In 1982, Britain went to war in the Falklands, relying for the last time on an aircraft that was entirely made within the country: the Harrier Jump Jet. Not only this, but the head of the department that produced the revolutionary vertical take-off and landing aircraft was Sydney Camm, who had designed the Battle of Britain’s Hurricane fighter.
Echoes of World War II resound throughout Rowland White’s gripping book. But it is also a reminder of what an extraordinary conflict the Falklands War was itself. It combined so many military features: a Task Force at sea, dogfights,
air attacks on naval vessels, submarine attacks, amphibious landings, land battles, special forces, and strategic bombing. And it underlined a British sense of exceptionalism that lately has done the country little good.
By the 1980s, the Royal Navy had been savagely cut back, reduced to a support force for NATO and the provider of the UK’s nuclear deterrent, Polaris.
Sherds: East meets West