Soviets in the South Atlantic!
 

Hello, Hello.

I recently find a very interesting article, in this russian magazine, about Soviet tu-95 missions during the 1982 South Atlantic War.

TOP SECRET

A very interesting cold war vignette.


http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/5...andharrier.jpg

(Pic not in the article, taken from HMS Antrim upper deck, credits to Mr. Bolton)

This is old news and visits to the Task Force operating areas by Soviet naval aviation TU-95's has been mentioned in a number of Falklands war accounts.

First one from the Soviet side though, nice find.

What's that just behind and above the Bear? It must be a fighter from the carrier. Look how close they are.

It looks like a fighter indeed, but it also looks to be slightly behind and inside the wingtip of the Bear, maybe even outside the wingtip. The perspective just makes it look like it's really close to the Russian's arse.

My first thought was maybe a Jaguar. Really difficult to tell with such a small image, though. Looking at the URL leading to the image tells of a Harrier:

http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/5...andharrier.jpg


A closer look.
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/pict...pictureid=1437

The wings start to come in a little better, albeit blobby. That's the best I can do with IrfanView. :haha:

I guess allied fighters escorting Bears through restricted airspace is something of a tradition!
http://www.xairforces.com/images/new...-over-Nort.jpg

Works both ways, somewhere around here I have a picture of a MiG-29 clipping a P3 Orions prop with its tail. :hmmm:

Apparently, the escorting fighter is a Sea Harrier from 801 Sqn, based on Invincible at the time.

Finally, I wrote an article about Soviets in the South Atlantic 1982.

LINK

It was published in spanish, but the web site translated it automatically into english.

In any case, just the pictures of British taken by Soviet spy ships and planes are worth watching.

Regards!