Description

In April 1982,  Argentina invades the Falkland Islands.  In response, Britain despatches a naval Task Force. Eight thousand miles from home, its fate hinges on just twenty Sea Harriers against the two hundred-strong might of the Argentine Air Force.  The odds against them are overwhelming.  The MoD’s own estimates suggest that half the Harriers will be lost within a week. Against this background, 809 Naval Air Squadron is reformed, trained and sent south to fight.  Not since WWII had so much been expected of such a small band of pilots.  Combining ground-breaking research with the pace of a thriller, Rowland White reveals the full story of the fleet’s knife-edge fight for survival for the first time, and shows how the little jump jet went from air-show novelty to sealing its reputation as an icon of British aviation, alongside the Spitfire and the Hurricane.