"My Secret Falklands War" by Sidney Edwards

[Latinbear]

I came across this book while browsing in the local Waterstone's earlier this week. It's a slim volume of only 96 pages but at £7.99 very reasonably priced. Sidney Edwards was a fluent Spanish speaking former Hunter pilot with the rank of Wing Commander and working in the Defence Sales organisation when he was dispatched to Chile at the outbreak of the Falklands War. His job was to persuade the Chileans to help us in the war against Argentina to reclaim the islands and in this regard he was clearly successful.

Over the years I have read various suggestions that Canberras were sent down to Chile and that is true but only after the war had finished. What I didn't know was that a Nimrod was based on an island 700 miles from the Chilean coast and refuelling at night on the mainland prior to flying its missions. The mark isn't given but presumably it was an R1. RAF C130s re-painted in Chilean AF markings provided supplies. The Author also addresses the issue of the SAS mission that is covered in Richard Hutchings' book "Special Forces Pilot".

This is a very nicely written little book and in answer to the question "why now?" the answer is that the 30 years rule is up thereby allowing more information about lesser know aspects of the war to be told.

The fact that the picture of F4s is not of the RAF variety doesn't detract from what is a really good read. Now if only some of the Nimrod or C130 crews can be persuaded to tell their story.

[Alpha Delta 210]

Thanks for that, Latinbear. Sounds like a very interesting read.

[PLC1966]

Good spot chap.

[Smudge]

I will seek it out.

Cheers for the heads up, I need a good book for my Holidays!!

[Alpha Delta 210]

£3.99 on Kindle.

[Latinbear]

Unless you are off on a very short holiday then you might want to take more than this book with you. I found it sufficiently absorbing that it I read it in one session.

£3.99 is less than the cost of a magazine for all you Kindle readers.

Long live paper! (albeit the trees might have a different view of course).

[Dave Batt]

Sounds like a good counterpoint to the islanders' view which is well recorded in a book by John Smith called "97 days", which in one place describes how the author established a rapport with an Argentine officer due to their shared interest. The officer was greatly impressed by a Heller Rapide that the author was in the middle of building.

Apologies if I've got the title wromg, the book isn't to hand at the moment, but Mr Smith stil gets a lot of support on the island as he tries to acclimatise the military as they rotate through the base.

Edited August 5, 2014 by Dave Batt

[Graham Boak]

If RAF Canberras did not operate from Chile until postwar, whose were the Canberras seen on a Chilean airbase immediately before the British fleet reached the islands? And was the photo of the bombs craters on Stanley airport not taken by a PR Mk.9?

Chile didn't get Canberras until after the war.

[Latinbear]

Graham - according to Chapter 10 of the book there was a great deal of urgency attached to the siting of Canberras in Chile to in order provide the required intelligence. Knowing something of the Canberra's capabilities the Chileans were keen to have the aircraft on their soil so that they too could benefit from the intelligence it provided. It was agreed that we would sell the aircraft to the Chileans but the issues of timing the announcement of a sale and the basing of the aircraft arose. The RAF wanted them in the south of Chile to give the Canberras the maximum range and where they would be closer to the areas of interest while the Chileans wanted them in the north where they would be less likely to be discovered. A repainted RAF C130 arrived at a military base outside Santiago carrying ground crew, spares etc while two PR9s flew to Belize to await instructions. However a story appeared in the press claiming that RAF F4s had been flown to Punta Arenas in Chile and were to be used against the Argentines. This story resulted in further delays to the deployment of the PR9s and led to other methods of intelligence being pursued in the absence of the Canberras. Eventually the aircraft were sent home from Belize and the RAF 130 and personnel were also sent home.

As we now know two aircraft were sold or given to the Chileans shortly after the war ended.

I can't comment on reports of Canberras in Chile before the fleet arrived off the islands or who provided the post-attack photos on Stanley Airport; I'm simply summarising part of the book's content.

[Jabba]

Three PR9 Canberras were given/sold to Chile.

[Nigel Bunker]

Thanks for the heads up, gentlemen. I bought a copy and read it over the weekend - a fascinating read.

[luis pacheco]

The mark isn't given but presumably it was an R1. RAF C130s re-painted in Chilean AF markings provided supplies.

The C-130 had the Chilean markings misspelled: "Furza Aerea Chilena"

Edited August 11, 2014 by luis pacheco

[Latinbear]

The British reputation for effort and expertise in other countries' languages remains intact then!

[Max Headroom]

The C-130 had the Chilean markings misspelled: "Furza Aerea Chilena"

Is it worth asking for photos?

Trevor

[adrianm2]

The C-130 had the Chilean markings misspelled: "Furza Aerea Chilena"

Hi Luis:

The British C-130 that operated with chilean markings during the Falklands war were

easy to to identify by the misspelling of the word "AEREA"

The RAF C-130 had writted

"FUERZA AREA DE CHILE"

You can watch a video on youtube where a FACH general talks about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCtYn9gYwgA#t=10

I`m still lookimg for pictures of them...

Adrian

[luis pacheco]

Hi Luis:

The British C-130 that operated with chilean markings during the Falklands war were

easy to to identify by the misspelling of the word "AEREA"

The RAF C-130 had writted

"FUERZA AREA DE CHILE"

You are right, Adrian.

The misspeling was "AREA" and not "Furza".

In the 80´s a Brazilian publisher launched a collection of verses titled "Aviões de Combate" and I believe in one of the numbers they show the photo of the C-130.