by Harry Benson
22. Wessex, Crown Copyright © 1982 / Soldier Magazine / Paul Haley
23. Ajax Bay © John Ryall
24. Wessex coming in to land © Imperial War Museum (FKD 362)
25. Sea King unloading troops, Crown Copyright © 1982 / Soldier Magazine / Paul Haley
26. SS Uganda © Harry Benson
27. Scots Guards, Crown Copyright © 1982 / Soldier Magazine / Paul Haley
28. SAS soldier and Scout crew, Crown Copyright © 1982 / Soldier Magazine / Paul Haley
29. Port Stanley © Harry Benson
30. Wessex refuelling © Jerry Spence
31. Sir Tristram © Harry Benson
32. Wasp © Harry Benson
Picture Section
33. On my way to the Falklands © Harry Benson
34. RFA Engadine © Harry Benson
35. Night flyers © Simon Thornewill
36. HMS Sheffield © John Ryall
37. San Carlos water © Simon Thornewill
38. D-Day landings © Rick Jolly
39. Sea Kings on SS Canberra © Simon Thornewill
40. Sea King © Simon Thornewill
41. Sea King refuelling © Harry Benson
42. HMS Antelope © Press Association Images
43. HMS Coventry © John Ryall
44. 847 Squadron rescue © Press Association Images
45. Sea King and RFA Sir Galahad © Press Association Images
46. RFA Sir Galahad © Tim Stanning
47. HMS Plymouth © Rick Jolly
48. Forward Operating Base at San Carlos © John Ryall
49. End of the war © Harry Benson
50. Pucara © Harry Benson
51. Formation fly past © Harry Benson
52. Arriving home © Jamie Guise
53. Lieutenant Benson RN © Harry Benson
While every effort has been made to contact copyright holders, the author and publisher would be grateful for information about any material where they have been unable to trace the source, and would be glad to make amendments in further editions.
Acknowledgements
Writing this book has been a real labour of love. I started interviewing former colleagues in the summer of 2009. I am indebted to all who put up with my digging into ancient memories that many may have preferred to be left alone. Most said they would remember little. All remembered a lot. I am grateful for their cooperation and hope they will be proud of the end product. It’s our story.
Thank you so much to my junglie and other aircrew friends and colleagues for generously allowing me to interview you and revisit 1982 together: Splash Ashdown, Arthur Balls, David Baston, Andy Berryman, Mike Booth, Mark Brickell, Chris Clayton, Stewart Cooper, Al Doughty, Mark Evans, Rob Flexman, Nick Foster, Ric Fox, Ian Georgeson, Sparky Harden, Willie Harrower, Paul Heathcote, Tim Hughes, Trevor Jackson, Dave Knight, Steve Larsen, Jack Lomas, Jan Lomas, Pete Manley, Paul McIntosh, Ralph Miles, Richard Morton, Nigel North, Dave Ockleton, Bill Pollock, Mark Salter, Reg Sharland, Pete Skinner, Jerry Spence, Ian Stanley, Tim Stanning, Simon Thornewill, Mike Tidd, Bill Tuttey, Ian Tyrrell, Peter Vowles, Roger Warden. Also a huge thank you to some key characters who gave me their valuable insights: Ed Featherstone, Rick Jolly, Julian Thompson. Thank you too to Georgina Reed for transcribing many hours of recordings.
I spent ages trying to work out how to take a load of interviews and make a story out of it. I am very grateful to Rowland White, author of Vulcan, who allowed me to grill him for an afternoon on the technical side of writing. I also had to work out how to organise telling my own first-person story alongside the third-person stories of my colleagues. What I hope I have produced is a book with the personal feel of what it was like to be a young Royal Navy junglie pilot at war.
Without a war diary to work with, and with very fallible memories of events nearly thirty years ago, I’ve had to assemble a jigsaw puzzle of individual stories and reconcile them with the available records. Oddly, the least useful have been the official squadron records, only some of which were available, but which provided only the barest outline of events. Perhaps this was because they were written by squadron junior officers like me. I am grateful to Anna Clark at the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton, for providing me with a great starting point. More accurate and interesting were the few official reports of proceedings submitted by commanding officers. These gave a good flavour and some fascinating details. Thank you especially to Mike Booth for lending me his report of Wessex squadron activities and to Bill Pollock for his report of the incredible Sea King night-flying missions. And to those who dusted off their old action photos for the book, especially Arthur Balls, Mark Brickell, Stewart Cooper, Rick Jolly, Pete Manley, Jerry Spence, Tim Stanning and Simon Thornewill.
Pilots’ log books were generally a very accurate source for dating particular sorties. Yet even these had inconsistencies. Two pilots flew their first sortie together in the Falklands but recorded it on different days. Another pilot managed to record the wrong airframe number for much of the war. By far the best written record is the extraordinary book The Falklands Air War by Rodney Burden et al (1986). It is dripping with details of the squadrons and individual aircraft on both sides. Without this resource I would have found it much harder to put together a timeline of events. By comparing this secondary source, official records and log books, I have been able to turn forty-five interviews and literally hundreds of vignettes into the story of the helicopter war in the Falklands.
I’ve also drawn from the following excellent works: Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins’s still fresh and gripping Battle for the Falklands; Richard Hutchings’s highly recommended personal account of the 846 Squadron night-flyers Special Forces Pilot; Rick Jolly’s story of the Red and Green Life Machine; Nick van der Bijl’s insightful view of the land campaign, Victory in the Falklands; Max Arthur’s collection of heroic deeds, Above All Courage; and Roger Perkins’s detailed account of Operation Paraquat: The Battle for South Georgia.
There are many more terrific junglie stories in John Beattie’s wonderful collection The View from a Junglie Cockpit, published by and available from the Fleet Air Arm Museum. All of the interviews, records, spreadsheets, timelines, aircraft and combat details used for this book are now preserved in the Fleet Air Arm Museum’s archives. If you visit the Museum – and you should – you will see half of the Wessex that I flew in the war (painted Zulu Mike on the side, it was coded X-Ray Lima in the Falklands). Pete Manley, Ric Fox and Dave Greet’s Wessex, Yankee Sierra, is still intact and gets wheeled out on display at the Museum from time to time. It was the second Wessex to arrive in the Falklands.
A few final but crucial thankyous: to my agent Annabel Merullo for finding me a publisher; to Trevor Dolby at Random House who thought it good enough and then covered it in post-it notes telling me how to do it better; to Kate Johnson who edited the manuscript; to Nicola Taplin for putting it all together and finally to my family, for putting up with my erratic moods. It’s been emotionally exhausting spending so much time with half of my brain stuck in 1982 revisiting my own and everybody else’s experiences. I hope you enjoy reading our stories.
Harry Benson, March 2012
On my way to the Falklands as a newly qualified Wessex pilot. Twenty-one-year-old ‘Acting’ Sub Lieutenant Harry Benson RN of the newly formed 847 Naval Air Squadron.
Half of my squadron sailed to the Falklands on the flat bottomed helicopter support ship RFA Engadine. The sea wasn’t always as calm as this, just south of Ascension Island. At a painfully slow twelve knots, it took us four weeks to get from Plymouth to San Carlos. We could have swum faster.
Bill Pollock’s ‘night flyers’ were one of the keys to the British success in the Falklands. A last minute acquisition of seven sets of night vision goggles allowed four specially-adapted Sea Kings of 846 Squadron to fly SAS and SBS patrols in and out of the islands at night completely undetected.
Until early May, few of us thought the Falklands war would actually take place. What changed was the sinkin
g of two ships. For the Argentines, it was the torpedoing of the Belgrano. For the British, it was the Exocet strike on HMS Sheffield, seen here with HMS Arrow bravely alongside.
My colleagues in Yankee Charlie were the only Wessex crew to take part in the D-Day landings. Their first task was to collect a paratrooper who had damaged his back. But within hours, they had attended to two shot-down helicopters, watched most of the air attacks by the Argentine air force, been strafed by a Mirage and finished their day with a dramatic rescue of two sailors from the icy sea next to the burning HMS Ardent.
On the day of the San Carlos landings, Simon Thornewill and his seven ‘day’ Sea Kings of 846 Squadron disembarked over 900,000 pounds of stores and equipment and over 500 men. These two Sea Kings are operating from the rear of the two specially built flight decks on the liner SS Canberra.
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.
Every squadron likes its formation fly pasts. These are some of our 847 Squadron Wessex celebrating the move from Port San Carlos to snow-covered Navy Point, opposite Port Stanley, a few days after the war. Stanley airfield is in the distance behind the helicopters.
Having arrived late for the war, 847 Squadron was probably the last active service unit to leave the Falkland Islands. We flew back in dribs and drabs first to Ascension by Hercules and then on to Brize Norton by VC10. I was very relieved to be back after four and a half months away. There was no official welcome for us. But my mum was happy.
Two years after the Falklands war, I’m in warmer climes as Lieutenant Benson RN, Wasp pilot and flight commander of HMS Apollo.
Index
(the initials HB refer to Harry Benson; page numbers in italic type refer to photographs)
The page references in this index correspond to the printed edition from which this ebook was created. To find a specific word or phrase from the index, please use the search feature of your ebook reader.
Aeromacchi 130, 131, 200, 201
air-raid warnings, explained 155
Ajax Bay 142, 144, 146, 156, 161, 185, 194, 196, 217, 231
Brigade Maintenance Area at 236
field hospital at 259, 265, 270, 319, 334–5, 335
Alacrity, HMS 82, 89, 118, 176, 179, 181
Mirage jets’ attack on 86
Albion, HMS 19
Almirante Irizar 348
Ambuscade 173
Andrew, Sub-Lt HRH The Prince 96
Andromeda, HMS 345
Anslow, Air Engineering Mechanic Adrian 182
Anstis, Lt Cdr Neil 103, 105, 286
Antelope, HMS 148–50, 152
Antrim, HMS 56, 57–8, 60–61, 64, 65, 82, 142
bomb hits 133
and Fortuna Glacier rescue 12, 13, 15, 17
and San Carlos landing mission 121, 123, 126, 132–3
and Santa Fe 65, 65
Apollo, HMS 367, 367
Ardent, HMS 134
Argentine jets’ attacks on 137–40
survivors abandon 142
Argentina:
aircraft losses suffered by 184
aircraft lost by 231
Britain’s warnings ignored by 36
determination of, to sink British carrier 211
Falklands invaded by 2–3
formal surrender of 355
junta takes control of 2
National Day of 87, 160, 161–2
navy withdrawn by 88
renewed attempts by, to thwart British landings 147
SAS mission to mainland of 113
unexploded bombs of 133–4, 149
Argonaut, HMS 130, 131, 140, 142
Arrow, HMS 82, 86, 90, 91, 153–4, 198
jammed gun on 198
Mirage jets’ attack on 86
Ascension Island:
amphibious fleet sets off from 96
arrivals on 56, 71
Intrepid arrives at 96
landscape of 42
resupply operation at 186
Sea Kings on way to 93–4
as staging post 42, 68
Wessexes on way to 95–6
Wideawake airfield 42, 71, 79
Ashdown, Petty Officer ‘Splash’ 256
and Sir Galahad 261, 262
Astiz, Lt Alfredo 67
Atlantic Causeway, SS 97, 100, 101, 222–3, 227–8, 229–30, 232–5, 248, 273, 331
Atlantic Conveyor, SS xiv, 97–9, 100, 116–17, 144, 160, 161, 170–82 passim, 223
Argentines flush with success over sinking of 211
crew abandon 178–80
Exocet strikes 174
sinks 182, 213
autorotation 27
Avenger, HMS 212, 242
Bahia Paraiso 219–21, 295
Balls, Petty Officer Arthur 81–2, 83, 84, 155–6, 156, 187, 215–18, 219, 368
bodies collected by 216–18
and Coventry 168–9
and hospital-ship inspection 219–21, 220
mentioned in Despatches 370
and Port Stanley operation 288–94, 298, 349
special mission of 197
Barrow, Capt. Mike 83
&nb
sp; Baston, Lt Cdr David 97, 172, 175–6, 178–9, 181
BBC World Service 51, 72
irresponsible broadcast by 190
Belcher, Sgt 200
Bennett, Lt Alan ‘Wiggy’ 78
and Pebble Island mission 111
on one-way mission 114, 115–16
Benson, Sub-Lt Harry:
becomes junglie 20, 31
campaign medal of 370
deck landings by 44–8, 103, 224
first solo aeroplane flight of 23
freezing-lake swim by 22
ground courses taken by 21
helicopter training of 23–4
joins 845 Naval Air Squadron 30–1
leaves Navy 368
magazine lost by 275
at Royal Naval College 18, 20
smoking quit by 224
thunderflash joke played on 29
training of 20–31
at Yeovilton 20–1
Berryman, Sub-Lt Andy ‘Boy’, 56, 317, 331
and Fortuna Glacier 61
prisoner management by 66
Blight, Lt Cdr Chris 97
Bluff Cove 250, 251, 252, 253
Bob’s Island 289
‘bollocks’ 189, 268, 301–2
Booth, Lt Cdr Mike 38, 39, 41, 94, 103, 105, 225–6, 245, 272. 277, 284, 317, 318, 350–1, 352
flying experience of 285
honour for 369
long flying stint of 317
new squadron required of 99
Borneo 19
Boughton, Lt John 256–7, 258, 260–1
and Sir Galahad 265, 267
Brickell, Cpl Mark 321, 322–4, 344
Brilliant, HMS 63, 64, 142, 165
Britain:
aircraft lost by 231
Argentina ignores warnings of 36
defence cuts by 20, 69
military units of, see military units
ships lost to, numbers of 160
surrender of small force from 36
task force of 37, 68–70, 92, 113, 133, 160, 162