Harrier 809

'Without the Sea Harrier there could have been no Task Force' - Admiral Sir Henry Leach, First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff 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 groundbreaking 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 airshow novelty to sealing its reputation as an icon of British aviation, alongside the Spitfire and the Hurricane.