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Canberra PR.9 Falklands War, ‘Operation Folklore’ - is this a plausible scheme?


Rabbit Leader

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I suppose I should start by saying I’m aware of the official MoD line “There’s nothing to see here” with respect to No.39 Squadrons involvement in the Falklands war, however it seems to be a fascinating story and mention of this exercise in Roland Whites excellent ‘Harrier 809’ book has peaked my interest. I’ve also just read a good article in the Key.aero forum which I’ll link here


Now googling all sorts of “Canberra, Chile, Falklands” criteria has turned up two artist impressions. It would appear that no ‘official’ photos exist of these deployed Canberra’s however I was just wondering if these drawings look to be a plausible (and happy to call it) What-if scheme? I also believe there was an article in the old Warplane Magazine Part series (#36), so if anyone has this magazine and is able to supply a scanned copy of this article, it would be gratefully appreciated. Any additional information that might assist a possible build would also be a real bonus. 
 

Here are the two images in question. All comments most welcomed. 
Cheers and regards.. Dave 

 

51259304049_bf3ec94388_b.jpg

 

 

51257830612_78dc5f154d_b.jpg

 

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Hello, Dave

The scheme is not questionable, I believe Canberra PR.9 aircraft had been painted in this way throughout their service in Chile. It is less clear whether the aircraft arrived in Chile in April or October 1982. Take a look at this webpage with two photos of Canberras in CAF service and rather interesting article(s). Other photos also exist, but I could not find them on the web:

https://spyflight.co.uk/operations/#Falklands

I have a Canberra kit slated for a model in Chilean air force colours. Needless to say, I would prefer the one with Snoopy nose art. Cheers

Jure

 

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This may be of interest David also a bit of history.

 

Laurie

 

Argentina

Canberra B-108 lost in the 1982 Falklands War

The Argentine Air Force received ten B.62 bombers and two T.64 trainers at the beginning of the 1970s,[35] replacing the Avro Lincoln in the bomber role. Argentina retired its last Canberras in April 2000.[citation needed]

During the Falklands War in 1982, eight of them were deployed to Trelew, 670 mi (1,080 km) from the islands, to avoid congestion on the closer southern airfields. Although within operating range of the British task force, the Canberra was judged to be a limited threat due to its poor manoeuvrability compared with the British Sea Harriers.[113]

From 1 May to 14 June 1982, Argentine Canberras made 54 sorties; 36 of them bombing missions, of which 22 were at night against ground troops.[114] Two aircraft were lost in combat, the first to a Sea Harrier's AIM-9L Sidewinder air-to-air missile on 1 May 1982.[114] On 13 June 1982, a second Canberra B.62 of Grupo de Bombardeo 2, B-108 was shot down at 39,000 ft (12,000 m) when it was struck by a Sea Dart missile fired from HMS Cardiff.[115] The pilot ejected safely but the navigator was killed.[116] It was the last Argentine aircraft to be lost in combat during the Falklands War, with Argentine forces surrendering the next day.[117]

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Many thanks @Jure Miljevic and @LaurieS. It’s all very interesting and the ‘Snoopy’ artwork is news to me and would make for a nice model. All 

the images I’ve seen of Chilean operated PR.9’s show their national insignia in full red & blue colours, however Keith Woodcock’s painting above shows one toned down black outlined insignia on the starboard wing. I suspect no photos exist of this insignia do they? 
 

Cheers.. Dave 

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Dave

 

There may be some help here.

 

Do this on all my models. Just dump on the browser Pictures of  ????!!!!  with name of aircraft or armour & up pops many.

 

The bizarre thing found some of my own stuff popping up. Amazed first time.

 

Laurie

 

https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk02V94XPviU3B4zsdC3_fSg3faqhZg:1624184651251&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=Pictures+Canberra+PR.9+Falklands+War,+‘Operation+Folklore’+-&client=firefox-b-d&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiPub-p_6XxAhUOjRQKHR-tChEQ7Al6BAgFEA8&biw=1536&bih=690

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Hi Dave,

I have Warplane #36. PM me you email and I'll scan the article later. There's only one picture of a Canberra with Chilean marking visible on the rudder and '342' on the nose gear door but it doesn't say where the picture was taken.

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⁸Just a note about the RAF supplying film processing equipment and personnel to the Chilean AF, I worked in the recce trade during the Faklands war and although I was on 2(AC) at Laarbruch at the time, I did hear about a number of ATREL cabins with processing and interpretation equipment were 'lost' from 41 squadrons inventory but no personnel were sent with them. I moved to JARIC at Brampton a year after the war and there was talk of ATREL cabins being prepared for transportation to Chile but I never heard of or met anyone who had been sent out with them and with a trade of only 120 personnel, everybody knew everybody!

 

Also, there's mention of the Canberra being sent out with the U-2s high altitude type C camera. Firstly, I doubt very much that we would have given away a type C camera to the CAF, or the Americans allowed us to do so for that matter and definitely NOT the special film that was the real secret behind the system. Even if the camera had been used in theatre by RAF crews, the film would have had to come back to the UK for processing.

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Thanks for sharing your trade and service knowledge Blacktjet. That’s all very interesting and on one hand poses more questions whilst debunking a few theories at the same time. 
Cheers.. Dave 

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I was at RAF Wyton in 1982 and we had lots of visits from some personnel of the Chilean Air Force after the Falklands had finished, including I am sure one of their 707s. I did see some of the PR9s that were delivered to their Air Force painted up in Chilean markings. To all accounts by our painters they were very specific in how their markings were applied to these aircraft.

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Thanks @Jabba, its great to hear these first hand stories of that particular period. Now I know it’s getting close to 40 years ago, however do you ever recall seeing any PR.9’s with painted over RAF national insignia and / or those ‘outlined’ Chilean insignia whilst you were at Wyton? 
Cheers.. Dave 

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Unfortunately when the war all kicked off I was on my Nimrod 'Q' course at RAF Kinloss, so missed what went on at Wyton at the start. When I did return sometime in May I was on gate guard with a WRAF who worked in the Officers Mess who said that she served the aircrew their last meal before they departed. Sorry that this is not the answer that you were looking for. I did see PR9s with ECM pods beneath their wings though.

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14 minutes ago, Jabba said:

I did see PR9s with ECM pods beneath their wings though.

 

Thanks again, fully understand your situation although that last line I’ve just quoted is very interesting. Can you remember their typical location? Would I get away with using some typical Canberra underwing pylons at the usual wing station locations or were PR.9 pods a little different? 

Cheers again.. Dave 

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I am not sure as this was only a glance into CSF (Canberra Servicing Flight) as I walked into work in out hangar next door and was a front on view. I think that the pylon was what was normally used by a Canberra and in the usual place about halfwayish between the engine and wing tip.

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OK.. I’ve probably bothered you enough @Jabba, however one last question if I may… I take it there was only one pod fitted? Port or Starboard wing??

Cheers.. Dave (the pest). 

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For what it's worth I don't think they would have been toned down, I have talked to one of the guys involved in the preparation of the aircraft for FAC and though not specifically mentioned, he didn't say the marking were toned down. Did such a thing as the black outline markings exist in 1982? is there any examples of other front line FAC aircraft with that style of markings presentation?

John

 

 

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On 20/06/2021 at 19:49, Rabbit Leader said:

OK.. I’ve probably bothered you enough @Jabba, however one last question if I may… I take it there was only one pod fitted? Port or Starboard wing??

Cheers.. Dave (the pest). 

You are not a bother at all Dave. There is mention of the ECM pod in Harrier 809 on page 121. I think that it was fitted to the Port wing (as you say it was 40 yrs ago). I also remember that on the other wing a pod that was shaped like a Matra rocket pod, which I asked someone about it was told it was a Chaff and Flare dispenser. Both of these were painted in Dk Green.

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4 hours ago, canberra kid said:

For what it's worth I don't think they would have been toned down, I have talked to one of the guys involved in the preparation of the aircraft for FAC and though not specifically mentioned, he didn't say the marking were toned down. Did such a thing as the black outline markings exist in 1982? is there any examples of other front line FAC aircraft with that style of markings presentation?

John

 

Thanks for your reply John and I take your advice with gratitude. I'm certainly no Chilean Air Force knowledge bank, so hopefully another member may be more clued up than I am. 

Cheers.. Dave 

 

3 hours ago, Jabba said:

You are not a bother at all Dave. There is mention of the ECM pod in Harrier 809 on page 121. I think that it was fitted to the Port wing (as you say it was 40 yrs ago). I also remember that on the other wing a pod that was shaped like a Matra rocket pod, which I asked someone about it was told it was a Chaff and Flare dispenser. Both of these were painted in Dk Green.

 

I'm only up to Page 108, so will get to 121 later tonight after work and post dinner clean-up. The additional underwing details you describe are very welcomed indeed and would give any 'potential' model real credibility. 

Cheers and many thanks.. Dave 

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There were RAF Hercules roughly painted in a similar way too mate,...... I`ve seen photos from the time with the roundels roughly overpainted along with the RAF titles. Chile received a number of ex RAF Hunters as a thank you from Maggie.  

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4 minutes ago, tonyot said:

There were RAF Hercules roughly painted in a similar way too mate,...... I`ve seen photos from the time with the roundels roughly overpainted along with the RAF titles. Chile received a number of ex RAF Hunters as a thank you from Maggie.  

 

Thanks Tony, nice of you to drop by. Yes, I believe one (or two) Herc's were sent somewhere close to the action and had been hastily repainted in Chilean markings. There's mention of the fuselage Chilean Air Force titles being misspelt too? 

Cheers.. Dave 

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1 minute ago, Rabbit Leader said:

 

Thanks Tony, nice of you to drop by. Yes, I believe one (or two) Herc's were sent somewhere close to the action and had been hastily repainted in Chilean markings. There's mention of the fuselage Chilean Air Force titles being misspelt too? 

Cheers.. Dave 

Ah you`ve heard of it,.... nice one,..... yes the titles were spelt wrong. 

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13 minutes ago, tonyot said:

Ah you`ve heard of it,.... nice one,..... yes the titles were spelt wrong. 

 

Yes, however it would also be nice to know if these Herc's were also painted with the 'toned down' Chilean insignia too? 

Cheers mate.. Dave 

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28 minutes ago, Rabbit Leader said:

 

Yes, however it would also be nice to know if these Herc's were also painted with the 'toned down' Chilean insignia too? 

Cheers mate.. Dave 

It was a long time since I saw the piccies,..... I`m pretty sure they were full colour,...... leave it with me. I was showed them by a bloke at RAF Lyneham back in the 80`s who said he was on Christmas Island during the war. I`m pretty sure that XV192 and XV292 were marked as the Chilean Air Force's Hercules serial 996,.... and they were involved in Op Fingent,..... which delivered a radar to Chile. 

 

Have you see this,.... which is quite interesting;

https://www.key.aero/article/fact-or-folklore

 

Especially this quote; "But perhaps the most unusual deception was also the simplest. Although still wearing their standard RAF khaki green and dark grey camouflage, the PR9s had seen their British roundels and fin flashes painted over and replaced by the blue and red shield of the Fuerza Aérea de Chile. Removable British national markings had then been papered back on to the wings, fuselage and tail prior to undertaking the ferry flight across the Atlantic to Belize. "

 

Canberra B.2 WH876 of the AA&EE also conducted Air to Air refuelling trials with Victors and VC-10`s,..... not sure if it was to do with the PR.9`s though? The probe was situated above the nose, like the Vulcan. 

Edited by tonyot
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31 minutes ago, tonyot said:

.. papered back

 

'Papered back' .... I wonder what that exactly means? 

I have linked a Key Aero forum page in my OP, however cannot seem to be able to open your link (members only perhaps?). I do not recall reading what you've just mentioned, however will take another look and see if I've missed something? 

Interesting stuff and all very juicy. I've not long ordered a set of DP Casper 'Operation Corporate' decals which has toned down markings for PR.9 #342. It's a very tempting subject. 

 

Cheers and many thanks.. Dave 

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I`ll try to copy and paste the Key Archive page,......Hope this copies OK ( EDIT,....not bad,.... but the photos didn`t transfer,....pity,..... I`ve added the main ones of interest);

 

The question has gone unanswered for years: did RAF Canberra PR9s fly from Chilean bases during the Falklands War? Operation ‘Folklore’ was the codename given to a planned deployment — but, despite its eventual cancellation, rumours still abound. For his new book Harrier 809, author Rowland White talked to some of those involved, and researched in official archives, to investigate one of British military aviation’s most enduring mysteries

For Operation ‘Folklore’, RAF Canberra PR9s deployed to Belize in anticipation of performing reconnaissance missions over the South Atlantic. The plan called for them to fly to northern Chile, land on a stretch of the Pan-American Highway at dawn, refuel from a waiting C-130, then continue on to Punta Arenas.

COLIN ADAMS

Gp the Capt radio Colin on as Adams he got had ready for work, the Today programme a regular companion to his morning routine. After 20 years as a front-line pilot in the RAF he was now finally, and permanently, flying a desk. A varied and exotic career that had seen him deploy around the globe from South America to East Africa, and from Europe’s arctic north to the South China Sea, had given way to a posting to RAF Innsworth in Gloucester, at what was, in effect, the air force’s human resources department, responsible for every aspect of ‘light blue’ personnel and career management. It didn’t, admittedly, have the same appeal as evading enemy MiGs in the skies over Indonesia, but he’d had a good innings in the cockpit, and more fun than most.

PR9 XH173 of No 39 Squadron shows its hinged nosecone on the apron at Wyton. This aircraft later became serial 343 with the Chilean Air Force.

DENIS J. CALVERT

Radio 4’s familiar mix of news, views and interviews was usually little more than a soundtrack. Background to breakfast. But this morning it had his full attention. On the hour, the news bulletin led with a report that the New Statesman magazine had just published an article, ‘The Chile Connection’, claiming that, three years earlier, “at least” six Canberra PR9s from No 39 Squadron at RAF Wyton near Huntingdon had deployed on operations to Punta Arenas in southern Chile during the Falklands War. At the time, Colin Adams had been 39’s commanding officer.

An hour later, at RAF Rudloe Manor near Bath, he took a telephone call from a group captain in the RAF Police who told him, “I’ve been instructed to come and see you immediately”. After arriving at the 17th century manor house, beneath which a network of underground bunkers had long provided a home to RAF intelligence activity, the senior RAFP officer was ushered in by Adams.

“I’m afraid I have to speak to you under caution”, the MP explained.

“What the hell for?” asked Adams.

“It is suspected that you leaked information about the operation in Chile to the press.”

To this day, the article in the New Statesman, written by journalist Duncan Campbell, still feels authoritative. Rich with detail, it cites “many sources” and veteran ITN reporter — now Channel 4 News anchor — Jon Snow, who was based in Punta Arenas for the duration of the 1982 conflict. In his 2004 memoir, Shooting History, Snow writes that he “saw with my own eyes […] two Canberra bombers at Punta Arenas airport. They were adorned in Chilean colours, but they appeared British manned”. Already familiar with the Canberra after reporting from southern Africa, where the type served with the South African Air Force, Snow felt confident in his ability to recognise the veteran British twin-jet machine.

Ever since the appearance of the New Statesman piece, speculation, rumour and debate has raged about what No 39 Squadron’s Canberras might really have got up to in 1982. While researching my new book about the Falklands campaign, Harrier 809, I came across a letter in the National Archives titled ‘Operation Corporate — Innovations’. Copied across several naval departments, the letter included an annex containing three lines that caught my eye: “Canberra PR9 fitted with Westinghouse 101-10 ECM jammer pods (and 1 aircraft with additional internal fuel tank)”. And with that, my simple plan to tell the story of 809 Naval Air Squadron, a Sea Harrier unit hastily recommissioned a week after the invasion and then sent south to fight less than three weeks later, suddenly got a little more complicated.

Many of the RAF’s ever-diminishing fleet of PR9s underwent a major update from 1976 with the fitting of Decca TANS and the AN/ARI 18228 passive warning receiver.

DENIS J. CALVERT

After nearly a quarter of a century as a dedicated photo-reconnaissance unit, No 39 Squadron’s time was nearly up. With just five aircraft to its name, 39 was due to lose its status as a full squadron at the end of May 1982. Redesignated as No 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit, it wasn’t going to need a full-blown wing commander to run it, so squadron boss Colin Adams’s time in the cockpit of the remarkable Canberra PR9 was also coming to an end.

Just 23 PR9s were built, all by Short Brothers. Their capabilities were outstanding. Adams himself had flown one as high as 68,000ft. The System III camera capsule it had inherited from the American Lockheed U-2 meant it could see the time on Big Ben while flying at over 40,000ft above the Isle of Wight. By 1982, those that remained, carefully nurtured to preserve the dwindling fatigue life of their old airframes, were under the care of Colin Adams at Wyton. But, when the No 39 Squadron boss was first asked to consider the possibility of a Canberra deployment in support of Operation ‘Corporate’, the British effort to retake the Falklands, the plan was to leave them all at home.

Instead, attention focused on the older, but longer-ranged, Canberra PR7. These were to be borrowed from 39’s Wyton neighbours, No 100 Squadron. While three carefully chosen No 39 Squadron crews underwent a rapid conversion course, No 100 Squadron engineers prepared their aircraft. The latter’s operations record book noted with impressive disingenuousness, “Easter was marked by feverish activity to prepare 3 of the PR7s for possible deployment to Chile as part of a potential sales demonstration”. Their intended customer, however, had other ideas.

Gp Capt Sidney Edwards arrived in Chile on 14 April 1982. A former Hunter pilot, Edwards was a Spanish speaker with a background in military intelligence. His covert mission was to liaise with the Chilean military over support for the British campaign in the South Atlantic. The recent lifting of a five-year-old ban on arms exports and the normalisation of diplomatic relations between Britain and Gen Pinochet’s regime was proving to be exceptionally well-timed.

A day after his arrival in Santiago, Edwards met Gen Vicente Rodríguez, the head of Chilean Air Force (Fuerza Aérea de Chile, FACh) intelligence. Rodríguez showed Edwards around his headquarters, sharing up-to-date intelligence on Argentine dispositions, encouraging him to ask whatever he wanted of his staff and explaining that, as chairman of the country’s Joint Intelligence Committee, he could guarantee the assistance of all Chile’s armed forces. With the carrot dangled, Edwards was invited to a meeting with Gen Fernando Matthei, the FACh commander-in-chief.

“Nothing specific to discuss”, Matthei told him. “I just want to make sure you’re getting all the help you needed”. Edwards assured him he was. He had good news for Matthei in return: confirmation that six surplus RAF Hunters would be air-freighted to Chile within the week. Another seven would follow as soon as they were ready. Also now given priority treatment were Chilean requests for Blowpipe anti-aircraft missiles. With the balance of the conversation so far working largely in Chile’s favour, Edwards made a request of his own.

“Would you”, he asked, “allow us to base some RAF photo-reconnaissance Canberras in Chile?” He outlined the need for up-to-date intelligence and the exceptional imagery the PR9s would bring back while flying, he explained, “at very high altitude in Chilean and international airspace.”

“I’m familiar with the Canberra’s qualities”, Matthei told him. And he really was. Chile had wanted to add the PR9 to the FACh inventory to help with ‘land survey tasks’ for some time. Previously denied the opportunity to do so for either financial or political reasons, the general saw his opening. He let Edwards finish making his case and then turned him down.

“The Canberra is such a distinctive aircraft”, he said, “that we would not be able to keep its presence in Chile a secret”. Before Edwards had a chance to absorb the bad news, Matthei proposed an alternative arrangement. “If you were prepared to sell some to Chile at an acceptable price, the sale could be portrayed as part of Chile’s defence procurement. Obviously, some RAF air and groundcrews would be needed initially to train their Chilean Air Force counterparts.”

Edwards listened, hope rising. “There could be no better way of carrying out this training than to mount of the sort of reconnaissance sorties you’ve described”, Matthei concluded. London eagerly embraced the general’s suggestion, asking only that, at least until the ‘take’ from the first few missions was in, Chile’s acquisition of the PR9 was not made public.

While an air-to-air refuelling system for the PR9 had been designed in 1966, it had never been employed. In the end, the jet was provided with sufficient range and endurance for the South Atlantic mission through the addition of a hastily modified internal fuel tank, borrowed from a No 100 Squadron Canberra TT18 and installed in the PR9’s flare bay with components machined in the station workshop. The crew was given a single on/off switch to pump the fuel out of the new auxiliary tank as required.

Alongside the work to extend the aircraft’s range was an effort to improve its survivability. Adams and his crews considered their vulnerability to interception by Argentine fighters. The main threat, it was thought, would come from the Dassault Mirage IIIs of the Fuerza Aérea Argentina (FAA)’s Grupo 8. It had long been considered sport within the PR9 community to fish for attention from friendly fighter squadrons. In the early seventies, Canberra crews only had to include the word ‘Embellish’ when they filed their flight plan to invite them to try their luck. But while Lightning pilots were capable of reaching the altitudes flown by the Canberra, it was not the same thing as making a successful interception. And although, flying above 60,000ft, the PR9 had to be handled pretty gingerly, it was more capable of manoeuvring at that height than the fighter.

Initial plans for a potential Falklands deployment considered using the Canberra PR7, which was longer-ranged than the PR9. This PR7, WJ817, belonged to No 13 Squadron, which disbanded on 1 January 1982.

ADRIAN M. BALCH

If threatened in the skies over the South Atlantic by FAA Mirage IIIs — a machine that was known to be capable of reaching a height of more than 70,000ft — Adams was hopeful they would fare no better in a turning match than their British counterparts. But it would at least help to know they were coming, and the recently installed Marconi AN/ARI 18228/6 Sky Guardian radar warning receiver (RWR) was able to warn the Canberra crews of the frequency and bearing of enemy radars at a distance of up to 120 miles.

In the week of his meeting at Northwood, Colin Adams flew a trial using the Sky Guardian. To help crews familiarise themselves with the nature of anything the new RWR system might detect, Wyton’s Electronic Warfare Operational Support Establishment (EWOSE) prepared cassette tapes of the different radars operated by the Argentinians. And with support from A&AEE Boscombe Down and the jet’s manufacturer, No 39 Squadron’s engineers worked to reduce the PR9s’ vulnerability still further. Such was the pace of things that, as they looked to reinstate underwing pylons that had gone unused for as long as anyone could remember, they were using lengths of metal pipe they’d found stored behind the Wyton NAAFI. Adams could only applaud and admire his men’s initiative.

On Wednesday 21 April, a pair of heavily laden VC10s from No 10 Squadron, RAF climbed away from Brize Norton and set a course for Dulles International Airport in Washington. But that was not their final destination. After a night’s rest on the east coast they continued their journey west to March Air Force Base, southern California. From there they headed out over the Pacific, flying almost due south towards a small volcanic island in the South Pacific. Barely 15 miles across and located in excess of 2,000 miles west of the Latin American mainland, Easter Island was one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world. It was home to nearly a thousand carved stone heads known as Moai, and one single runway. And since 1888 it had belonged to Chile.

For public consumption, the journey by the two No 10 Squadron transports, callsigns Ascot 2830 and Ascot 2831, was coyly described as a “route training flight”, but it was nothing of the sort. As they descended towards their Polynesian destination, one passenger, Sqn Ldr Peter Robbie, thought about what might lay ahead.

Another view of XH173, this time on climb-out. The PR9’s outright performance was such that it was possible to evade enemy fighters, especially at altitude.

ADRIAN M. BALCH

One of the three Canberra pilots selected by Colin Adams for Operation ‘Folklore’, Robbie was leading the advance party. Travelling with him, loaded aboard the two VC10s, was all the support equipment required to sustain what was to be an open-ended mission.

Expected to be operating without local support, they were not travelling light. A fully supported aerial survey detachment required a minimum of 20 personnel to fly and maintain the aircraft and at least the same again to man a mobile reconnaissance intelligence centre (RIC) housed within a pair of prefabricated ATREL (Air-Transportable Reconnaissance Exploitation Laboratory) cabins. Film processors and printers were needed. A camera bay for servicing the photographic equipment required a 50ft by 30ft inflatable shelter. To keep the PR9s serviceable, the detachment had to be self-sufficient on everything from spare engines and tyres to lightbulbs. All were to be kept under cover along with generators, tools, jacks, trolleys and hydraulic rigs. Consumables like fuel, oil, hydraulic fluid and oxygen needed to be readily available. There were tents to accommodate personnel, and more tents in which to store and service the extensive array of survival kit for each pilot and navigator to fly high-altitude, long-range missions over freezing water.

No 39 Squadron PR9s on the flightline at Wyton, their home base near Huntingdon. The picture illustrates unique method of entry enjoyed by the navigator — the whole nosecone hinged sideways, allowing access to an ejection seat buried inside the fuselage ahead of the pilot’s cockpit. Once shut in, only a pair of small eye-level windows on either side provided any direct view of the outside world. While it’s not a set-up you can imagine scoring highly in Euro NCAP crash-testing, it was an excellent working environment, free of glare and reflections.

COLIN ADAMS

Once they were on the ground at Easter Island, it was Robbie’s job to get it all cross-loaded onto a pair of waiting RAF Hercules already in-country without attracting too much attention from a Soviet spy satellite thought to be passing overhead every hour-and-a-half. The two RAF airlifters both had their British roundels and fin flashes painted out and replaced with Chilean markings. One of them was identified with the words FUERZA AERA DE CHILE painted on the fuselage. In the haste to disguise their true identities ‘Aérea’ had been miss-spelt.

The two No 39 Squadron Canberra PR9s were already on their way, skirting around the northern rim of the Atlantic. Colin Adams and Brian Cole, flying XH166, led the pair. In the cockpit of the other Canberra was Flt Lt David Lord. His crewmate, sealed inside the nose of the jet, was navigator Flt Lt Ted Boyle. After leaving Wyton on 20 April, they flew north-west to Keflavík in Iceland and on to Gander in Canada. On the 21st they spent the night at Naval Air Station Bermuda, the US Navy base on St David’s Island, before continuing to RAF Belize in Central America the following day.

Much work had gone into preparing the two reconnaissance aircraft for ‘Folklore’ before their departure. A new chaff dispenser fitted in the flare bay had been trialled against a Lightning F6 from RAF Binbrook, and had successfully broken the lock from the fighter’s AI-23 Airpass radar. But a more front-footed approach to self-defence was also in train.

The pipework snaffled by No 39 Squadron engineers from round the back of the Wyton NAAFI had been put to good use plumbing ALQ-101 jamming pods, borrowed from the Buccaneer force at RAF Honington, to the freshly restored wing pylons. Proving flights over the electronic warfare range at RAF Spadeadam in Cumbria were arranged. If successful, the new kit would spoof Argentinian radars into believing the Canberra was somewhere other than where it was — a useful trick when people are trying to shoot you down.

But perhaps the most unusual deception was also the simplest. Although still wearing their standard RAF khaki green and dark grey camouflage, the PR9s had seen their British roundels and fin flashes painted over and replaced by the blue and red shield of the Fuerza Aérea de Chile. Removable British national markings had then been papered back on to the wings, fuselage and tail prior to undertaking the ferry flight across the Atlantic to Belize.

On the same day, the departure from RAF Lyneham of a No 30 Squadron Hercules C1, serial XV292, was recorded in the unit’s operations record book. All that was said about the mission undertaken by Flt Lt Morris and his four-man crew was that they were taking part in Operation ‘Folklore’. That this was an effort to deploy the No 39 Squadron Canberra PR9s to the South Atlantic was not shared.

Peter Robbie flattened himself down against the back seat of the car and pulled the blankets over to cover himself up. Each visit to the British embassy in Santiago first required permission from his FACh minder, then the same clandestine approach, the RAF flight lieutenant hidden from view like a criminal being driven from a courthouse.

There was a little less need for subterfuge as he scouted around the country, assessing FACh stations for their suitability as forward bases for the PR9 deployment. But from the moment he reached the mainland he could tell his hosts were nervous about the prospect of the Canberras’ arrival. And he knew nothing of the cover story hatched by Edwards and Matthei that Operation ‘Folklore’ was nothing more than the despatch of a British military training team to Chile, temporarily located there alongside the FACh’s newly acquired high-altitude spyplanes. It all made for an uncomfortable mission.

The distances didn’t help. The country’s northern border with Peru was further from Cape Horn in the south than London was from Timbuktu. But in the days since his arrival from Easter Island Robbie had visited five different air bases. In the end, though, all roads led to Punta Arenas in Tierra del Fuego, on Argentina’s doorstep. The epicentre of a long-standing border dispute with Argentina, it felt like the front line. The FACh maintained a detachment of armed Northrop F-5s on quick reaction alert, ready to respond to any incursion from their neighbours to the east. The civilian terminal that shared the airfield with the military had its windows papered over, while flight attendants insisted their passengers lower the blinds when flying both in and out of the airfield.

Robbie discussed the prospective PR9 operation with the FACh personnel at the base. They pointed out the poor, changeable weather, strong winds, Argentine spies and a need to operate under cover of darkness. There was a radar-equipped Argentine picket ship steaming off the coast, they said. They seemed paranoid that instead of routing south out over the Southern Ocean, the British Canberra crews would somehow drop the ball and fly directly east after take-off — and straight into Argentine airspace.

They’d like to be helpful, Robbie thought, but he got the impression they were clearly trying to scupper the whole thing. It wasn’t up to them, though. If the plan had Matthei’s backing, his subordinates had no choice but to try to make it work.

Robbie recommended that the PR9s mount their reconnaissance missions over the Falklands from Punta Arenas. But to get them there in the first place would require a little ingenuity. Lacking the range to fly direct from Belize to Punta Arenas, Robbie suggested that the No 39 Squadron jets land on a deserted stretch of the Pan-American Highway about 30 miles south of Chile’s border with Peru, refuel from a waiting RAF Hercules, then take off again from the blacktop to continue south to Tierra del Fuego.

Even this would see Colin Adams and his wingman flying into Chile on fumes. And the MoD wanted them to do it at night.

 

img-87-1.jpg

Taken in late April 1982 from the window of a departing No 10 Squadron VC10 C1, this previously unseen photograph shows a No 30 Squadron Hercules C1, its RAF markings painted out, on Easter Island alongside a Chilean Air Force C-130 (the nearest of the two Hercules). The British aircraft was deployed in support of Operation ‘Folklore’.

 

SQN LDR BILL RAGG

Every drop will count, realised the No 39 Squadron boss as he and his crews planned and refined their route to northern Chile. Since arriving in Central America communications with Peter Robbie’s advance party had been frustratingly patchy, but concern about fuel and the diplomatic complications prompted by any direct route between Belize and Chile had been constant. To have any chance of reaching their destination they were going to have to cruise-climb on a south-easterly track across Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Clearance to do so would neither be requested nor given. But intelligence suggested it was unlikely any of them had the capability to do anything about it. Beyond, though, lay Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Such a cavalier attitude to entering their airspace was likely to end badly. All three possessed modern, well-equipped air forces operating squadrons of supersonic Mirages. And Peru, more than any other country in Latin America, was vocal in its support of Argentina.

Adams suggested skirting around Peru’s 1,500-mile coastline at a distance of 100 miles. His navigator Brian Cole argued that tucking in closer at 50 miles would shave the overall distance to Chile and usefully increase their fuel margin. Crucially, being 50 miles offshore meant the RAF jets would still be flying way beyond the limits of Peru’s sovereign airspace. While Argentina’s ally might not welcome the puzzling presence nearby of a pair of Canberra PR9s dressed in FACh markings, it could not legitimately hinder their progress.

It would buy the RAF flyers a little more leeway, but they would still need either to tow the jets out to the end of the runway before starting the engines, or to taxi out and then hot-refuel at the threshold to top up the tanks before an immediate departure. Adams and his crews were no less concerned about the fine detail of their arrival in Chile. The squadron boss had already signalled No 1 Group HQ back in the UK to say the MoD demand that they land in the dark was a non-starter.

Plainly unacceptable, Cole had thought. They’d not only be very low on fuel, but would have to make a visual approach to land on a totally unfamiliar stretch of road. And landing anywhere except a runway was in no way part of No 39 Squadron’s normal repertoire. On top of that there’d be no up-to-date weather information, nor any radar control. A compromise was reached. After descending to low level at first light, the PR9 crews were to radio ahead with 15 miles to run to their Pan-American Highway landing strip. At that point a series of Verey cartridges would be fired to light a flare path to the makeshift runway. Unlikely to have the fuel to go around again, they’d get one shot at it.

 

img-88-1.jpg

Never before published, this image shows Canberra PR9 serial 341 in Fuerza Aérea de Chile markings, and with tip tanks attached, taxiing out at Wyton on 15 October 1982, ready to embark on the delivery flight to its new operator. It was in the hands of a Chilean crew, comprising — according to author Santiago Rivas in British Combat Aircraft in Latin America (Hikoki, 2019) — Col González and Capt Canales. This, as XH166, was one of the two PR9s that, still in service with No 39 Squadron, had got as far as Belize on the Operation ‘Folklore’ deployment before it was cancelled. FARLINGTON PHOTO COLLECTION

 

If anything went wrong during this last, critical phase of the flight — and running out of fuel was a real possibility — they were, Adams briefed, “to point the aircraft out to sea and eject while still over land.” In Chile, Peter Robbie boarded a disguised RAF Hercules and flew north to Arica Province. Arriving just after dawn the transport settled onto the highway on soft tyres. On board was another RAF Hercules crew and, as ever, their Chilean minders. The C-130 crew was impressed with the slickness of the FACh operation to close the road to traffic and prepare it for the arrival of the Canberras, a procedure that appeared to be practised regularly. And the dress rehearsal proved the validity of the No 39 Squadron plan. When the PR9s arrived through the soft glow of the new day, they would cross-refuel from the C-130’s own tanks before immediately taking to the air again from the road for the final leg of the journey south to Punta Arenas.

From there it was Robbie and his navigator, rather than the two crews who’d just staged south over 7,000 miles from Belize, who were tasked to fly the first ‘Folklore’ photo-reconnaissance mission out over the South Atlantic. They were all set.

Generally speaking, the Daily Star’s diet of pin-ups, prurience, celebrity news and outrage was of little interest to readers in Chile. But as the red-top covered the events in the South Atlantic with screaming 100-point headlines, there was one report that prompted deep concern in Santiago.

“Last week”, said the tabloid, “Phantom fighters secretly flew to southern Chile, via Ascension Island, from an RAF base in Suffolk. With them went six giant RAF Victor tankers to refuel them in the air… Defence sources say the Phantoms will be more than a match for the Argentinians’ 50 French Mirage fighters.”

Unfortunately for British military planners, while the RAF’s Phantoms may well have been more than a match for the Argentine Air Force, the rest of the report was completely untrue. But as he struggled to reassure his Chilean hosts, Sidney Edwards couldn’t help but wonder about the source of the story. Misinformation planted by Argentina? He thought it might be. And such was the difficulty it caused his mission in Santiago, it may as well have been. Reporters approached the British embassy for comments. And while both Chile and the UK dismissed the story about the deployment of Phantoms as baseless, their denials required careful wording. A report from Reuters that followed a few days later suggesting Britain had secured an agreement to use airfields in southern Chile only added further to unease both London and Santiago felt about the imminent deployment of the No 39 Squadron Canberra PR9s from Belize.

Despite the tempo of events in the South Atlantic, No 39 Squadron held its formal disbandment parade at Wyton towards the end of May 1982. PR9 XH170 is at the rear. The RAF PR9 fleet was transferred to a resurrected No 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit, only for No 39 Squadron to itself be re-established on 1 July 1992 with the somewhat unwieldy title of No 39 (1 PRU) Squadron, thus retaining both historic identities. It was disbanded again on 30 July 2006 with the phase-out of the venerable PR9. Since March 2007, 39 has been in existence once more, operating General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper UAVs from Creech AFB, Nevada but with its headquarters at Waddington.

DENIS J. CALVERT

In the mess at Belize, Adams and his crews listened to the BBC World Service as they planned the mission ahead. The weather, gleaned from normal commercial airline met reports, was favourable. But the dangers and difficulties were hard to ignore: an illegal climb through Nicaraguan and Costa Rican airspace in radio silence with their IFF (identification friend or foe) transponders turned off before a long, anxious, high-altitude cruise around Argentina’s west coast allies, and a gasping arrival on an unfamiliar road in Chile in the grey light of dawn. Hell or bust, thought the squadron boss.

Then, at lunchtime on the day when, after nightfall, they were expecting to deploy, they were told it was scrubbed. Operation ‘Folklore’ was off. No explanation was given. Adams and his men were bitterly disappointed. So much effort had been put in and, for all the risks, they were confident of being able to do what was required of them and make a valuable contribution to the British campaign to retake the islands. But the possibility that the operation might be exposed and the political and diplomatic fall-out that would follow had clearly been deemed too great.

No 39 Squadron disbanded at the end of May as planned. Two days earlier, a Canberra PR reunion attracted 600 visitors to Wyton. To mark the occasion the crowd was treated to a display by the Red Arrows, followed by a flypast from a single PR9. The absence of a larger formation was used in the New Statesman article to lend weight to subsequent speculation that the squadron’s aircraft were otherwise engaged.

So too did the appearance of a high-altitude reconnaissance photograph of the airfield at Port Stanley that captured the damage done by the RAF’s long-range Vulcan raids. The photograph has subsequently been credited to a Harrier or Sea Harrier flying from a carrier, but that often raises a quizzical eyebrow from those with experience of photo-reconnaissance. And, to this day, Jon Snow remains adamant that he and his cameraman, Alan Downes — “a bit of a plane-spotter” — saw two Canberras on the ground at Punta Arenas during the war.

Such has been the official sensitivity over both Chile’s support and its willingness to let the British mount operations from inside its borders that inconsistencies and tantalising loose threads remain. The Hercules that the No 30 Squadron ORB records supporting Operation ‘Folklore’ from 25 April was photographed on the apron at Easter Island the day before.

A few years after the war, an aviation journalist visiting No 1 PRU at Wyton was shown around a PR9 by one of the aircrew. Pointing at a series of holes in the underside of the wing just inboard of the wingtips, the pilot told him, “This was where the tip tanks were attached. We used them over the islands. We were at maximum radius without them, but if we dropped the tanks we had 15 to 30 minutes over the islands”. Asked to elaborate, it seemed to suddenly dawn on him that perhaps he’d already said too much. And yet, so long after the fighting, it seems entirely plausible for an exaggerated narrative about 39’s involvement to have taken root at Wyton, alluded to through nods and winks among those not directly involved. Even as No 39 Squadron personnel prepared ‘Folklore’ in Chile and Belize, back home hard information was shared on a need-to-know basis. “Those who were involved in operations did not talk about them”, said a former Wyton station commander, “and those directly involved did not ask.”

 

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Two of the Fuerza Aérea de Chile’s three ex-RAF Canberra PR9s over the Andes. Serial 341 had been XH166, and 343, leading this formation, was formerly XH173. The other aircraft, 342, had XH167 as its RAF identity — it was lost in an accident during a mission near Punta Arenas on 25 May 1983. The last active survivor was 343, after 341 sustained minor damage in a runway excursion in 1988. Much the same thing happened with 343 during April 1994, at Santiago’s main Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport, following which it too was retired. Both are today preserved by the Museo Nacional Aeronáutico y del Espacio at Los Cerrillos, Santiago — their former base with Grupo de Aviación No 2.

VIA ROWLAND WHITE

 

As tantalising as the prospect of covert PR9 operations in 1982 remains, hard evidence points in the other direction. ‘Corporate’ air component commander Air Marshal Sir John Curtiss was sufficiently exercised by the absence of adequate reconnaissance that he drafted a paper during the war giving voice to his concerns. Alongside him at Northwood, No 18 Group commander AVM George Chesworth, in whose office the ‘Folklore’ planning cell was located, was also to reflect on the absence of PR9 imagery. “We had good satellite coverage”, he said, but what was required was “real-time recce”. Even if No 39 Squadron had been able to provide that, he noted, “it would have been hard to get products of the recce back”. It was all very well developing photographs in Chile using the RIC, but getting the ‘take’ into the hands of Task Force commanders was another matter, although Colin Adams proposed to air-drop it to the Task Force at sea from the Canberra’s flare bay.

No-one had thought to inform the Prime Minister of all this. Well-briefed on the PR9’s capability after No 39 Squadron had been put on stand-by earlier in the year when her son, Mark, went astray during the Paris-Dakar rally, she asked to see the imagery from ‘Folklore’. Furious to learn that the operation had been scrubbed, a hand-bagging followed.

Even after the war the challenges of operating Canberras in the South Atlantic remained. When in September 1982 there was a request for an aerial survey of the Falklands and South Georgia, the MoD said, “initially this looks a ‘no go’ project because of numerous problems”, before going on to consider the options for getting PR9s into theatre. You could fly east. Once the Foreign Office had discounted the possibility of routing through Brazil, the alternative, flying via Malaysia, Australia, Fiji, Tahiti, Easter Island, Santiago and Punta Arenas, would require 48 hours’ flying time spread out over two weeks. And even that was pushing it. The leg between Tahiti and Easter Island would need both the new internal fuel tank and tip tanks. Once again, modifying the Canberras for air-to-air refuelling was mooted, at an estimated cost of £25,000 per aircraft. Finally, there was the idea of dismantling the jets, shipping them to the islands by sea, and then reassembling them at Stanley. This was acknowledged to be a one-way trip and suggested using aircraft “destined for the scrap heap”. But Canberra PR9s and British aircrew did eventually make it to Chile.

At the controls of the PR9 that flew across the flightline at the 29 May reunion was Sqn Ldr Dave Watson. While Watson didn’t deploy to Central America with the ‘Folklore’ operation, he had been active in support of it, flying trials with the jammer pod and chaff dispenser and to assess the aircraft’s stability with the new flare bay fuel tank fitted. His involvement with Chile became rather more direct with the arrival of three FACh crews at Wyton in August.

The six Chilean airmen had already undergone the Canberra conversion course at RAF Marham before arriving at No 1 PRU to learn to fly the PR9 in its intended role. Dave Watson was their instructor. While he shepherded the six pilots — three of whom had been required to train as navigators — through nearly two months of training, the station engineers prepared three PR9s for their transfer to the FACh.

The aircraft were formally handed over to the Chilean air attaché, Gen Ramón Vega, at a ceremony at Wyton on 14 October. The next day, the three Canberras left Wyton for Santiago, staging through the Canary Islands, Senegal, Cape Verde, Brazil and Paraguay. Supporting them during the long journey to their new home at Los Cerrillos with Grupo de Aviación No 2 was an FACh C-130. On board the Hercules, looking forward to a three-month deployment to South America to help the Chileans usher their new acquisitions into front-line service, were Dave Watson, Brian Cole and another former No 39 Squadron engineer, drafted in from a posting to Strike Command because of his expertise in the camera kit. Of the three PR9s being transferred to the FACh, one, XH166, was the aircraft Cole and Adams had flown no further than Belize during Operation ‘Folklore’

The RAF training team remained in Chile until December. To maintain currency during their time away from Wyton, Watson and Cole flew in the PR9 at least once a week. In the company of a FACh crewmate who handled the Spanish-language RT, they used their time in the air to help develop their hosts’ profficiency in the art of photo-reconnaissance. But, conscious of the ongoing political and diplomatic sensitivities in the region, Watson was only too aware that “you had to be a bit careful…”

At Rudloe Manor, Colin Adams was flabbergasted. Told he was suspected of having leaked information to the press, the former No 39 Squadron boss asked, “Who the hell thinks I would possibly do that? There must have been 80 people or more who knew about the operation”. The RAF policeman diligently transcribed Adams’s reaction in his notebook before asking a few further questions. But his heart didn’t seem to be in it. And, after he’d finished scribbling, he closed his notebook and started to smile. “I’m sorry”, he said, “but I was politically instructed that I had to interview you.”

Chilean and British crews and personnel with a Canberra PR9 during the FACh contingent’s training in the UK. Having first received instruction on type with No 231 Operational Conversion Unit at Marham, flying Canberra B2s and T4s, they transferred to Wyton to learn how to fly and operate the considerably more capable PR9.

CLAUDIO CÁCERES GODOY ARCHIVE VIA SANTIAGO RIVAS

“That’s barmy”, Adams told him. On that, they were both agreed. So too, it seemed, were more senior figures in the air force. Adams, despite his questioning ‘under caution’, was subsequently promoted to become station commander at RAF Akrotiri, and then defence attaché in Paris. But, after the arrest of civil servant Clive Ponting later in 1985 for leaking classified details of the sinking of the Belgrano, he imagined something similar had happened over ‘Folklore’.

The truth, though, has never been confirmed nor denied. Nearly 40 years on from the Falklands campaign, details of the No 39 Squadron deployment and other covert RAF operations that took place in Latin America during 1982 remain classified.

Edited by tonyot
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