Authors: Harry Benson
Scram! (49 page)
Weather was always going to be a crucial factor in the D-Day landings at San Carlos. The morning started really well with overcast skies. But the clouds quickly burnt off, giving the Argentine jets a clear run at the British ships. Amazingly, throughout the war, not one British ship was successfully attacked within San Carlos water.
Even with the arrival of
Atlantic Causeway
and thirty more helicopters, helicopter lift was in short supply. Here a newly arrived Sea King of 825 Squadron lifts an underslung load while the troops of 5 Brigade have to walk.
The two amphibious assault ships HMS
Fearless
and
Intrepid
were the focus of both the San Carlos landings by 3 Brigade and the move forward to Fitzroy by 5 Brigade. This shows the stern being flooded to allow landing craft in and out. A Sea King of 825 Squadron is refuelling on the rear of the two landing spots.
One of the iconic shots of the Falklands war. Pete Manley and Ric Fox fly Wessex Yankee Sierra over the broken back of HMS
Antelope
in San Carlos water.
This was the astonishing sight confronting Oily Knight and Arthur Balls in their Wessex on the afternoon of 25 May. The helicopters hovering over the upturned HMS
Coventry
are all 846 Squadron junglie Sea Kings.
My 847 Squadron colleagues Tim Hughes and Bill Tuttey were first on the scene after the dreadful attack on RFA
Sir Galahad
and
Sir Tristram
at Port Pleasant. The identity of the SAS soldier kneeling in the doorway remains a mystery. After helping them throughout the rescue, he simply vanished.
Another of the iconic shots of the Falklands war. Hugh Clark's 825 Squadron Sea King hovering in and out of the smoke from
Sir Galahad
while trying to blow the life rafts away from the ship.
Former Wessex boss Tim Stanning was in the back of Hugh Clark's Sea King that was hovering in and out of the smoke from the burning
Sir Galahad
. This was his view from the aircraft cabin.
On 8 June, HMS
Plymouth
took the brunt of an attack by five Mirage jets in Falkland Sound. Amazingly none of the bombs went off. This is Paul McIntosh winching Rick Jolly and a stretcher onboard to help with the wounded.
The Forward Operating Base at Port San Carlos got a bit crowded after the reinforcement helicopters disembarked from Atlantic Causeway on 1 June. So the dozen Pinger Sea Kings moved around the corner to a new base at San Carlos the next day, leaving behind nineteen Wessex and the Chinook.
As the war ended, the weather became our new enemy. Al Doughty and I were half way across San Carlos water with an underslung load. We had just enough time to turn back and land before being hit by a sudden massive snowstorm. Seconds later, one of the engines flamed out under the sudden deluge of snow.
I may have been a highly trained and highly capable young pilot. But I nearly blew it the time I pushed down on the tail of a Pucara with a collapsed nose wheel at Goose Green just after the war. When I moved sideways to release, the Pucara's tail flipped violently back up, narrowly missing the explosive flotation canister on the Wessex wheel.
