Britain bombs airport
HERE’S what was making the news on May 1, 1982.
Attack! Britain bombs Falkland airport
Warplanes from the Portsmouth-based aircraft carriers HMS Invincible and HMS Hermes went into action today against the airstrip at Port Stanley on the Falkland Islands.
The action was to enforce the total exclusion zone around the islands and deny the Argentinians the use of the airstrip, said a statement issued by the Ministry of Defence.
The Defence Ministry announcement appears to indicate that Royal Navy Sea Harrier jump jets bombed the 4,000ft runway at the airfield, two-and-a-half miles from the Falklands capital.
They are also likely to have strafed any Argentinian aircraft parked there with their twin 20-shots-a-second, 30mm. cannon.
Argentina’s ruling military junta said later anti-aircraft artillery repelled the Harrier attack.
The communique did not say whether any British jets were hit or if any hits were scored against the airstrip.
The aim of today’s action would have been to crater the runway to prevent any landings or takeoffs - a vital prerequisite for any British task force commander planning an invasion.
Previous reports indicated the presence of Mirage fighter jets, Hercules transport planes, and Pucara ground attack aircraft at the airfield.
It is not known whether the British forces attacked fuel and ammunition dumps around the airstrip.
The action by the British force appears to have been carried out in darkness .
One question mark surrounds the use of the antiaircraft weapons the Argentinians were supposed to have installed.
Reports from Buenos Aires indicated that the Britishdesigned Tigercat missile system had been installed.