. Great video!

Dang! I still can't get over the awesome editing you've been doing lately, keep it up man!

Wow, the quality of this video is just great man. I watched this the 2nd time now, and especially the beginning of the video with the little history lesson there is of such good quality that you deserve a million subs atleast. That Sidewinder Moment was really funny, keep it up!

Not only did they have to deal with Harriers and Sea Harriers with up to date Sidewinders, the Argentinians also had half a dozen Sea Dart launchers pointed at them. And it turned out that Sea Dart was really effective.

Un saludo de Argentina, and thank you!

Your editing is insane, love it. So cinematic

Omg that slow mo and music was so perfect for the first shot attempt.

the most accepted list of harriers losses in the conflict is this: 1.Sea Harrier FRS.1 mat ZA174 Lost on May 29 when he was getting ready to take off from the Invincible aircraft carrier. At the moment of taking off the ship hit a large wave, which caused the plane to slide down the wet platform to fall from it into the sea. The moment it fell, its pilot ejected successfully. 2.Sea Harrier FRS.1 mat ZA192 Lost on May 23, after having taken off from the aircraft carrier Hermes , while advancing towards the islands to carry out an attack mission, it was seen to explode about 10 miles from the ship, its pilot passing away. (This version was always questioned by the Argentine position, which assumes that in this way the British tried to hide with an accident a possible downing by their forces). 3.Sea Harrier FRS.1 mat XZ450 Shot down by Argentine anti-aircraft artillery with 35mm guns in Puerto Darwin on May 4 when he carried out bombing missions on the area. Unfortunately, the pilot called Nick Taylor died. His remains were buried by the defense forces with full honors. 4.Sea Harrier FRS.1 mat XZ452 On May 6 on a Combat Air Patrol mission following an echo at very low altitude his section went into a low cloud or a fog bank, and collided with his wingman, the XZ453. Both pilots died. (This is another of the official statements of which the Argentine position doubts, since it could be a cover-up of possible Argentine downing). 5.Sea Harrier FRS.1 mat XZ453 On May 6, on a Combat Air Patrol mission following an echo at very low altitude, his section went into a low cloud or a fog bank, and collided with his wingman, the XZ452. Both pilots died. 6.Sea Harrier FRS.1 mat XZ456 Downed on June 1 by the Argentine forces with the use of a Roland missile when the plane carried out offensive actions against the airport of Puerto Argentino. The pilot ejected and fell into the sea near Puerto Argentino. Several helicopters in CSAR missions went out in search without result. That same night the pilot was rescued by British Sea King helicopters that had taken off from the Invincible aircraft carrier. 7.Harrier GR.3 mat XZ963 Knocked down on May 30 by light anti-aircraft fire, which reached him over Puerto Argentino, causing damage to the machine, which was taken by his pilot up to 30 miles from the aircraft carrier Hermes, where he was ejected and then rescued by a Sea King from same ship. 8.Harrier GR.3 mat XZ972 Shot down on May 21 by anti-aircraft fire and a portable Blowpipe missile launched by the Argentine special forces in Port Howard, Gran Malvina. 9.Harrier GR.3 mat XZ988 Downed by 35mm AA artillery on May 27 on Goose Greene, where he made close air support to the forces of PARA-2 that were already beginning their offensive against the Argentine garrison there. His pilot successfully ejected himself extremely close to the Argentine positions (about 10km from Pradera del Ganso), where he managed to hide until being rescued by a Gazelle helicopter. 10.Harrier GR.3 mat XZ989 Lost in an accident on June 8 when he was preparing to land in VL configuration (Vertical Landing) on ​​the improvised airfield of Puerto San Carlos. When it was already in static flight soon to land, the Pegasus engine suffered a failure and consequent loss of power, falling and hitting hard against the ground, remaining half-destroyed, its components being used as a source of spare parts. The pilot did not eject, although he suffered no injuries.

Man, I just discovered your channel, but this is some insanely entertaining stuff. Keep it up man! And thanks for providing such content!

#GrowlingSidewinder 100K!!! No one deserves it more than you out of all DCS content creators. Awesome video, continue your great job. Much love brother.

Those missiles targeting and detonating each other is the coolest shit, man

3:50 That was the coolest shit I've ever seen. God, imagine if DCS had dynamic smoke.

This was a fantastic and very interesting video, great work GS! I'd really love to see more videos like this one in the future, i.e. videos where you use DCS and/or C:MO + Tacview to record multiple runs of faithfully simulated, real historical battles. You could even record multiple runs of hypothetical, but realistic, future combat scenarios between likely (or unlikely) adversary forces and technologies.

Yeah fair bit of what got the Brits their kills was training and tactics. The British pilots as far as I have read respected the Argentine airmen, considering them brave and professional.

Congrats on the 100K. Following you since early 2018. Got immediately hooked and subscribed due to your pedagogical and theoretical approach that helped me a lot to improve my in game performance. You are the best DCS content creator. Hands down. Great dog fight video. Loved that rise from the ashes shot at 4:00. Greetings from Argentina and keep them videos coming.

British and Argentinian Viewers : Comment section can be whatever I want

Damn, what a great intro to set things up!!! Great stuff!!! Thanks so much for your content!!!

This video has THE best footage of all GS videos. The music score setup with that crazy missile collision and the A4 coming out of the foreboding smoke from the explosion were just too perfect.

4:00 THIS. IS. SO. EPIC.

Harrier: *shoots missile at A4* A4 : *don't insult my intelligence* also A4: *pops a USSR magic maneuver but is a US plane*

Wow man, the quality of your vids have become amazing!

Congratulations for 100k subs!! Much more to come!

Awesome! This is the second time I've spotted a missile hitting another missile in DCS which is strange considering DCS multiplayer disables proximity fuses.

I witnessed a harrier bring down an Argentine plane around San Carlos bay. The harrier pilots were top notch and we always felt secure when we had air cover from them.

Great video has always, I'm a noob in this game and I hope you make more video with the F-16 because it's the only full fidelity I got. I'll still watch any video you make , the quality is awsome, the explanation are priceless. Keep doing your stuff, I love your style and it's amazing ! 10/10 would watch again ;)

Congrats on 100K!!! I love ur channel, keep it up man!👍

"alright ladies next round ' *crosses legs*

One A-4 did manage to get in position go shoot a Sea Harrier with guns - he pulled the trigger and the gun jammed. I've forgotten the name, the two pilots met after the war and became friends. No harrier was lost air to air in the conflict. VIFFing is great for loosing speed but the problem is that just like any vectored thrust it costs you a huge amount of energy.

A-4 Skyhawks only had access to obsolete AIM-9Bs, whereas RN Harriers had the latest all-aspect-attack AIM-9L.

GS, youre killin it. Love the content. Keep it up!

awesome video! its cool to see some of the less dogfighty planes. Another idea, i am not sure, how DCS can actually simulate that, but id love to see some fights in "bad conditions". Do some aircraft perform better at night or rain? could you use clouds as cover in bvr or dogfights? I think that could really add another interesting detail to your videos. Keep up the good work

Would love to see DCS World put in Gr3 Harriers and FRS1 Harriers - more historical for this Cold War period.

4:00 that was freaking awesome! I always enjoy your videos and this one even more! Greetings from Argentina!

Time to pop champagne 🍾 !!!! Congrats on 100k subs gs great content as always dude really enjoying the new stuff

The Harrier was so successful because they faced the retreating Skyhawks after attacking the Royal Navy ships, also by the AIM-9L, plus the Skyhawks were at the limit of their combat radius, they simply did not have the necessary fuel to face even if it is with cannons against Sea Harriers, on the other hand the Sea Harriers operated close to their aircraft carriers and with antiaircraft cover, there were very few "real" air combat with Mirages and Daggers (neshers) also with the same disadvantages as the Skyhawks

Those two missiles colliding was the most epic fkn thing I've seen in this game!

Thanks, great video, even though no F-14, you did at least mention it though! Nice flying as usual. Longshot's scissor at 18:12 was textbook perfect, you had him up until then. I'm really enjoying DCS, but I have a way to go before I am at your level in the jets.

This is probably the best dog fight I ever seen in DCS, you guys really really wanted to kill each other and not getting killed. I admired you and your friends sportsmanship.

Good effort to keep us entertained, but historically so wide of the mark. The UK was using 2 versions of the Harrier for this war, the GR3 (RAF Ground Attack) and the FRS1 (RN Air Defence). The cockpits and aerodynamics were nothing like what was represented here, nor, do I firmly believe, were flares and chaff dispensed during the air conflicts. The avionics in the British Harriers were way inferior to that displayed here, but the human factor is also misrepresented. The Argentine flyers were indeed supremely brave and skilled, and have been widely applauded for that. The British, in addition to bravery and skill, underwent specific training not widely acknowledged. For instance, the British did extended DACT with the French AF on the Mirage 3, to learn it's weaknesses etc. We aquired the Sidewinder AIM-9L, which at that time, was the latest and best version, and we had chance to fire the weapon over the fleet to get used to the sounds and smells of war. These are the undocumented factors of the war.

I seem to remember the advantage the harriers had was two fold. The US supplied the new sidewinders that could lock on the A4's from the front whereas the A4's had to be behind the Harriers. The second advantage was if they did get behind, the harriers popped a little vertical lift, the A4's passed by under, the the harrier popped off a sidewinder.

I've seen a A-4 Skyhawk from the brazilian navy do some manouvers over the ocean when I was at the beach once, it was one of the most badass things I've ever seen.

Well that first engagement was the coolest thing ive ever seen happen in DCS!! awesome!

Dang, GS you shined on this swole beast of a Harrier, one of my Favorite aircraft as a kid.

3:50 may be one of the best moments I've seen.

You missed out three very other important considerations for the British victory: better training, years of combat experience learning and communication vectoring to the target.

I thought that was the most erie feeling to see that ac come thru the explosion! Awsome capture!

speaking as someone who went down to the Falklands just after the conflict i was there in1983. The pilots who were there on the British side spoke highly of the the Argentinian pilots they fought bravely and pressed home their attacks even when they were outmatched. looking at the ground war realistically if the Argentinians had better leadership then it would have been a lot harder for the British. speaking with some of the Argentinians who had been there they said a lot of their company officers chose to fight from well behind the the battle front abandoning the troops to fend for themselves. but at the end of the day the British were the more experienced force since a lot of the Argentine forces were undertrained conscripts

Great shot kid, that was one in a million!

That slow motion shockwave after the sidewinders collided was awesome!

WTF!!! lmao thats sidewinder action right there, love your reaction lol

You shot so many rounds that first round I was expecting you to run out of ammo😂

The Harriers victories were certainly enabled by the tactics described at the start of the video. But the real winner was RADAR. The UK had radar coverage from fleet as well as airborne early warning from AWACS helicopters. This allowed a relatively small number of Harriers to be vectored away from threats and onto the vulnerable ground attack aircraft.

RU-vid recommend your video, I must say it is really great, good editing and you perfectly clarified the main theme. There are some out there that literally believe this is how it went , the Argentinians did what they could with what they had and so did the British.

100k subs! Congratulations man! Road to gold play button 💥

You ought do the attack on the HMS Coventry and HMS Broadsword. A sailor on Broadsword took a picture where 2 A-4s were very low before the attack.

I was under the impression that the Sea Harrier, as opposed to the RAF Harrier GR. 1 & 3, did have Radar. They also did only have two miisiles, before they modified the launch rails shortly after the war.

You simply do a damn good job both entertaining and informing. Both instructing and criticizing. You are an asset to DCS. Thanks for a great distraction

sidewinder man your videos are fun and informative all the same.I really enjoy watching them.subscribing was one of the best channels I watch.and I am so glad I found it.keep them coming and stay safe god bless.thank you so much for the videos.

The harrier has got to be one of my all-time favorite aircraft. I'd say the only thing I actually like more is the Legacy Hornet.

Jaw dropped at 3:50, that was unreal!

Best DCS Channel so far mate !

Congratulations for the 100k GS.