HMS Ark Royal

Lago de Maracaibo

Venezuela

Lat = 9 degrees, 48.1 minutes North

Long = 71 degrees, 31.5 minutes West

Thursday 5th January 1989

Zero hundred hours and forty-two minutes

Five hours behind GMT

The two FRS-1 Sea Harriers call signs Razor’s 3 and 4 had been on standby on the Ark Royals main deck, since the Sea kings had left.

Both pilots had been waiting patiently for their orders; for the last thirty-minutes, their sliding cockpit canopies still open allowing the cool breeze in from the lake.

For the mission they were armed with two Sea Eagle air to surface missiles, four Sidewinder air-to-air missiles and there standard Two 30mm Aden cannon.

The radio hissed for a second followed by the order they had been awaiting from the ships control tower.

“Razor’s 3 and 4 you are a go; I repeat you are a go for

lift off over.

Razor 3’s pilot Daniel Sharpe (Danny boy) the lead aircraft replied, “Roger that tower.”

Razor 4’s pilot Thomas White (Chalky) also responded, “roger that tower.”

Both pilots Signalled to the flight deckhand crew

signalman to start up the engine, by rotating their index and middle finger, the signalman checked it was all clear and returned the same signal using illuminated wands.

Both pilots powered up the single Rolls Royce Pegasus Mk 104 vectored-thrust turbofan engines, and then signalled for the chocks to be removed by a sweeping motion of the fists outwards with thumbs extended.

A deck crew operative moved in and removed the chocks from both aircraft, and the signalman confirmed to the pilots that this had been done.

Both pilots had earlier completed pre-flight checks on all the flaps, ailerons, rudder, jet nozzle rotations and exterior lights, both pilots signalled for a final check for clearance underneath with their left hand open palm out, using a sweeping motion across cockpit from right to left.

The signalman gave the final ready signal waving a single wand upwards in a circular motion.

The pilots slid their canopies to the closed position,

the engines powered up wing flaps positioned down and the brakes were released, with the jet nozzles, pointing down

at a ninety degrees angle, the power was directed to the flight deck and in a few seconds both Sea harriers were

lifting off to clear the deck.

The pilots then rotated the jet nozzles to Zero degrees aft directing the thrust to the rear and both Sea Harriers accelerated forward and began lifting up into the night sky with the landing gear being retracted.

They both quickly achieved their cruising speed of five hundred and twenty-eight miles per hour, initial heading of two hundred and ten degrees southwest ascending to an altitude of fifteen thousand feet; flight time to targets, twenty one minutes and sixteen seconds.