That's my dad, the Commander Air-so proud of him. Now that he has passed, I watch this often. I remember visiting the Ark as a kid. What a Royal Navy we had!
sledger2003 Thank you for that. It means a lot. Not bad for a boy who ran away to sea aged 15, did the yard arm at Ganges and worked his way up to Commodore! I wonder if that could happen in today's Royal Navy.
+Paul Northard Good to see I'm not the only one who remembers visiting the Ark as a kid, its my most oldest recollection in fact at around 3 & half years of age in 1973. Your Dad comes across as nice chap Paul and nice you can see him here...
He was the kind of Gent that people would look up to and obey without question. Those calm and expert judgement calls which inspires the military men and women. We desperately need many more of his caliber in todays Armed Forces. You were lucky Paul, to have such a man as your Father.
There's just something about British aviation, it's so calm and proficient. Me and other Americans typically think of the likes of Maverick and Goose when we think of fighter pilots, but the Fleet Air Arm ain't having any of that lol. Everyone in this video is so cool-headed and professional. Absolute experts through and through, I love it.
February 1967, NAS Miramar. San Diego: The Royal Navy had assigned a dozen aircrew as instructors in our Navy's F-4 training squadron, in preparation for the RN receiving the F-4K which was the RN variant of the Phantom. My first two F-4 flights as a nugget Naval Aviator were with LT Dick Lord, RN as my back seat instructor (and our F-4's had no flight controls in back). Dick was totally cool and confident as a "helpless" passenger during those two flights. We Yanks had much respect for those Brit visitors. And, I'm sure you realize that Maverick and Goose relate as much to reality as does most of what comes out of Hollywood.
@@hitorque2734 Mavericks character is loosely based on Randall Duke Cunningham as Duke actually did alot of those antics in real life. Buzzin the tower, the Admirals daughter on a golf course (he didn't know she was at the time) and a few of his sayings made it into the movie. Atleast it sure looks like it after all I've learned about Duke and from many who know him. Ever meet him?
1:52 that’s my grandfather, Keith Furniss. He recently suffered a serious stroke and has sadly lost the ability to talk, but I have lots of great memories of listening to him talk all about his time on HMS Ark Royal and HMS Invincible. He’s an incredibly inspirational man, he was in the army in the 50’s, was a fireman in the 60’s, and an aircraft handler with the navy right up until the mid 80’s. UPDATE: I am very sad to report that Keith Furniss has passed away, thank you so much to all the lovely people here who have shared their memories of him. We are all very sad to have lost him, but as a family we have been sharing our memories of him and celebrating his life, he was a truly amazing man, and he will always be my hero. Tonight I will definitely be having a drink in his honour!
So sorry to hear that, my dad David Edmund George left us on the 22nd October 2017, he did mention your grandfathers name to me when he watched some old footage
Check the reactions of the senior officers in the tower - they've been there before and know just how hard it is. Matter of fact and unanimous in their spontaneous relief that he made the last trap. The fact that he was a RAF Buccaneer pilot is enough for me. High praise deserved. Hat's off to all these aviators and handlers.
"If he misses this I'm afraid we'll have to divert him to St Mawgan." Royal Navy understatement for "if he misses this he WILL run out of fuel, crash and die horribly." 😂
+Rubens Junior The Fat Pig Phantom was out classed in a dogfight against the MIG 21. It took FOUR Phantoms and EIGHT missiles to down TWO MIG 21s in Vietnam April 16 1972. One by sheer luck and the other was a rookie pilot. They only beat the MIG21 by outnumbering them. The Argentinian A4s would have had our few Phantoms for breakfast in 1982. Luckily we had the Harrier and the AIM9L Sidewinder.
+eric tull The Phantom is a good example of the American way of buildings machines, big, powerful and a little awkward to "maneuver". Having a Phantom in a dogfight with a Mig 21 is almost the same as a Big block Chevelle racing against a 911 Porsche in a road course.
+Rubens Junior To be honest the answer is NO. Compare the US boxy Phantom with the curved lines of the UK's Buccaneer - but they are different aircraft for different purposes
It's awesome to hear the lovely calm British voice, encouragement all the way. Nothing negative, no whooping and holering just good old fashioned understatement hahaha
Could not have said it better myself Bazz. This reminds of the RAF boys during WW2 and the former glory days of England. Just look at it now !!! These Gents would barely recognize it.
What 'glory days'? Pissing away an empire by getting involved In a continental conflict? Good thing the Yanks had plenty of cash and weapons to lend you.
Good thing the Yanks leeched every aviation and military innovation from the UK and europe, they even took nazis home to get the rocket to the moon. Yanks, all cash no brains
The weapons were NOT lent......They were purchased on a system called...Lend-Lease and the payments for WW2 were only finalised about 8 years ago....Also..The "Yanks" only entered the war in 1942 after Pearl Harbour. Many Americans got rich on UK's misery.
Having served in the RAN I am immensly impressed by the calm, supportive attitude of the CAG and his staff. I have served (not in Naval Aviation) under some senior officers who did NOT think anyone else was allowed a learning curve!!!
Loved this footage, my old man was a CPO on two commissions in the sixties, visited the old girl a couple of times on family days. Still have a couple of commemorative first day covers carried on the Phantom F4K that made the fasted transatlantic crossing.
The F-4 Phantom is my favorite jet. It's had an enviable combat record. I know a few retired F-4 pilots and the stories they tell are interesting to say the least. The books the retired Phantom drivers write are mind-blowing. These are my 3 favorite aviation books: - Topgun by Dan Pederson - Scream of Eagles by Robert Wilcox - Great Fighter Jets of the Galaxy 1 by Tim Gibson
You've got good taste in mil aviation types. The days like this of F4s and Buccs irreplaceable. Ok times move on but F35s, I bloody hate the things. The flying pig 🤭👎
I'm 35 so these aircraft carriers were scrapped just around the time I was born. It's astonishing to see my country used to project this kind of military power and what we are now reduced to.
There was a time that we (British) pretty much took for granted the fact that our forces would respond expeditiously to any threats. For example, the Guatemalan threat to British Honduras and its proposed independence in 1972. Ark Royal played a crucial role in delivering a show of force to the Guatemalans, who believed Britain was too far away to intervene. Nowadays we have David Cameron's legacy, his "step change in the way we protect this country's security interests" - which evidently amounts to him padding around after third world leaders like a bewildered dog looking for scraps, trying to bribe them with British taxpayers' money to not hurt us.
Very sad those days are no more. I don't know for certain but when Eagle, Ark Royal, and Victorious were gone the USN had to build more carriers to make up for it. Maybe not, just something that occurred to me. It didn't have to be that way though.
I'm 63 and grew up near Rosyth, it was not unusual to see a couple of carriers in the Forth at the same time. In the '60s the UK had several ( 8 I believe) carriers in service.
i was a young aircraft mechanic when i served on the Ark was lucky to serve on the last commission before she went to the scrap yard , my 2.5 years on there was the best ever i am now coming up to retirement myself
Stiff upper lip, you brits! You've got two new carriers on the way in the near future. Britannia shall set forth into the sea once more! -From the US, we miss you lot being as tough and pompous as you were in the old days.
There is one problem with our new carriers. They're kinda shit. Our government made the decision to remove CATOBAR in favour of a ski ramp. This forces us to use the F35b variant which has become a red herring. I think Arc Royal was our last proper carrier.
You do t k is jack, our new carriers are very capable and the f35b is a great aircraft, the pilots love them... But our carriers can carry a huge number of the commando helicopter force and a couple squadrons of jets, it's a pretty formidable piece of kit. I can't wait to prove haters like you wrong...
A very interesting video.I'd like to have all of this documentary on DVD. Landing on the old Ark Royal or Eagle was much harder than landing our big American carriers of the day. Britain made a terrible mistake getting rid of it's conventional carriers. Had the old Ark Royal been around in 1982, with it's Phantoms and Buccaneers, the Falklands War may very well never have happened. Argentina wouldn't have risked tangling asses with that kind of sea power. Deterrence through Power.
back in the day the uk had over 70 battleships not counting destryers carriers and other support ships. now you guys have 6 destroyers and some frigates and two carriers on the way. that needs to increase
capt rodgers 70 battleships? As far as tonnage is concerned, the Royal Navy is the second largest in the world and I reiterate that the UK's population is only so large and modern tech if far more expensive than what we had in the 30's and 40's further increasing the price of defence.
I have seen this video dozens of times, and each time I smile when the RAF pilot finally catches the wire. It certainly takes a lot of skill to land on a small flattop (compared to our US Navy carriers). Glad to see the RN back in the carrier game with their two new flattops.
This is obviously an extract from the BBC fly on the wall series called Sailor from the mid 70’s. This documentary series was the first of its type and to this day probably remains the best ever produced. I remember watching this series with great fascination and to think within two to three years of this series being made the Ark Royal was being cut up to make way for the Invincible class of anti-submarine carriers. Then in 1983 came the Falklands War and the one item the Royal Navy would dearly liked to have had was a fleet carrier. However HMS Hermes and HMS Invincible did their job well along with the Harriers. HMS Ark Royal being such a sin ominous name for Royal Navy carries, you do wonder why one of the QE class carries hasn’t been named HMS Ark Royal, personally I think it would have been preferable to HMS Prince of Wales!
My Uncle George same year served on the Ark Royal when Bucaneers and Phantoms where flying from this legendary Carrier back in 1976 R I P Uncle George 1950 to 1991 ,If he had lived he would be 68 today 😢😢😢😢
Falkands? Had the Eagle and Ark Royal still been operational in1982, Admiral Jorge Anaya would have advised Galtieri not to invade the islands at all.There would not have been a Falklands War.
pencilpauli I remember reading a book about the Falklands and the author spoke to an RN officer who just couldn't believe they were sailing to war with no AEW whatsoever. The officer was thinking maybe we have a secret deal with the Americans to provide some kind of early warning, anything, or spies hanging out near the argentine air bases. He just couldn't believe it.
The Falklands invasion was to divert attention away from domestic problems and assumed the British wouldn't respond at all. The Ark Royal being decommissioned was irrelevant.
@Bartonovich52- It may seem irrelevant to events in Argentina, but the state of the Royal Navy most certainly figured into the calculations of the Junta. They were well aware of the loss of capability resulting from the decommissioning of the thru-deck carriers of the Royal Navy and that weakness played into their design. Indeed, had the HMS Ark Royal (and her fixed-wing assets) been operational the outcome of the war would have been a forgone conclusion. That's particularly true as there were talks ongoing, should the AR get a reprieve, to acquire Grumman A-2C Hawkeye AWACS aircraft, which would have ensured air-dominance over the Faulkland Islands for the duration of the conflict.
Brings back great memories of the time spent on 809 Buccaneer Squadron as a Grubber…..Certainly kept fit on the flight deck pushing the ladders with lashings,gust locks and other associated tie down equipment….But,what an experience….
The fact that the Brits successfully completed the mission in the Falklands without a fleet carrier, goes to show just how good a well trained and professional armed forces can be. The mission would've been less costly with a fleet carrier, but again, Argentina was up against seasoned professionals, not conscripts. Doing the difficult or impossible with so little is a mark of being just plain damn good. By the way, lets not forget Martin Withers' long haul Vulcan raid on Port Stanley, and the subsequent Blackbuck missions that followed. Again, doing so much with so little.
Two carriers had to do then. Who knows how it would have played out, anything can happen in war, I wouldn't change a thing in terms of what we sent down south in `82. We won the war but it was bloody close.
@Oliver Mayo No it wasn't-the Argentine fighters were mainly kept to defending their mainland airfields due to the threat of what the Vulcan could achieve leaving no fighter escort for the a-4s and daggers. The bombing of Stanley didn't achieve much in the way of damage, however the demoralizing effect on the troops can't be underestimated. Also a couple of the black buck missions knocked out radar sites.
@Oliver Mayo - The raids were pointless from a tactical point of view, they didn't accomplish anything that couldn't have been done equally well and far more easily by Harriers. Strategically though, you can't put a value on what they achieved - by tying up resources that could otherwise have overwhelmed our limited air defence and dropped a lot more bombs on our ships, but even more as a graphic demonstration to the Junta that significant aerial bombardment of targets on the mainland was in the UK's arsenal if escalation necessitated it. We were clearly never going to go for the nuclear option, but Black Buck showed that we were far from toothless. As for the damage to the runway at Stanley, it effectively turned a runway large enough to operate Mirages from into 2 that weren't. Given that the UK has deemed a detachment of just 4 supersonic fighters sufficient to deter the entire Argentine Air Force for the last 37 years, imagine the effect of a detachment of just 4 Mirages as the Task Force approached.
For me the mission of the raid and the intervention of his majesty's navy to prove one thing the determination to show the world its capacity despite the distance and a victory of this one imagine if the aircraft carrier would have been there it would have been worse. The Harrier proof that superiority
The Phantom F-4 was one of the first plastic scale model kits that I built, in & around 1980. I still have that completed kit along with a few other jet fighters that I also put together in that same time (MiG-25, F-14 & F-104).
Britain was the first to build an aircraft carrier and is now the mother country of modern aircraft carriers. Without Britain, the aircraft carrier itself would have disappeared. I love Britain very much. I hope that the British Empire will one day become the world's strongest navy like it did in World War II. 🇬🇧❤❤❤korea
Just found this. Flew Phantoms in USN(J and S)…..on some small decks. Independence and Forrestal….Ark Royal seemed really tiny, big aircraft, small deck.
It was getting a taste of this RN as a kid in the late eighties that brought me back to it in 2003 when I decided to join it, which I did in 2004 at the age of 25 as a direct entry officer to Dartmouth. Still in 14 years later and still have the same nostalgic feelings towards the mob of yesteryear. By the way, Sailor was absolutely REQUIRED viewing on HMS ARK ROYAL (V) in which I served from 2007-2009. Happy, happy days!
Nunca había visto imágenes de operaciones aéreas en los portaaviones convencionales de la Royal Navy, es un vídeo magnífico. Impresiona la imagen de profesionalidad en los oficiales del control de vuelo.
I remember going to British aerospace brough which is called now when my father worked there. Sitting in buccaneers on the production line it plays at the heart strings every time you see the old ark royal carrying out flight
My late Uncle served aboard R07 HMS Ark Royal, back when we had a credible Royal Navy. Glad he's not around to see the shambles they have these days :-(
Excellent insight into the operations of a professional carrier crew. Reflects clearly the very personal and dangerous nature of this complex operation.
I've got some quality deck photos from when my dad served on her. Each photo is stamped by the photography section. These should probably be in a museum, no?
Chris Bolton interview about his time on this ship is well worth viewing. I absolutely loved how he described air to air refueling from the basket. Something about a rolling doughnut hahahaha gotta watch it.
I was looking for footage of the bucc's when I came across this...totally memorable footage and a total joy to watch. I shall show this to my friend and I know he will enjoy. He was a bucc engineer by the way and has seen some wonderfull sites.
What a gem to watch!!! If only for the classic aircraft- Phantoms and Buccaneers. Also though a glimpse into professional flying ops Brit style from a smaller carrier. I don't have a feeling the recently constructed large carriers will serve the Royal navy half as well as Ark Royal did. Hope on this I am wrong.
Agreed. The fact our new carriers don't have CATOBAR puts them at a distinct disadvantage. For starters the F35b programme has turned into a red herring and is no longer a good investment. Its now a money-maker for Lockheed and the UK are stuck as tier 2 partners. Secondly we're unable to launch hawk eyes so will lack decent early warning coverage. We should have had the CATOBAR and supplemented it with cheaper aircraft such as the F18 or the Eurofighter carrier variant.
"Cool" is the word to describe those flight operations officers on the Ark Royal - cool in 1976 and just as cool when viewed today, 35 years later. I've heard that 1976 (Jim Callaghan PM, Drought and me in my last year at Prep School) has been scientifically assessed as the best year ever to have been British! We knew this was the swan song for the old Ark Royal and the BBC gave her a great send off. Apparently things have never been better than life at that moment. "Cool".
Good video. 👏 The HMS Ark Royal (R09) was the LAST traditional catapult/arrestor Royal Navy carrier. She was also the ONLY Royal Navy carrier to operate the American Phantom FG.1. The Royal Navy No. 892 Naval Air Squadron was the ONLY Fleet Air Arm squadron to fly the Phantom FG.1, which was the LAST traditional catapult/arrestor carrier jet fighter in Royal Navy service, hence the “Omega” (last letter of the Greek alphabet) squadron symbol on the Phantoms’ tails. 🇬🇧
My Uncle George God rest his soul B 1950 D 1991 Served on the Ark Royal in 1976 R I P Uncle George 💕 This looks like the Sailor 1976 TV Documentary series .
You must be incredibly proud. He comes across as the absolute classic British Military Officer: Calmly authoritarian, but with a sort of father-figure like kind concern for his men. The sort of figure young pilots would have had absolute unshakable faith and confidence in if the shit hit the fan.
I'm almost in tears! What a RN we once had. Carrier Air power is a must.RN must have its QE class carriers and the F35's should be FAA operated and owned.
It was so admirable wasn't it? Phantoms, Buccaneers, Gannets...all powerhouses with incredible firepower! We do need aircraft carriers with fixed wing aircraft! The 35 is the only option..unless BAE comes up with something....
A video that is in all likelihood well over thirty years old, featuring a Carrier and Aircraft that the Royal Navy long abandoned prior to the Falklands War, but beautifully nostalgic and amazing to see nonetheless. The way Britain "was" - thank you for posting this video!!
More like 40+ years old...and the scary thing is that this military force would (in many respects) show a clean pair of heels to the vast majority of the world today. At the time, this was a truly awesome military force.
I remember a interview with one of the crew when they were talking about preserving her and he said it was not worth it. She was an old ship and worn out. After all she was started in 1943 but not finished and commissioned until 1955 and there is a limit to what you can do with a hull that old. No question the politicians screwed up by not having a proper replacement though.
@John Benton: The F4 was the best free world fighter in it's time. It was a capable and stable platform for conventional ordinance. Tight turns went out with jets. Energy maneuverability ruled fighters of the F4 period. Greece and Turkey still operate.
If the British would've had the old Ark Royal and Eagle in the Falklands, the casualty rate could've been cut to much less than what it was. Argentina wouldn't have been able to cope with those Phantoms and Buccaneers. They had a hard enough time getting smoked by Harriers. But with the high-endurance capabilities of Phantoms in the ring, those Super Etendards would've been blown out of the sky before they even had a chance to get into range to launch Exocets against the Sheffield. Argentine A-4s would've also caught hell long before they had a chance to make their runs on the Antelope and Atlantic Conveyer. Building the new HMS Queen Elizabeth is one of the best investments the Royal Navy could ever make. Then the US, France, and Britain will all three have "air-superiority" flat tops in their portfolio. That's good for NATO.
Agree completely. With Phantoms giving cover for the task force, and Buccaneers on strike missions, the Argentinians would have been have been left flapping in the wind.
The Phantoms and Buccaneers would have done little good without an E-2 Hawkeye early warning radar aircraft to see out several hundred miles from the battle group. The British fleet sustained damage from airstrikes that would have likely never reached the fleet if it had a full deck carrier able to launch the Hawkeye.
John Griffin Absolutely, even the French have one or two Hawkeyes aboard the Charles de Gaulle. The Hawkeye can go out and scan for bogies many hundreds of miles beyond the ship's radar range. Altitude advantage : )
athame57 That's a good point. An enemy will take advantage of perceived weakness at the drop of a hat. Had the Royal Navy provided a suitable replacement for R07, the very certainty of suffering a complete ass whipping would've deterred the Argentines from invading. LOL... That's probably why Cuba has never tried taking the US Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico.....they'd be completely surrounded by 100,000 ton flat tops, and hundreds of aircraft.
Great video, thanks for uploading. Well the new QE is looking good and work has started on the new P.O.W. Such a shame we already had this capability and managed to lose it for 35 years and counting. As good as they may be, we still need a "proper" AEW aircraft and CEC. I also think we need THREE QE class carriers to ensure we have two available at all times.
+Pablo Jay Actually, the QEs don't offer the same capabilities: the lack of catapults means not only the lack of proper AEW, but also having to settle for the less capable and most expensive version of the F-35... and having no plan B in case the STOVL F-35 doesn't come good. I have no idea why would a government invest such huge amounts of money on two new ships they're crippling themselves with this decision. Building two big carriers to operate them as STOVL carriers seems to me a most illogical decision. What's the logic behind it?
pancholom Agreed pal, the only way I can go with this is "Jointery" with the RAF. The BIG thing for the RAF is "flexibility". You cant base an F-35 A or C on short field FOBs, you cannot land the CTOL versions in small areas. If you look at the different mission types the air force may be asked to do in the future, the B model makes absolute sense, the CTOL version just doesn't give us that flexibility. Will it cost more, hell yes, does it carry a smaller weapons loads, yeppers but if you look at sorties from Kosovo to Afghanistan, fighter bombers dont drop 10 bombs, they drop one or two per sortie. F-35 as the spearhead force using PGMs or missiles to remove the air defence system followed by Typhoons with a decent weapons load to do the dirty work with Paveways and Brimstone II , this is the way I see it anyways.
You are right though, the Navy had its choice and they burned a lot of their future budget on two big decks which is why we only have 6 DDGs of the Daring class, if we didn't get the carriers we would have seen 8 to 10 T-45s and maybe 2/3 smaller CVS type hulls with a larger FFG force.
Pablo Jay Yes, the F35B is the best option for the RAF, but not for the Royal Navy. A CATOBAR carrier would give way mire than a full complement of bombs and fuel: it would give AWACS planes, and options of different types of planes you may want to embark in the future. It would also even allow it to take French or US Navy planes on if such a need ever arises. Going for a STOVL carrier closes the door to all these capabilities. But if they still wanna stick to the F35B to support the RAF buddies, then at least they should do it in a more rational way: instead of building these two BIG and ultra expensive carriers, they should have built 3 or even 4 smaller carriers (something like the Italian Cavour for instance, that carries the same type of aircraft the QE will carry and costed about a third of the price of one QE), getting a more flexible force and still saving a couple of billions to buy other types of ships or more planes or whatever they may need! Seriously: either you build full flung CATOBAR carriers or smaller and cheaper STOVL carriers. But building full flung STOVL carriers makes no sense at all.
The problem is we cannot have two different versions. Operating costs increase, you require more spares and differing maintenance, training requirements diverge and that adds more cost, you also need more aircraft because you would need an extra OCU, one for B model conversion, one for CTOL qualification. Only having one type means the B model, for the military, its a no brainer really. During the Harriers time, the RAF regularly embarked on our CVS force with GR-7s and 9s after the SHAR II was killed off. That flexibility is enormous and cannot be .underestimated. We have had 45 years of VTOL operating experience, it would be silly to not leverage this. The Merlin Crowsnest AEW is going to be effective, just as the Sea King Mk 7 Baggers were. In fact much more effective than most people imagine although I admit Hawkeye and CATOBAR are attractive but its too late. Did you know that the tory government wanted to do a U turn and order the CTOL model of the F-35 B but the conversion costs and EMALS risk would have come in at about 2.5 Billion quid. Never going to happen and I can never see the new carriers getting converted at that price, not ever. The studies done in the 1990s did show that operating two large carriers was more economical than operating 3 smaller ones and 4 more so. You can get a LOT of aircraft on a CVF deck, rotary wing I think its in the order of 40 to 50 plus a shit load of booties.pancholom
Nothing like motoring in a 16ft launch directly under the shadow of old R09. That was a magnificent sight and the sailors were only too happy to tie up at Port Everglades in some fine South Florida weather.
I was a greenie on 892 NAS when this was filmed but I have never seen it till today! I think we were in the Western approaches if I remember correctly. So sad as I read down through the comments many of the people I knew have passed now, but then I guess it was an age ago! Just replaying it to see if I can see any of my oppo's (or me) loafing around on the deck. It's a great piece of video, I can almost smell the AVCAT, feel the heat and the noise, yeah and you could feel the noise! Great Days. Also good to see we have 2 new Fleet Carriers now not before time, just a shame they don't have Cats and Traps.
+DahliaBleue To be correct no, by this stage the Fleet Air Arm was increasingly having RAF pilots attached to it, particularly the Phantoms, as these aircraft were scheduled in couple of years to be transferred to the RAF. The policy continued with the Sea Harrier and eventually ended up with the Navy finally combining with tye RAF with the GR9s of the Joint Harrier Force.
Correct the Rolls-Royce Spey engines used on British Phantoms resulting in a loss of 'Coke-Bottle effect' or Area Rule aerodynamically, they were not quite as good as the GE powered US versions as a result.
The last proper carrier we had , she was huge , a beautiful ship ,was gutted when they scrapped her in 78 , they should of kept her as a floating museum for future generations to enjoy , to be able to see when we had a decent size navy .
if Argentina had been foolish enough to invade those islands in spite of 1 or 2 big British carriers in service their air losses would have been higher, since the RN Phantoms and Buccaneers would have been capable of attacking the Argentine air bases themselves. Also of course they would've been target #1 for the argentine air force. Dangerous to take carriers too close to a land-based air force. US Navy had no choice in 1945, off Okinawa, Iwo Jima, the home islands & were hit hard by the Japanese.
I doubt the Argentines would have attacked if we had had the Ark Royal still in service, but if they had they would have found her a paper tiger, the hull was not in good condition with bad corrosion and her engines were also a source of constant trouble. But the biggest weakness was that the unreliable high maintenance Phantoms would have meant that no more than two could have been sustained which would not have been enough to protect the fleet from air attack.
RN had 7 carriers in 1960's . Eagle & Ark Royal full "fleet carriers " Victorious bit smaller . Hermes & Centaur smaller again . Bulwark & Albion commando carriers with only helicopters
I was expecting the RAF to take out the Port Stanley Rwy by using a tornado. The Black buck mission was one of the most amazing stories i've ever read in the history of air war thou... Thank you for answering. Cheers from a South american allied.
