“Sea Harrier over the Falklands” by Commander Nigel “Sharkey” Ward DSC AFC RN
This book has been revised, updated and is being re-published.
This book takes you to war in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. It is more than an authoritative, first-hand and detailed account of the air war in the Falklands, 1982. Indeed, it is a real life and very exciting adventure story in which the author ‘calls a spade a spade’; revealing both the successes and the failures of the British air campaign.
The reader will gain an intimate insight into the persona of the Royal Navy fighter pilot which differs vastly from that of his RAF peers. That persona is aggressive, completely dedicated, thoroughly professional and pays no regard to “Crew duty times”. As a fully integrated part of the Naval Service, it achieves continued success in combat and has done so on behalf of the British public for the last 100 years of British carrier operations overseas.
Sharkey Ward commanded 801 Naval Air Squadron, HMS Invincible, during the Falklands War of April to June 1982 and was senior Sea Harrier adviser to the Command on the tactics, direction and progress of the air war. He flew over sixty war missions, achieved three air-to-air kills and took part in or witnessed a total of ten kills; he was also the leading night pilot and was decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross for gallantry.
Those are the bare facts, though they do no sort of justice to this remarkable and outspoken book, nor to its author. For what, after all, could twenty Sea Harriers, operating from a flight-deck bucketing about in the South Atlantic, do against more than 200 Argentine military aircraft flown by pilots who, as the raids against British shipping proved, displayed enormous skill and gallantry? The world knows the answer now; as it knows the debt owed to the author and his fellow flyers. What is puzzling, therefore, is this book’s truthful depiction of the attitudes of some of the senior non-flying naval officers and of the RAF towards the men (and indeed the machine) that made possible the victory in the Falklands.
This extraordinary first-hand account charts the naval pilots’ journey to the South Atlantic in clear and forthright detail and how they took on and triumphantly conquered the challenges they faced. It is a dramatic story, leavened with brilliant accounts of air-to-air fighting and of life in a squadron at sea and on a war footing. But it is also a tale of inter-Service rivalry, bureaucratic interference and the less-than-generous attitudes of a number of senior commanders who should certainly have known better; indeed, some of them might even have lost the campaign through a lack of understanding of air warfare— particularly if all their instructions had been followed to the letter and without question. The author puts the record straight.
For those who would like to know more about the iconic history of the Harrier jump jet and the appalling decisions that led to the misguided withdrawal of this aircraft from British service, this book provides the answers: especially within the Epilogue.
Admiral Sir ‘Sandy’ Woodward GBE KCB records his impressions of the book as follows:
‘Maverick’ he may have been, I know he enjoys the description, but if I were able to change anything in Sharkey’s book, it would be to say that the short but complimentary quote of his captain, JJ Black, saying “he made a significant personal contribution to the defeat of the enemy” greatly understated Sharkey’s contribution. And if I were to add anything in the way of general comment on Sea Harrier performance in 1982, it would be to say “Land forces usually claim that they are the only people who can win wars but without the Sea Harriers the land forces wouldn’t have even have been given a chance to win the land battle in 1982”.
Major-General Julian Thompson CB OBE Royal Marines, Brigadier commanding 3 Commando Brigade, Falklands 1982:
“Sharkey Ward’s book will come as a revelation to anyone who thinks that a fighter pilot’s prelude to battle is a matter of kicking the tyres, lighting the fires and heading for the wide blue yonder. Painstaking preparation of his squadron, superlative personal flying skills and a determination to engage the enemy more closely made Sharkey Ward a fighter leader in the mould of Bader, Johnson, Ball and others in the past.
To those of us who day after day watched the air attacks on the ships in San Carlos, the best news was the number of Argentine aircraft splashed after each raid. As the Sea Harriers whittled down the enemy, so our admiration for the Fleet Air Arm increased. Without them we would not have won.”
About the Author.
Nigel David MacCartan-Ward was born in Canada of RAF parents in 1943, educated at Reading School (where he was Head Boy and won his private pilot’s wings with an RAF Flying Scholarship) and then joined the Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth as an Officer Cadet in 1962. After Seaman Officer training in the Bahamas and Hong Kong, he joined RAF Linton-on-Ouse in 1966 for Basic Flying Training. He completed his Fleet Air Arm training on Hunters and Sea Vixens before joining 892 Naval Air Squadron in 1969 where he flew the F-4K Phantom from the deck of HMS Ark Royal. He then qualified as an Air Warfare Instructor before serving in NATO HQ AFNORTH and re-joined Ark Royal as 892’s Senior Pilot in 1974. In 1976 he went to the Ministry of Defence as the Sea Harrier Desk Officer responsible for the final development of the aircraft and its introduction into the service. By this time he was known by the nickname ‘Sharkey’—commonly used in the service for those surnamed Ward—and in 1979 earned the sobriquet ‘Mr Sea Harrier’ as the Boss of the aircraft’s Intensive Flying Trials Unit, 700A Squadron. He then commanded 899 Sea Harrier Headquarters Squadron, continuing the tasks of aircraft evaluation, the development of tactics and the training of aircrew before taking command of 801 Naval Air Squadron in HMS Invincible.
As CO 801 during the Falklands War he was the principal Sea Harrier adviser to the Command on the tactics, direction and progress of the air war; flying over 60 war missions, achieving three air-to-air kills and witnessing or assisting in a total of ten kills. After the war he attended the Royal Naval Staff College, Greenwich, before going to Whitehall again in 1983, first as Air Weapons Adviser and later as the Air Warfare Adviser to the Naval Staff and First Sea Lord. He voluntarily retired in 1985 to set up and run his own company, Defence Analysts Ltd, which, besides other tasks, employed Special Forces expertise to defend oil tankers in the Gulf during the Iran-Iraq War saving many lives and several ships from destruction.
Commander Ward holds the Air Force Cross for services to maritime VSTOL aviation (1982), and was decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross in the Falklands Honours List. He became a member of the Royal Aeronautical Society, a Freeman of the City of London, and a member of the City of London Livery Club. He now lives in Grenada.
This Review was provided from the Publishers and written just before the decision was taken to sell the 72 airworthy airframes to the United States for £100m.
Book Cover Illustration: A pair of Sea Harriers over the Falklands, 1982. They were christened “The Black Death” (La Muerte Negra) by the Argentine media during the war.