Aftermath of Harrier landing on container ship

[HeyJoe]

Nothing like starting your career out with your Fleet Commander in Chief expressing "displeasure" at your landing performance. Royal Navy Sub-Lt "Soupy" Watson suffered a radio failure whilst flying a Sea Harrier off HMS Illustrious and when gas got too low to keep flying, he used the vertical landing capability to set down on the only ship he could find, a Spanish Container ship. The Sea Harrier was saved and is now on display in a museum. Meanwhile, the Spanish ship and its owner claimed salvage rights (500,000 pounds) and Watson got hit with a below in airmanship for getting lost in the first place. Now it turns out he was pushed into the fleet without finishing training and he launched in an aircraft with a known avionics problem. It's been over two decades, but not all the facts were released at the time. Nice bonus for the crew of the Araigo though!

 

[AllAmerican75]

Nothing like starting your career out with your Fleet Commander in Chief expressing "displeasure" at your landing performance. Royal Navy Sub-Lt "Soupy" Watson suffered a radio failure whilst flying a Sea Harrier off HMS Illustrious and when gas got too low to keep flying, he used the vertical landing capability to set down on the only ship he could find, a Spanish Container ship. The Sea Harrier was saved and is now on display in a museum. Meanwhile, the Spanish ship and its owner claimed salvage rights (500,000 pounds) and Watson got hit with a below in airmanship for getting lost in the first place. Now it turns out he was pushed into the fleet without finishing training and he launched in an aircraft with a known avionics problem. It's been over two decades, but not all the facts were released at the time. Nice bonus for the crew of the Araigo though!

That's a wild story, I bet those guys on the container ship were pretty wild-eyed when he decided to bring it in for a landing. Didn't the Brits use retro-fitted container ships during the Falklands to perform harrier and helo carrier capability?

 

[HeyJoe]

That's a wild story, I bet those guys on the container ship were pretty wild-eyed when he decided to bring it in for a landing. Didn't the Brits use retro-fitted container ships during the Falklands to perform harrier and helo carrier capability?

The Atlantic Conveyor was used to transport Sea Harriers and Wessex/Chinook helos to theatre but it didn't use as an operational platform. In fact, it got nailed by a pair of Exocet missiles. The Argentine Super Etendard pilot thought they got a carrier initially due to large radar return.

 

[Pugs]

Interesting story. Wonder what became of him? Some simple Google search didn't show anything.