Sea Harrier Over The Falklands (W&N Military)

This is a very uplifting read. It's a long time since I've read anything about total confidence in a man, his men and his machines.Well, the Fleet Air Arm, that is.Sharkey had the Harriers of 801 Sqn and in particular its "Blue Fox" radars set up to the peak of their specification. His team on "Invincible" were far in advance of the RAF (800 Sqn.) on "Hermes", and the woeful Admiral Woodward's flagship, whose experience had been in submarines....The RAF in Sqn. 800 were under-prepared and couldn't use their radars, preferring standing patrols, flying off on a wild goose-chase, removing the CAP, and allowing the attack on the Sheffield to be pressed home.They also cut short their mission time and flew back with more fuel than necessary.There turned out to be an un-bridgeable gulf between RAF and Navy flight command.Unbelievable arrogance and ignorance from the Admiral and RAF Top Brass, and an unforgivable snubbing of Squadron Commander Ward after the return.Sharkey doesn't mince his words over the extravagant "Black Buck" Vulcan bombing missions.The subsequent scrapping of the carriers and the Harriers before their time was also a source of heartbreak.However, It's clear that if it hadn't been for Sharkey, the outcome would have been a different prospect.

A hell of a good read... gripping insights into the world of armed conflict, specifically the Falklands conflict, and aerial combat by undoubtedly one of our best ever combat pilots.. Cmdr Sharkey Ward pulls no punches either in his appraisals of how others conducted themselves and military decisions made down there in the South Atlantic. A great appraisal of what seemed to be an extremely combat jet in the Sea Harrier - I had no idea it could hold it's own and more against the best fighter jets in the world. Without it, and the brave, skilled fighter pilots of the Fleet Air Arm the task force would likely have failed.

As a child, I wanted nothing more than to be a Harrier pilot. I would build models of the planes, paint pictures (painting by numbers, I'm not an artist) and create my own Harriers by cellotaping set squares to Smarties tubes. While my desire to be a Royal Navy pilot has waned as I've got older, I'm still just as interested in these beautiful machines and the operations that they are involved in.A friend lent me this book and immediately after reading it, I bought both the Kindle version and the hardback version. It really is that good.Sharkey Ward paints an incredible picture of life as a Royal Navy pilot - warts and all. He manages to instill his own feelings in you, whether than be the fear that comes with landing a Harrier on the deck of a carrier in zero visibility, the excitement of engaging enemy aircraft that have the ability to kill you in an instant, or the frustration of MOD politics during the early 80s.I found the balance between the military tactics, flying, life at war, politics and personal memories to be absolutely perfect; not once was I saying to myself "this chapter is boring, when will he stop talking about X", which unfortunately happens in so many non-fictions books. A truly remarkable man and a fascinating read with the potential to revisit many times.This man inspired me to grow a beard, for God's sake.

God, I hated this book. It's problematic. On the one hand it's a truthful account of a man's experiences as a Sea Harrier pilot during the Falklands War, and I have no doubt the author wrote it himself and meant every word. On the other hand he comes across poorly as a human being - to say the least - but on the other, other hand what did I expect? Pilots can't *all* be warrior poets who wax lyrical about the pity of war and the joy of flying an aeroplane and so forth. That's why I have given this four stars. It's a truthful account of etc. If however you're expecting something like Geoffrey Wellum's "First Light" you're going to be very disappointed.As a thing to cherish and enjoy it's a disaster, because the author is completely unsympathetic; I didn't detect any kind of internal life or self-awareness. F'rinstance, at one point he shoots down an Argentine C-130 Hercules, a transport aircraft that was used as a makeshift bomber by the Argentine forces. Fair enough. But then he pops to the bar, where there are a couple of RAF Hercules pilots chatting away, and he smugly boasts that they're sitting ducks in the air, and that he could *have them* any day. And it's not friendly banter, he comes across as a very petty man. I understand that the different services hate each other, but is the author eight years old? In his opinion his fellow pilots are idiots to a man, the other bunch of Harrier pilots on the other carrier are misguided and poorly-led, the campaign itself is a waste of money, and if he had been left alone to do it properly the whole campaign would have been over in no time. Gah. The actual war is a distant backdrop that seems to exist in a different universe.Apart from that the majority of the book is taken up with accounts of training, and his development of a kind of computer-assisted loft bombing technique, whereby he releases his bombs just as he starts to pull up away from the target. This has the effect of throwing the bombs upwards a bit, which increases the range. He's dead pleased about this, although vague as to whether it actually has an effect or not. If you want to learn a little bit about the Harrier's bombing computer circa 1982 - but not much - this is your book.The author apparently likes to call himself Mr Sea Harrier. That tells you all need to know about his personality. I went through this book once, as quickly as I could, and then gleefully threw in in the bin, and then I fished it out and used it as a backstop for air rifle practice. And then I threw it away again.

I was actually looking for "Harrier 809" which is a new book but I bought this by mistake. 809 squadron were absorbed into 800 and 801 squadrons and came a little later in the war - so I don't know exactly how they would write a whole book about a themselves when they weren't called "809" once they arrived at the war.This was a great read. The author had detailed stories about night raids and bombing runs and his "kills" as well as the men that served under him and the men they lost. Well worth the $18

Récit sur la guerre des Malouines par un de ses acteurs côté britannique. L’auteur commandait l’escadron 801 de chasseurs Sea Harier embarqué sur un des deux portes aéronef britannique engagé (HMS Invincible). Il nous fait un récit vivant tant des combats et des opérations auxquelles il a partipé que de son rôle de chef d’unité qui doit aussi gérer l’activité et les relations avec l’etat major. A lire, absolument pour ceux qui s’intéressent à l’aviation moderne en général et à ce conflit en particulier.

Worth the read if you're into military aviation and history or simply love the legendary Harrier. A good first-hand account of SHAR operations during the 1982 Falklands conflict.

Great account of the battle in the air. A must read for those interested in this war from the perspective of the CO of the 801 air squadron based in Invincible. Sharkeys effort in bringing their teem up to speed in order to fight in the night, at low speed and until close to running out of fuel in order to defense the fleet were critical in the success of the task force. Especially interesting is his view about the air defense strategy in San Carlos waters and its contrast with that of SWoodward who did not trust the Sea Harriers as an effective defense mechanism for the fleet.

Sharkey Ward, CO of 801 Squadron RNAS, demonstrates what keen, knowledable leadership does in planning and fighting. An extraordinary pilot of the SHAR (Sea Harrier), he trains is pilots at the cutting edge of their jet and their weapons systems. His descriptions of flying and fighting are simply wonderful and even more wonderful because they are in the unique Sea Harrier.Although the Navy (fish heads) and the RAF massaged the record of the Falklands War to the exclusion of the RNAS and 801 Squadron on HMS Invincable and to a lesser degree 800 Squadron on HMS Hermes, Sharkey Ward sets the story right. He's a really fine writer with an excellent "voice." The reader is taken into the meetings that matter, the relative quiet of his private quarters and the cockpit of the SHAR. In a compelling and clear way, he shows the folly of MOD and political thinking in the UK to the peril of the fleet, especially its protection at sea and at distance from RAF coverage. Not surprisingly, he's a powerful and thoughtful advocate of the SHAR and VSTOL aircraft as a weapons system that has proven it superiority in training and in battle.By way of conclusion, I would love to buy a Scotch for Sharkey Ward and to raise my own glass in toast to a truly great Naval officer, aviator and writer. Thanks Sharkey.