Aviation 10

Operations from Port Stanley, with up
to 11 aircraft, were always challenging and
often exhausting. Dave Gledhill explained:
“Crews were on for ten days during which
they stood QRA, did duty aircrew officer in
the tower, manned the operations desk and
so on. You  nished your ten days coming off
QRA at 07.30hrs only to be back on again at
19.30hrs the following day, so it was a heavy
schedule. We operated from a dispersal,
with two jets on ten minutes’ readiness. The
runway was just 6,000ft and was only that
long because a 2,000ft AM2 steel matting
extension had been added to make it usable
by Phantoms. At home we’d have wanted
7,500ft to be comfortable.
“You were always  ying with eight live
missiles and the gun, so the aircraft was
always heavy. Whilst okay for take-off,
landing was a challenge. We also carried a
nominal 4,000lb of diversion fuel, although
in reality there was nowhere for us to divert,
but it gave us a bit of holding time. For that
reason, we always landed into the cable.”
Arrester gear was installed at the
approach, mid-point and overrun ends of
the runway – Dave saying the idea was

always to land into the approach end cable

if possible. “There was a de nite risk of

missing it if the steel matting caused the

hook to bounce over the cable. Generally, if

that happened we engaged the ’burners and

went round again.

“We had a technique where we popped

the ’chute at 50ft on short  nals, which killed

another 10 knots, trying to land at as low a

speed as possible. As we took the cable

we held the power on. Then, as the aircraft

stopped and rolled back slightly, if the hook

released from the cable you raised it and

taxied away. It was a very different technique

to a normal landing. At Stanley it wound out

about 600ft of cable. This compared to about

300ft on an aircraft carrier and about 1,300ft

at the main UK operating air elds, so a lot

sharper deceleration than normal...we [only]

operated two to four aircraft at a time [in case

a Phantom had an issue with the cables].

We worked with the tankers, transport

aircraft and helicopters on the Falklands,

which provided varied activity over one big

low- ying area. We patrolled up to 200 miles

from the Islands with pretty  erce rules of

engagement that essentially said if anything

with Argentinian roundels appeared we could

shoot it. A Lockheed Electra intelligence

gathering aircraft sometimes prowled close to

the 200-mile limit.

“We practised tanking on every sortie,

as they were normally airborne when we

were. There was always a C-130 tanker

on QRA for us too. Their crews were

magni cent, extremely  exible. They operated

unpressurised, so generally did not  y above

10,000ft and often as low as 1,000ft, which

http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 49

stopped and rolled back slightly, if the hook

A well-armed RAF Phantom

toting air-to-air missiles.

Key Collection

Phantom XV494 of 56 Sqn  ring a Sky Flash. Geoff Lee

we held the power on. Then, as the aircraft

“The Phantom was

a real war machine,

a powerhouse with

enormous thrust in

afterburner”