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RWS 67 – Falklands War from a Wessex Cockpit with Harry Benson

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As a 21 yr old Harry Benson experienced the Falklands War from the cockpit of a Wessex helicopter. Years later he has caught up with squadron mates to bring together an amazing collection of stories from the helicopter side of the war.

6834 nautical miles south west of London in the South Atlantic some amazing helicopter stories were being lived out during the Falklands War. Many of these were even unknown to the other aircrew flying in the same operational area.

Harry Benson was there as a 21 yr old pilot and many years later has interviewed 45 of his fellow aircrew and pieced together the story of the helicopter side of that conflict. You can read the result in the book Scram!: The Gripping First-Hand Account of the Helicopter War in the Falklands.

Scram was the radio codeword for inbound Argentine jets and the ‘actions on’ for helicopter crews was to find a depression and land the helicopter as quickly as they could to minimise the chance of being sighted.

Logistically getting the UK forces down to the Falklands was an amazing feat as everything had to go by sea or be dropped into the ocean from the air. Helicopters were crammed onto vessels wherever they could fit. A requisitioned Cunard container ship ‘Atlantic Conveyor’ carried a cargo of six Wessex helicopters from 848 Naval Air Squadron and RAF Chinook HC.1s from No. 18 Squadron RAF. At Ascension Island, the halfway point, she picked up eight Fleet Air Arm Sea Harriers (809 Squadron) and six RAF Harrier GR.3 jump jets.

Atlantic Conveyor
Atlantic Conveyor underway to Falklands with a Wessex on Spot 1.
The Atlantic Conveyor was sunk by two Exocet missiles with the loss of 3 Chinooks, 6 Wessex and a Lynx. This had a big impact on the course of events as it only left 15 troop-carrying helicopters available for the ground force breakout from the landing area – 10 Seakings, 5 Wessex and a single 1 Chinook. The Chinook remained the only one in theatre for the rest of the war can could forward position 4 fuel blivets/’bollocks’ vs the Seaking’s one.

The harsh South Atlantic weather proved one of the biggest challenges for aircrew rather than enemy action. Harry tells the story of his port engine shutting down due to heavy snow blocking the intake. At times aircraft had to hover taxi next to cliffs above the waves due to poor visibility in fog.

Unloading a Wessex on a bleak Falkland hillside.

 

Just some of the stories in the book:

    • Going head to head with fast jets
    • Sneak single aircraft mission with missile strike on Argentine high command
    • Rescues of sailors off burning ships
    • One way Seaking flight to Argentina mainland to assault airbase
    • Radalts going from 30′ to 200′ flying over glaciers
    • SAS missions in 60kt winds
    • Getting low on fuel and shutting down one engine
    • Night unaided casualty evacuations from front line

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Links from this week’s episode:
Support the podcast on Patreon
World Helicopter Day – Register Your Event
Scram!: The Gripping First-Hand Account of the Helicopter War in the Falklands
Junglie – Seaking pilot fiction novel by Harry Benson
Special Forces Pilot: A Flying Memoir of the Falkland War – Story of the Seaking raid on Argentina
Historic Helicopters – UK helicopter event

 

HMS Fearless, San Carlos, 1982
HMS Fearless in San Carlos, during the Falklands War. Typical of the ships that the helicopter fleet was flying to and the barren terrain of the islands in the background.
HMS Hermes 1982 DN-SN-82-04757s
HMS Hermes was due to be decommissioned in 1982 after a 1981 defence review (that would have made the Royal Navy considerably smaller) by the British government, but when the Falklands War broke out, she was made the flagship of the British forces, setting sail for the South Atlantic just three days after the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands. She sailed for the Falklands with an airgroup of 12 Sea Harrier FRS1 attack aircraft of the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm, and 18 Sea King helicopters.

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