An extremely one-sided and biased description of the Falkland war from one Harrier chief pilot.

The author spends pages and pages complaining about his superiors and the chain of command, and just about any serviceman not part of his crew. Of course his own team's failings are downplayed.

It's still a generally interesting story, and I suppose the "unique" perspective does give it some flavor. But frankly, this book was almost not worth reading. ( )

Cdr Sharkey Ward's book is an outstanding read. He pulls no punches and affords praise to a number of individuals but is critical of various parts of UK armed forces, particularly the Royal Air Force; he, so I am told, later modified considerably his criticism of the Flag in HMS Hermes as he learned more of their part in the story. All military pilots will benefit from reading his story, maverick he may be but an outstanding pilot and a winner at war. ( )

This book took a little longer to complete than normal, but not because it was a dull read, anything but, but I re-read some parts of it to get the right mental picture in my mind. I was just a young fella when the Falklands War took place, but there are parts of it that really stick in my mind – sinking of the Belgrano, A4s attacking the British landing forces, sinking of the Sheffield – and while there was a fair bit of back slapping for the Harrier jump jets, this book paints the real story.

This is written by the Squadron Leader of one of the Sea Harrier units, ‘Sharkey’ Ward who is referred to as a ‘maverick’, and he calls it as he sees it, and certainly does not hold back at lashing out at seniority and old way of thinking in the modern world of warfare.

While that theme pops up now and again, especially in the final chapters (which certainly shows the hierarchy and bureaucracy I saw first hand in the Navy), it is his first-hand narrative of the transit south, the battle, dog fights and the aftermath that makes this a very good book to read. While I have played a lot of video games involving jets, I did get lost in some places trying to re-enact manoeuvres in my head, hence the re-reading of some passages. But all in all, a great book, with some shocking revelations – a completely different view-point from the propagandist carry-on I remember at the time…mind you, I was 10.

It has got me wanting to read a book referred to by Ward, Sandy Woodward (Flag Admiral of the Task Force) wrote a conflicting view-point, 100 Days. ( )

First review by a "girl" perhaps! - although the author told me he had (perhaps still has) a 95-year-old female fan. I am currently working with him on a project entirely unrelated to his flying career. This is not the sort of book I would normally read, but a copy was handed to me on a BA flight, when I was due to meet Sharkey on arrival at our destination. I read about a third of it on the flight (the rest later), and found it fascinating. I confess I skipped one or two pages (but only two maximum) where he goes into detail about what happens when you "pickle" this or that button on the controls, but the rest - the psychology of it, the politics between the various factions, the whoosh of speed in the sky, the vast distances covered, the thrilling action and the unexpected events and setbacks - had me hooked.
Then on arrival I had the rather surreal experience of having the same person speaking to me in the flesh as had been speaking to me through his book on the flight.
He writes very well. It's one of those serendipitous meetings of an articulate individual with a rare story to tell. I give it four stars only because I did stumble over some of the heavily technical bits, and there's rumour that it doesn't represent an entirely balanced view. However, Sharkey's view is an excellent read and highly recommended - even for girls. ( )

This is an account of the Falklands War from the perspective of Commander "Sharkey" Ward, the CO of squadron 801, a squadron of Sea Harriers, based on HMS Invincible during the war.

"Sharkey" tells a good story and his accounts of the many engagements with enemy aircraft make for an exciting read.

Conmander Ward has a no-bullshit approach to writing and pulls no punches . He is forthright in his criticism of people who he believed did not fully trust in the capabilities of the Sea Harrier and especially the 'Blue Fox' radar that it was equipped with. The sister carrier HMS Hermes comes in for much criticism, both the 'Top Brass' and the members of the other squadron, 800. He believes that underestimating the capability of the plane and its equipment, as well as lower 'standards' led to unnecessary mistakes being made, such as leaving a hole in the ring defences which allowed HMS Sheffield to be sunk.

This catalogue of criticism & discord made for a difficult read at times. From the media at the time no impression was given of these difficulties, so at the outset of the book you might imagine that it will be a sort of 'Boys Own Adventure' of 'How we Retook the Falklands', but, if "Sharkey" is to be believed, it was a closer run thing than was necessary.

This is another problem, of course it's the war seen through Commander Ward's eyes, and at times you want to hear things from the other side (HMS Hermes that is, not the Argentinians!) to get a bit of balance.

The RAF are singled out for particular scorn, especially the 'Black Buck' missions as outlined in Vulcan 607 ( http://www.librarything.com/work/1073021 ) which he regards as a gross waste of money & fuel. A job which could have been done as well by the Sea Harrier, in his opinion. He is critical of the RAF's 'muscling in' on the glory, most of which, he believes, should by rights belong to the Fleet Air Arm.

Overall, though, I'm very glad I cast my 'Mark I Eyeball' (as "Sharkey" would put it) across these pages. An excellent read for anyone interested in the Falklands War and the Sea Harrier. ( )