[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by James Langham

I think there is some info on the Falklands in the 2.0 entry on the Harrier plate in the Nautical and Aviation book.

Next to nothing on the Falklands I'm afraid:

Harrier II, RN; Falklands, 1999.
The Royal Navy made extensive use of the Harrier jump-jets in the 1980's war with Argentina and in the late 1990s Falklands Crisis as well.
This aircraft sports a dark gray camouflage pattern with subdued British national roundels and the usual warning and safety markings (the red/white triangles at various locations on the aircraft). The legend "Royal Navy" appears on the tail fin, along with a winged fist emblem that may be an individual flight marking of some kind. The white "721" just to the rear of the national insignia is the aircraft's ID number.

There is also plate F2 from the same book, but it tells us even less:

Westland Lynx, UK; South Georgia Islands, 2000.
This Lynx is one of three assigned to the British Army garrison of the South Georgia Islands and is used both for patrols and liaison purposes. Ordinarily the maritime version would have been used, but shortages forced the British to make use of standard Lynxes in some less important spots. These aircraft have been equipped with internal flexible fuel bladders for extended range operations.
The aircraft has not been stationed to the islands long, as it still sports the olive/tan dry summer camouflage pattern instead of a more suitable colour scheme. The only other markings are the ID numbers in black and the subdued British national roundel.

The 2.2 BYB has the following to say:

Argentina/Brazil: The Argentineans attempted to reoccupy the Falklands/Malvinas after 1996, and the British were unable to spare more than a token force for the islands' defence. Argentina itself withdrew when war broke out with Brazil in 1998, and a small scale exchange of low yield nuclear weapons between the two countries completed their slide into chaos. Central government in both countries has broken down,and both are now divided into semi-feudal territories ruled by military juntas or local community governments.

So what can we extrapolate from that information?

• The British essentially let Argentina have the Falklands in 1997 as they were too deeply involved in Europe to do anything more than throw a little harsh language at the invaders.

• The Argentinians withdrew of their own volition (perhaps spurred on by partisans and what was left of the pre-war TA force).

• Soon after, and with the UK carriers out of action, at least one Harrier II was sent south but was likely only a token (if sent at the beginning of the conflict, it's likely in my mind the Argentinians would have captured and destroyed it, or at least it's supporting unit/base. Leaving the aircraft in the Falklands while war raged across Poland doesn't make sense either, especially when the Pact pushed back from mid 1997). It may have been used to harass the Argentinians on the mainland, but was more likely used as air defence of the islands (and therefore probably didn't see a lot of combat).

• Three Lynxes (only!) are in the islands with one not arriving until sometime in 2000.

All in all, the Falklands appear to have definitely been at the bottom of the priority list for defence, supplies, units, etc. If it hadn't been specifically stated the Lynx had only been in the area for a short time, I'd be inclined to say all aircraft would have been recalled by the UK to help at home and the islands left to fend for themselves.