The demise of the Sea Harrier

Thomas Schoene wrote:

Guy Alcala wrote:
David Nicholls wrote:

At no time did the Hermes and Invincible stop Sea Harrier ops.

Well, they did on several occasions and had much reduced ops for a
few days at a time in at least two periods, but it was typically due
to fog. If they couldn't see to fly, the Argentine pilots couldn't
see to attack.

OTOH, the carriers were not always in the same weather as the mainland, or
the islands themselves. Pilots from Argentina could take off and find
targets in places like San Carlos Water, even when weather at the carriers
was remarkably bad.

One of the periods where the Brits (and Argentines) cut back on their flying
was prior to the landings; during the other, the weather at San Carlos and on
the southern approach (Fitzroy etc.) was the determining factor as to whether
the Brits flew. If the AAF couldn't see to find the targets, the Brits didn't
worry about them. Clapp says he looked out (from Fearless anchored in San
Carlos Water) towards Fanning Head every morning to judge cloud ceiling and
visibility; when it started low, it tended to stay low all day. The Brits
couldn't even fly helos from SCW across Wickham Heights to Fitzroy on some
days, the visibility was so bad.

Guy