Well it’s 30 years since the Falklands was and this is one of the few game period areas which I have lived through and are willing to play games in. I have always been interested in the air war for the Falklands. So, now in this post I show my completed aircraft for this project with the planes for those scenarios (using CY6! Jets rules). Although I don’t have all the aircraft from the conflict, I do have enough for some interesting games.
I bought some 1/600 aircraft for this conflict earlier in the year. Before the end of the 30th anniversary year, it seemed appropriate to finish these off. You can see all the aircraft below:
So first, the British Sea Harriers. I have four painted up in a replica of the ‘dark grey’ that the Royal Navy field painted on the planes on the way down to the Falklands. This was the typical of the colours used in the aircraft but this was not standard – it was mixed on the ships on the way down. So I think it’s close but it may not be. The two other planes are in more traditional Royal Navy paint scheme, which the later planes which were flown down later were in I believe. So all these can be used without an issue.
That’s all the for the British. I could do a Vulcan Bomber, but that had no air to air engagements in the conflict.
So the rest of the aircraft are Argentinian. First we have 4 Super Etendard aircraft. These were the nasty threat for the British, especially as they could carry the deadly Exocet missile. There were not many of them in the Argentinian Navy, but these allow me to field them in games if desired.
Next we have the A-4 Skyhawks. These were the typical low level attack aircraft used by the Argentinians. These were involved in many of the air raids on shipping so are good for air battles with the Sea Harriers doing CAP.
The next aircraft are the Mirage 3/AIA Dagger planes. These were often used as escorts to the A-4 Skyhawk’s by the Argentine forces – both Navy and Air Force on combined raids. They are also so close as to be interchangeable with 1/600 planes and in the CY6! Jets game.
Lastly, some Aermacchi MB-339 aircraft – which were light attack aircraft based in Port Stanley. These again can be attack aircraft which the Sea Harriers can target in a CAP role.
Finally, a picture of all the aircraft from the top down view.
I look forward to trying out the CY6! Jet rules with these, but to be fair, if modeling the real world scenarios these will likely support 2 to 4 players, vs the normally larger multi-player games we tend to play. But that’s ok, I really am planning to use these for the times when there are fewer players around.
Looking forward to seeing these on the table, fo’ sho’