Falklands War
847 Naval Air Squadron was reformed to take part in the Falklands campaign in 1982, operating 14 Westland Wessex HU.5 helicopters with Royal Naval personnel recruited mainly from RNAS Yeovilton. The aircraft were transported from the United Kingdom to the South Atlantic aboard RFA Engadine and the Atlantic Causeway.
Landing in the April, 847 NAS initially operated from San Carlos and provided much needed air support to UK forces. After the unofficial surrender of Argentine forces, 847 NAS relocated to Navy Point, a headland directly opposite the town of Port Stanley, where it took up residence in what had previously been used as support and storage buildings for Royal Naval expeditionary vessels in previous years. 847 NAS remained in the Falklands until September 1982, providing much needed air support to UK Forces and Island Locals alike and even moving the odd head of livestock!
847 NAS was one of the longest serving units to see action in the Falklands war, spending some 6 months on the islands in total, and leading some members of the squadron to refer to the unit as "84-who?" The squadron was disbanded immediately after returning to the UK in the September 1982.
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Famous quotes containing the words falklands and/or war:
“If we were doing this in the Falklands they would love it. It’s part of our heritage. The British have always been fighting wars.”
—British soccer fan. quoted in Independent (London, Dec. 23, 1988)
“The more prosperous and settled a nation, the more readily it tends to think of war as a regrettable accident; to nations less fortunate the chance of war presents itself as a possible bountiful friend.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)