History
RAF Mount Pleasant is the newest permanent airfield in the Royal Air Force. The RAF previously had a small base at Stanley airfield after the end of the hostilities in 1982. During the Falklands War when the islands were occupied by Argentine military forces, British aircraft were sent to disable the runway with RAF Strike Command Vulcan bombers (Operation Black Buck) and Royal Navy Sea Harriers. The raids were moderately successful, and on the first Black Buck mission one 1,000-pound (450 kg) bomb hit the runway in the middle, disabling it. However, temporary repairs by the Argentines did allow C-130 Hercules transport aircraft to bring in supplies and take out casualties until the end of the conflict. At the end of hostilities the runway was fully repaired by British military engineers.
After the surrender of the Argentine ground forces on the islands, the British still faced the problem of potential Argentine air attacks from Argentina, so an aircraft carrier had to remain on station to guard the islands with its squadron of Sea Harriers until the local airfield was prepared for jet aircraft. HMS Hermes was the first to take guard duty, whilst HMS Invincible went north to change (at sea) a main engine. Invincible then returned to relieve Hermes which urgently needed to return to the UK for boiler cleaning. Invincible returned until she was relieved by the newly built HMS Illustrious, which was quickly rushed south and commissioned during the journey. Once the Port Stanley runway was available for jets, Illustrious was relieved by four RAF Phantom FGR.2 (named ‘Faith’, ‘Hope’, Charity’ and ‘Desperation’ by the crews - the first three named after the three Gloster Gladiators that according to legend was the name of the three RAF fighters defending Malta in the Second World War).
The British government felt that Stanley airfield was not the best option for a large, permanent base and decided to construct a new RAF station and make it the centrepiece of considerably strengthened air defences for the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. This was intended to deter any future Argentine attempts to take the islands by force. Mount Pleasant, to the west of Stanley, was chosen as the site for the new station. The construction, which had extraordinary challenges to get materials on site, was undertaken by a Laing-Mowlem-ARC consortium. The airfield was opened by Prince Andrew (who served in the Falklands War) on 12 May 1985, and became fully operational in 1986.
Flights of Phantoms were rotated through the base until 1992 when they were replaced with Tornado F3s. The Tornado was replaced by the Eurofighter Typhoon in September 2009. These have been supported throughout by C130s and, since 1996, VC10s, equipped for aerial refuelling, transport, search and rescue and maritime patrol.
A flight of Westland Sea King helicopters for support and search and rescue has been based at Mount Pleasant since November 2007.
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