If we did not know the truely tragic effects, this video would be considered entertaining, especially with the soundtrack. Apparently there is a 1 and 3 to go along with this 2.

 

South Atlantic Adventure 2

If we did not know the truely tragic effects, this video would be considered entertaining, especially with the soundtrack. Apparently there is a 1 and 3 to go along with this 2.

 

South Atlantic Adventure 2

 

Thanks for sharing. You never see any decent amphibious landings anymore.

 

That looked like maybe a Rapier hit on an Argentine aircraft around the 6:40 mark ?

Nice vid guys,

 

about the hit, it doesn't look to me to be an aircraft that explode, the explosion is imho too small.

 

As far as i know, the Rapier were not equipped with proximity fuse to not damage the ships so i would say that it's the missile manually triggered that we see exploding here.

 

cheers,

 

Jan

Well, the Rapier warhead is quite small (a little over half a kilo of explosive) and a hit on an aircraft (and for that matter, AAA/SAM hits on aircraft generally) usually aren't as dramatic as Hollywood would have us believe.

 

An account of Rapier during the San Carlos landings, from the December 1982 issue of International Defense Review:

 

"Rapier was the first cargo to be loaded on the LSL Sir Geraint and was completely inaccessible during the journey ... Sir Geraint entered San Carlos Water on 21 May 1982 but Rapier was not unloaded until noon, following removal of other stores. The first fire unit was deployed, ready for action, 25 minutes after being put ashore ... Rapier was deployed to defend the land forces rather than to protect the task force ships, and the proximity of the fire units to ships and naval aircraft caused a number of problems. The system's surveillance radar operated at the same frequency as some naval radars, but at much lower power, so it was routinely switched off. Targets were then acquired visually. Also, friendly IFF returns from British helicopters sometimes masked an attacking aircraft, flying as low as 30 ft, on the same bearing. IFF was thus rarely used and visual identification came into its own. By day, one Rapier fire unit was deployed on a hill overlooking San Carlos Water to act as a "sniper", engaging enemy aircraft on their way to attack British ships. The Rapier units themselves were attacked only twice, by a total of three aircraft. The unit being attacked by two aircraft shot down the first before it could release its weapons and the other after it had carried out its pass, despite the fact that it had dropped a bomb that damaged the fire unit's surveillance radar with shrapnel. One Rapier destroyed two aircraft that were attacking the troop ship SS Canberra [CV32: This is the large white ship seen in the video]. The first aircraft exploded so violently that it destroyed the wingman's aircraft also. When the breakout from San Carlos started on 28 May 1982, four fire units were deployed to Teal Inlet, where they scored a further two kills. Another four went to Goose Green to defend the Harriers operating from the airstrip there, but they saw no further action. The remaining four fire units were assigned to the LSL Sir Galahad and Sir Tristam, where they were stowed on the tank decks. All four were lifted to defend the army HQ ashore, and defence of the LSLs was allocated to the navy. Of these four units, one saw no aircraft during the attack on Sir Galahad and Sir Tristam, another saw one aircraft that was out of range, a third destroyed one aircraft after it had completed its attack and the fourth was unserviceable. Overall Rapier serviceability was more than 90 percent for the 12 fire units."

I'm pretty certain that at another point of the video a plane egressing from an attack goes down and crashes into the rising land mass in the background. No obvious explosion so I'm guess ground fire or a life altering pilot error.

I'm pretty certain that at another point of the video a plane egressing from an attack goes down and crashes into the rising land mass in the background. No obvious explosion so I'm guess ground fire or a life altering pilot error.

 

Upon further review...(hey NFL is coming back real soon) I take that back from the point that the 2nd a/c impacting, it must have been in one of the countless other Falklands videos I watched. Once I find that one, I'll be sure to post.