ASCENSION ISSUES 2022 40th ANNIVERSARY OF THE LIBERATION OF THE FALKLANDS

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aukepalmhof
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ASCENSION ISSUES 2022 40th ANNIVERSARY OF THE LIBERATION OF THE FALKLANDS

Post by aukepalmhof » Fri Jul 08, 2022 9:54 pm

Ascension Island is a British Overseas Territory located in the South Atlantic and covers an area of 34 square miles. The island is volcanic and enjoys warm weather all year round.
There are five settlements on the island, with Georgetown being the administrative capital and port. The island is home to around 1,100 inhabitants, mostly Saint Helenians but also 200 British and 150 US Citizens.

40th Anniversary of Falklands Liberation.
Ascension Island played a decisive role in the 1982 liberation of the Falkland Islands. Until the task force had established itself in the South Atlantic, Ascension, positioned more than halfway to the Falklands, was the ideal forward operating base for “Operation Corporate”. Remote and relatively easy to defend, Ascension had good anchorage and excellent aviation facilities away from prying eyes.
In the “lessons learnt from Operation Corporate”, the Commander-in-Chief Fleet said “Although 3500 miles from the Falklands, Ascension Is. (ASI) was vital to the success of the operation. It provided an airhead for transferring men and stores to ships, an operational multi-role airfield, a communications facility and a military training area. The consequent need for facilities was met with outstanding improvisation.”
Commodore Clapp, Commander of the Amphibious Task Group went further, saying “without Ascension Island there would have been no Operation Corporate”.

Recognising the importance of Ascension and the impact on the overall operation if it were to be attacked (however unlikely) the British forces took prudent steps to defend it. Local air defence was initially provided by 3 Sidewinder armed Harrier GR.3’s (represented on the £3 value) until the arrival of three of the much more suitable 29(F) Squadron Phantom FGR.2’s from the 24th of May.

The main roles of Ascension were logistics support and as a base for RAF operations.

It should be remembered that the Task Force had sailed at short notice from various parts of the world. Ascension provided the base for the transshipping of large quantities of stores and personnel. At one stage, there were over eighty ships at anchor off the island. Early in May, a single Sea King from 202 Squadron and Chinook (represented on the 50p value) from 18 Squadron covered air transport, particularly stores movement and replenishment for shipping.

Although RAF Wideawake had a long 10,000-foot runway and extensive facilities, the demands placed on it exceeded its capacity and therefore that capacity had to be augmented. A 4-mile long pipeline was built to Wideawake Airfield and an additional 180,000-gallon bulk fuel facility installed at the airfield by the Royal Engineers. By the end of operations, Ascension had transferred just under six million gallons of aviation fuel from US tankers.

Space on the airfield became a critical factor. The apron would hold only twenty-four big jets and, on one occasion, there were twenty-six helicopters on the dispersal. The majority of movements were made up largely of Hercules bringing in sixteen million pounds of stores and six thousand personnel and the helicopters distributing these to ships at anchor. Helicopter movements outnumbered fixed wing by five to one. Incredibly, for most of the conflict there were just two Pan Am air traffic controllers. At the time Wideawake Airfield was being run by Pan Am under contract to the USAF and the contract allowed for a maximum of 285 aircraft movements per year. On the 18th of April, Wideawake became the busiest airport in the world with over 500 aircraft movements in a single day! During the campaign, it handled 2,500 fixed-wing and 10,600 helicopter flights.

Operation Black Buck, the bombing of Stanley Airfield by Vulcan aircraft (shown above Ascension on the FDC) was a feat of consummate airmanship second to none and resulted, at the time, in the longest successful combat flight in history. However, these raids would not have been possible without the refuelling capability of the Victor tankers (represented on the 20p value) and many other RAF aircraft provided an invaluable part of the overall air campaign. Air refuelling proved itself to be a formidable force extender throughout Operation Corporate. Many have commented that the Victors were the unsung heroes of operations from Wideawake.

The Landing Ship L 3036 is the RFA SIR PERCIVALE: viewtopic.php?p=12493#p12493

Ascension 2022 20p, 35p, 50p, £3.00 sg?, Scott.
https://pobjoymintstamps.com/pages/asce ... and-stamps
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