South Atlantic 1982

 This is a new title from the Osprey Air Campaign series by Angus Konstam, which examines the carrier campaign in the Falklands War. While there are lots of books on this conflict, many were written shortly after the war, so a new examination is always worthwhile. My interest in the Falklands resulted from my book on HMS Ambuscade, which took part in the campaign.

After a brief introduction, we get a breakdown of the Argentinian and British air capabilities. The Argentine Air Force had numbers and bases. However, it was equipped to fight a war against Chile rather than a carrier strike force. It only had two refuelling tankers, which seriously limited the capabilities of its short-range aircraft, like the A4 Skyhawk. The main strike aircraft included Mirage IIIs, Daggers and the Skyhawks. More modern aircraft were on order, including the Super-Etendard with the Exocet anti-ship missile, but only four were operational and had one missile each. The effectiveness of this system was demonstrated by a 50% hit ratio. Most attacks were with bombs, and only a few naval pilots were trained to attack ships.

The British strike force was built around two small carriers, Hermes and Invincible. They had 20 sea Harriers, and RAF pilots supplemented the Fleet Air Arm crews. 14 RAF GR3 Harriers would join the task force, primarily for ground attack roles. The Sea Harriers were vital as the Royal Navy warship's air defence missile systems (Sea Cat and Sea Slug) were obsolete. The replacement Sea Wolf and Sea Dart were installed on some ships, but the Sea Dart was less effective against low-flying targets.

The main chapters cover the campaign objectives and the air battles. The Argentinian armed forces did not expect the British response, and their defence plan can best be described as improvised. The main air battles are explained with diagrams, maps and colour plates. 

Forty-plus years on allows an objective analysis of an air campaign neither side planned to fight. The air campaign was officially dubbed a ‘conflict’, but for those who took part, it was a war in every sense. While the Argentinians could operate from established airfields, the Royal Navy had to operate from two relatively small carriers. The fighting was characterized by several other unusual factors. These included the geographical constraints of the distance between Argentina and the Falklands and the radius of action of the British Harriers. Both imposed limits on flying time in the operational area. The real star was the Sea Harrier. Its high success rate in air-to-air combat made it the stand-out aircraft of the campaign. In all, 22 Argentinian planes were shot down by Sea Harriers, 18 of these using Sidewinders. No Sea Harriers were lost in air-to-air combat. Despite this, the Argentinian pilots displayed great courage and still managed to sink British warships.

If you are interested in modern air warfare, you will learn a lot about the mechanics, even if it was a long way from the conflict the pilots were trained for.

Past Master

 This is the third in Nigel Tranter's Master of Gray Trilogy. Patrick, Master of Gray (1559–1612), was a Scottish nobleman and politician who played a notable, though often controversial, role during the reign of James VI of Scotland.

The story moves on to the later stages of James VI's rule in Scotland before he gained the English throne. Patrick, you may recall, had yet again been banished, but he devises a new way of getting back into James' good books by uncovering a Catholic plot to unseat him. Tranter goes for the line that Patrick inspired the rebellion, only to undermine it. 

The best part of the book is the fighting on the western seaboard and Ireland when the McDonalds went off to support Irish rebels. Tranter always describes this part of Scotland very well.

There was one last apparent internal attempt to kill James in August 1600, when he was apparently assaulted by Alexander Ruthven at Gowrie House, the seat of the Ruthvens. Ruthven was run through by James's page, John Ramsay, and the Earl of Gowrie was killed in the ensuing fracas; there were few surviving witnesses. Given James's history with the Ruthvens and the fact that he owed them a great deal of money, his account of the circumstances was not universally believed.

The book ends with Elizabeth's death when she finally names James as her successor. Sadly for Patrick, James decides he has yet again had enough of him and that there would be suitable rogues in London to replace him. This must have been a blow as succession was Patrick's main policy aim. We know that Patrick became the 6th Lord Gray on his father's death in 1609, three years before he died in 1612.

While this is not the most exciting period of Scottish history, the story is excellent, with plenty of plots and turns to keep the reader engaged.

I picked up some 28mm figures suitable for the period, perhaps a little earlier, at the bring and buy at Hammerhead. They will undoubtedly work for games of Border Wars.

Avro Heritage Museum

 I had a spare morning between Hammerhead and Old Trafford for the FA Cup game (yes, I am a happy Fulham fan), so, I went to the Avro Heritage Museum at Woodford, near Stockport. This is a new museum on the site of the former BAE (Avro) factory, most of which is now a sprawling housing estate, although with plenty of aircraft related street names.

It is not a large museum with lots of exhibits, and the focus is on information boards telling the history of the site and the aircraft made there.  The one exception is the Vulcan. That made two in two days for me, having been to Newark the day before.

They have several cockpits and do cockpit tours. I did the Lancaster one and the young guide who did the tour was excellent. I hadn't appreciated that the Lancaster only had one pilot position, although other crew members might have been trained to fly it in emergencies. 4,400 Lancasters were assembled at Woodford.

This is the radio operator's seat

Of particular interest to me was the Avro York, the largest RAF transport of the Second World War. This was Churchill's plane (Ascalon) used to ferry him around the theatres of war. This included his conference with the Turkish President near Adana that I covered in my book on Turkey in WW2.

I was also interested in the adaptions they made to aircraft for the Falklands War, which I covered in my book on HMS Ambuscade. These included converting Nimrods and Vulcans into tankers, and giving Nimrods Sidewinder AAMs.

They also cover all the early WW1 and inter-war aircraft, if that is your thing.

It is well worth a visit if you are in the area.

Hammerhead 2025

 This is the first of three shows at the Newark Showground each year. Unlike the York show, the focus is on the games, particularly participation games. There is also a DBA competition, which a pal of mine was playing in. 

That said, all the usual traders were there, and there was a good bring-and-buy. I picked up a few items to flesh out some armies at very reasonable prices. 

These are some of the games that caught my eye.

Several games used Midgard rules, including this one, Defenders of Asgard, which was striking, both for the snow and the forces involved. I am not sure about the premise of Midgard, with its emphasis on heroes, but I gave in and bought a copy.

This Omaha participation game is doing the rounds of shows. I am not convinced it has enough tactical interest, but there were plenty of players throughout the day.

Two of several small participation games with great terrain.

Zombies in an excellent cityscape.

Williamite wars in 10mm using Black Powder. 

Simon has moved over to the dark side (as some of our club members would have it) with To the Strongest fantasy adaptation in the Runequest world.

Lord of the Rings games were popular.

An interesting compact English Civil War game - Cropedy Bridge if I recall correctly.

Another big Lord of the Rings game - Ford at Isen.

I must dust down my Very British Civil War armies. This one had the BUF and Anglican League scrapping in Somerset.

I'm not a big fan of WW1 trench warfare, but this was well done.

If you are in Newark, it would be rude not to visit the air museum just down the lane from the showground.

As always, thanks to the club members who ran an excellent show.