A story of two isles - The Falklands - Part 17 - Summary of support aircraft (3)

wolfenlord (60)in #history • 7 years ago

Know the support aircraft that were used in the conflict

The argentinian people still remembers the british conquer and subsequent occupation of the isles, and on April the 2nd 2018, the anniversary of the Falklands War, a symbolic flag burning was held outside the British Embassy. Pic Source.

Originally, I was going to do a summary of each land unit, aircraft and naval vessel that took part in the war. However, I´ve noticed the drop in popularity of this series, there are not just enough gearheads like me out there to appreciate technical details, so once I´ll finish with the air forces, I´ll start telling the war development itself and the individual war stories.

Support aircraft which completed missions in the Falklands War:

Argentina: Embraer EMB-110 y EMB-111 Bandeirante

Crew: 2 / Length: 49.54 feet
Height: 16.14 feet / Wingspan: 50.29 feet
Wing Area: 29.10 m² / Empty Weight: 7.480 lbs
Maximum Takeoff Weight: 13.01 lbs
Engine: 2 x Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-34 Turboprop engines, 750 shp each.
Cruise Speed: 212 mph
Service Radius: 1,220 miles
Service Ceiling: 21,500 feet

Armament:
None

*. Quantity of planes: 2
*. Lost planes: 0

Embraer, the brazilian designer of these aircraft, made them with the intent to be very cost effective to operate for both civilian and millitary. Argentina leased only 2 of these aircraft for use in the Falklands War, they flew 39 successful missions and returned to Brazil afterward. The EMB 111-A, the millitary version, had pylons for bombs and rockets but in the Falklands war they never carried any weapons because they had only a single task: once the general position of the enemy fleet has been located by the improvised Argentinian AWACS(Boeing 707), the EMB-111s task was to locate them and confirm their position at medium range, and visually asess any viable targets if possible, and to that effect, they flew primarily at night or at the evening, when they were visually tough to locate(partly due to their dark green/blue camouflage), and they emerged through the radar floor only to do limited scans and then blended back in.

Argentina: Lockheed P-2(P2V) Neptune

Crew: 7-9 / Length: 91.66 ft
Wingspan: 103.83 ft
Height: 29.33 ft / Wing Area: 92.9 m²
Empty Weight: 49,935 lbs
Max. Takeoff Weight: 79,895 lbs
Engine: 
    2 × Westinghouse J34-WE-34 turbojet, 3,400 lbf (15.1 kN) each
    2 × Wright R-3350-32W Cyclone Turbo-compound radial engine
Maximum Speed: 363 mph
Range: 2,157 miles
Service Ceiling: 22,400 ft

Armament:
None

*. Quantity of planes: 14(2)
*. Lost planes: 0

This aircraft had a peculiarity: it had 2 propeller engines and also 2 jet engines, combining both forms of propulsion. The Neptune was a maritime patrol aircraft, and despite Argentina receiving 14 of these aircraft in the 60s, they had accumulated long flight hours and only 2 of them were in service during the Falklands War. Even though they had pylons for rockets and bombs, neither of those were used in the war, their main assignments were short range fleet detection and submarine detection. They were essential for picking up targets and relaying their data to COAN(Comando Aeronaval Argentino-Argentinian Air Naval Command).

Short video segment of a documentary presenting the Neptune:

England/Argentina: Westland Lynx Helicopter

Both Argentina and England had Lynxes during the conflict, and they filled a variety of roles, including anti submarine, Anti-Surface Vessel, Replenishment and logistics, and General Area Patrol.

Crew: 2 or 3
Capacity: 8 troops/ Payload: 1,480kg
Length: 50 feet / Height: 12.41 ft
Disc Area: 1,385 ft²
Empty Weight: 7,255 lbs
Max. Takeoff Weight: 11,750 lbs
Powerplant: 2 × Rolls-Royce Gem turboshaft
Maximum Speed: 201 mph
Range: 328 miles with standard tanks.

Armament:
- Naval: 2 x torpedoes or 4x Sea Skua missiles
     or 2 x depth charges
- Attack: 2 x 20mm cannons, 2 x 70mm rocket pods
    CRV7, 8 x TOW ATGM 
- General: 7.62mm General Purpose Machine Guns (AH.7 and AH.9), 
    Browning AN/M3M .50 calibre heavy machine gun (HAS.3 and HMA.8)

Quantity of Helicopters(Argentina): 2
Helicopter Losses(Argentina): 2(Mechanical Failures due to wear and tear)

Quantity of Helicopters(England): 14
Helicopter Losses(England): 3(Lost when their carrier ships 
           - HMS Coventry and HMS Atlantic Conveyor wre sunk by Argentine forces)

Image sources for the pictures of civilian brazilian Bandeirante, Neptune from the US Navy and RAF Lynx: wikipedia.
Image source for Argentinian EMB111-A, Image source Argentinian P2V Neptune, Image source Argentinian Lynx.

#war #minnowsunite #thealliance

7 years ago in #history by wolfenlord (60)

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cre47iv3 (62) 7 years ago

Burning an england flag is a nice thing to do.

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