Royal Navy Sea Harrier Falklands War - #4 of 4 'Sharkey' Ward.

Sea Harrier Falklands War - Commander Nigel David 'Sharkey' Ward, DSC, AFC.
REEL 4 Continues: reaction to Steve Thomas being hit by ground fire, 21/5/1982; attack on Mentor, 1/5/1982; shooting down of Lockheed Hercules, sight of Argentinean Air Force attacks on Sir Galahad; shooting down of Ian Mortimer over Port Stanley; impressions of being in Sea Harrier cockpit; opinion of qualities required to be a successful Sea Harrier pilot.
Attributed:
www.iwm.org.uk/collections/ite... IWM

[@adrianflower3230]

R.I.P. Commander Ward 😢

[@jamietulip639]

What a top man. His book was an excellent read and I felt that if I ever had to go to war, I would want a leader like Sharkey.

[@msomayya2828]

Awesome book one of the best 👍🙏

[@allgood6760]

Sea Harrier is an awesome plane... a mate of mine was Tactical Radar Operator on HMS Invincible during the Falklands War.. he didnt know if he was going to live or die.. scary stuff!

[@rancidschannel3206]

Thank you for preserving these anecdotes fantastic.

[@nicholasroberts6954]

Wonderful stuff. Well Done IWM - There should be a flyable Harrier FRS1 in the Royal Navy Historic Flight

[@Lewisgaylard]

Google Fly Harrier Trust.

[@tonkerdog1243]

I used to fly with Kris Ward, son of Sharky. A tremendous chap who is no longer with us.

[@richardvernon317]

That is sad, wasn't he the guy that had a go at the PM when the Harriers were binned in 2010.

[@tonkerdog1243]

Richard Vernon Yes. We talked about that when we flew. I told him I was watching the tv saying looking at that tosser, he won’t go far. And then laughed because he ended up sitting next to me.

[@richardvernon317]

@@tonkerdog1243 I remember seeing a bit of it on the TV, Should have seen the send off of the Harrier as I was based at Coningsby at the time (41 Squadron had a few of them for test and evaluation) but unfortunately I was detached to the Falklands for four mouths at the time.

[@bertiesimmonds]

So sad to hear of Kris’ passing, what did he die of?

[@tonkerdog1243]

bertiesimmonds I can’t really say here. Very complicated personal issue.

[@stevehilton4052]

I had the pleasure of meeting him in around 78 whilst serving on the Ark Royal ,as I recall he flew phantom F 4 .I was not a WAFU ( nickname for the fleet air arm) but had lots of time working on the flight deck or close to the ACRB ( kind of snack and coffee area for aircrew) I remember that although he isn't the tallest of men he really made his presence felt just by being there , I suppose it's how an alpha male is explained. He was one of the few officers who looked everyone in the eyes even if it was to acknowledge a " good morning sir' I later served on Avenger down south but I didn't know he was then flying harriers . I'm not surprised he is so highly thought of.

[@garymoore2535]

Sharkey Ward's book is an excellent read. However, his real job was to get his Harrier Squadron ready for combat when they reached the Falklands. Sharkey kept them busy, practicing target shooting, optimising their radar etc. He kept his boys morale high and ready and they pulled more than their share of combat duties. Ego or self belief ? Some careers demand self belief bordering on arrogance....heart surgeons are a classic example. In order to operate they MUST believe in their own ability. It is easy to take the safe straightforward operations, however, the best surgeons will also tackle riskier ones ! Some of their patients will inevitably die on the table.....if the Heart Surgeons didn't operate on difficult cases, ALL of these patients would die in their beds ! Ambition and ability.......some have enough of one.....some have enough of the other...Sharkey Ward was one of the few that had enough of both ! ❤❤❤

[@maxmoore9955]

The Harrier and its Pilots earned its battle Honours .In the Falklands .

[@sanignacio1999]

The Hercules that was shot down was not doing any transport duty, it was doing a radar detection type of missions called "diente de perro" (dog tooth; because the maneuvers simulate a W) which consisted in using the Hercules radar to detect the fleet. This was necessary after the Navy Neptune´s were permanently taken out of service in the middle of the war. As far as i know there is no hate towards him or controversy in the Argentinian Air Force about this. He was even invited to participate in a commemorative event i think back in 2013 but he couldnt go. Ward even had contact with the son of the Hercules pilot. Ward is a very respected man in the FAA as all the british harrier pilots are and his book is a best seller here. This is a very good and interesting document. He is a great man and im reading here in the comments that his son passed away (?), i remember listening his son was a pilot too. If thats true we are sending prayers for him and his family...

[@llanero9177]

Look for videos of Argentinian pilots, veterans of Malvinas, as Carballo, Owen Crippa, Carracedo, Mela, "Talo" Moreno, Barrionuevo, Sylvester... "Man without honor" is the best thing that they say about this "Sharkey" guy when they name him. They don't talk like that about "Mog" Morgan, for example. Shooting a missile against a cargo military airplane? That's totally OK in a war. Argentinians would have done the same. To give the "coup de grace" with his cannons to the wounded plane not allowing the crew to try to land on the sea and maybe (just maybe) save their lives, that's the problem.

[@llanero9177]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/e4SWoWSbf5J-iaM

[@2o4II112II26o2]

@@llanero9177 war is war

[@DAllan-lz3lg]

@@llanero9177 yeah, he states he felt good about it. I don’t think that’s an appropriate remark.

[@sichere]

@@DAllan-lz3lg He felt good about shooting the Hercules. The fact that there were people on board, as he said "was not his problem".

[@contingency9]

Brilliant!

[@andrewward9601]

I read sharky's book, I find all of this very VERY interesting.... Being ex RAF Harrier, I would love to meet sharky ward.... Dose he do any public speeches?

[@abubakeralsoufiwangbeckera1375]

It is great honor to be Pilot on Sea Harrier in the new zealand air force but I have to build Shanxi 118 for Queenstown new zealand for improving the general aviation & civil aviation industry.

[@thelmaviaduct]

Amazing interview, very interesting character. He seems to get slated on Pprune, I appreciate his honesty and candour. Will buy his book, seems a top bloke, true warrior.

[@gavingoldthorp4093]

It's a great book, I do hope you've bought and read it!

[@thelmaviaduct]

@@gavingoldthorp4093 not yet, good reminder though.

[@richardvernon317]

@@thelmaviaduct The problem with Ward's book is a lot of big picture stuff where he was not present that he put in the original edition was not based on research already done by others but on hearsay and thus is wrong. That is one of the reason's he gets slated on Pprune.

[@thelmaviaduct]

@@richardvernon317 are sure it's not jealousy??

[@richardvernon317]

@@thelmaviaduct Nope, the people who slag him off flew Phantoms FGR 2's and Tornado F Mk 3's. In a real fight, they would have hacked Commarder Wards Sea Harrier out of the sky with a Sparrow III or Skyflash missile from well outside Sidewinder range and there would have been cock all he could do about it, bar Viff to break missile lock, then he's at 200 odd knots while the opposing fighter is doing 600 and he gets a Sidewinder Lima in the face, which he can't reply to because the missile off the faster fighter has longer legs (Missile max speed is missile burn out speed , plus launch aircraft speed). He also bad mouthed a lot of people in the RAF, some of which was deserved and a lot of which was not.

[@ianrkav]

Sharkey Ward was an AWI or air warfare instructor. Does the RAF have a similar course?

[@richardvernon317]

Yes QWI (Qualified Weapons Instructor)

[@crofty69gc]

Mr sea harrier

[@tlowee]

I would be interested in hearing what he has to say about the lack of AEW capability since the retirement of Fairey Gannet?

[@krismurphy7711]

I'm always amazed when military commanders ignore truths/facts in carrying out battles and wars.

[@humbleguy4726]

Wonderful documentary. It seems Sharkey had the qualities needed to be a squadron boss and is unafraid of pressing his point regarding senior members in the Flag. The admiral came off as a chest beating gorilla who knew better than anyone else. I would guess a better admiral would say i am listening but you cannot do that because............. Anyway it is abhorrent when people lose lives over inept leadership. Why oh why could this admiral not see the air wing as an asset instead of holding them in contempt.

[@JUNIORVONWONDERLICK]

He was Topman

[@granitesevan6243]

Loads of subtle things here. He must have been trained on pistol drills, for example

[@MaxPlankton]

Not much use when you're floating around in a one man dinghy!

[@granitesevan6243]

@@MaxPlankton Just commenting on the extensive training they have

[@MaxPlankton]

@@granitesevan6243 Fair point, best use of a pistol though would be the 'Dignitas' option if ejecting over ISIS territory...

[@granitesevan6243]

@@MaxPlankton 😂😂😂 different times, eh

[@MaxPlankton]

@@granitesevan6243 Shoot fish? Seals? Gannets? I need to think more laterally haha

[@johnmichaelson9173]

Fascinating video's, thanks for the upload. If I had one criticism it would be visual, please edit out that smug shit Sandy Woodward.

[@mrpurser3136]

Greatest warplane in British history for me, a war winner, and not many planes can claim such, far superior to the F35 series, F35 will prove to be too clever clogs for its own good.

[@dstock2010]

May turn out to be true, but as we heard from Com Ward, a lot will depend on the men in the cockpits.

[@DeltaAssaultGaming]

I’m pretty sure an F35 will win an engagement with a Harrier

[@phmwu7368]

@@DeltaAssaultGaming maybe VTOL versus VTOL

[@garymoore2535]

The Harrier was designed in the 60s.......50 years before the F35 ! The Harrier was primarily designed for knocking out Tanks, not as an air interceptor.......the F35 is designed in the information age to utilise stealth. It is designed to shoot down enemy aircraft, from range, before the enemy aircraft even know that it is there. It would be disgraceful if the Harrier could compete with the F35 !

[@chrisgs8727]

The reality is that in 90% of the attacks were against defenseless aircraft without air-to-air missiles, which was almost "pigeon shooting" there were only two air duels in which Argentine planes carried missiles with which to defend themselves.

[@davidspencer7254]

Everytime I see your near copy and paste comment it screams "I don't understand war" and "I'm making excuses for the poor performance of my armed forces". If you are that bad at it, and when you take a warplane into theatre and you expect the minute you run out of air to air missiles you get a free pass then it's quite simple: Don't invade another country.

[@chrisgs8727]

@@davidspencer7254 The harriers failed in their mission, they could not prevent the Argentine bombers from attacking their ships, in fact their performance was so mediocre that they could not even prevent the Hercules freighters from operating until the last day of the war at the Malvinas airport. They boast about the success of the harrier but it is not made clear that it was almost always against planes configured to attack ships with bombs and without fuel or air-to-air missiles to engage in a dogfight. The air-to-ground role of the harriers was also mediocre, they were never able to put the Malvinas runway out of service and many were victims of the Argentine anti-aircraft artillery. Curious that someone from a colonialist country advocates not invading... I would tell him to grab the books and see that in 1833 the English invaded the islands and evicted their governor Luis Vernet and the population. The war was not won by England but was lost by the ineffective junta that had no battle plan or equipment for defense, putting the combatants at a disadvantage. Despite that, the casualties on land were very similar, and not only did we sink 6 ships but another 14 received bombs...Taking into account that England was the second power in NATO, having suffered such damage from a country underdeveloped with airplanes from the 60s or speaks very well of the Argentines...or very badly of the British...

[@briangreen6602]

Maybe their poor tactics costs them is what you are saying.

[@MaxPlankton]

@@chrisgs8727So after, if completely erroneous, attempting to denigrate the Sea Harrier and our fighter pilots your pathetic polytechnic student politics erupt on to your keyboard. Yet another internet warrior sat in smelly pants probably in some ghastly city.

[@martinjaviervergara2288]

nohthing victory in war macht death

[@rogerpattube]

Tell that to the people who live in the Falklands.

[@chrisgs8727]

The only 2 Argentine planes that carried air-to-air missiles at the time of their downing were the dagger of ardiles and the mirage of perona both on May 1. Everything else was pigeon fire against defenseless aircraft. Nothing glorious

[@maurusm9608]

The US Sidewinder save the UK Malvinas War, the Harrier its only a machine more!. The mirage, Dagger and Súper Etendard are so superior to Harry Air Machine.

[@chrisgs8727]

What you say is a HALF-TRUTH. The reality is that the merit does not correspond so much to the 9L sidewinder but to the wrong decisions of the Argentine air force 1) not to operate from the islands A4C aircraft that could carry the shafrir missile 2) not having lengthened during April the 600m of runway necessary for mirage and daggers to operate from there with air-to-air missiles. The success of the harrier/sidewinder was only because of the 21 planes shot down, 19 were absolutely defenseless without ANY air to air missile The only 2 Argentine planes that carried air-to-air missiles at the time of their downing were the dagger of ardiles and the mirage of perona both on May 1