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102HARRIER OPERATIONS %u2013 No 1 SqnAir Chief Marshal Sir Peter SquireSir Peter was commissioned from Cranwell in 1966and spent the early years of his career flyingHunters, both as a DFGA pilot and as a QFI.Converting to the Harrier in 1975, he commandedNo 1 Sqn during Operation CORPORATE.Following command of the TTTE at Cottesmore, hissenior appointments have included SASO HQ STC,AOC 38 and 1 Gps, ACAS, DCDS (Programmesand Personnel), AOCinC STC and CinC AlliedForces Northwestern Europe. He took up his current appointment asCAS in April 2000.When news of the Argentinean invasion of the Falkland Islands wasannounced, No l(F) Sqn was deeply involved in preparing for a majorexercise in Canada. The first question that came to everybody%u2019s mindwas the inevitable, and somewhat ignorant, %u2018Where are the FalklandIslands?%u2019. Having glanced at a map and seen the distances involved, itseemed to me that if we were to become embroiled as a squadron, theonly reasonable place to be would be in reserve at Rio. As that seemedquite beyond the bounds of possibility, we got back to planning ourCanadian exercise.Having said that, and although based in the UK, No l(F) Sqn wouldalways have deployed elsewhere in times of tension. At the time, it wasdeclared to NATO as a reinforcement squadron with deployment optionsin all Regions of ACE. As such, the squadron had to be capable ofautonomous operations from a %u2018bare base%u2019, albeit one that had beenproperly surveyed and to which we may have conducted exercisedetachments.On an operational deployment, therefore, the squadron%u2019s peacetimeestablishment was heavily supplemented by specialist sub-units (sappers,signallers, second-line engineering, caterers and RAF Regiment) toprovide the essential support required to make such a concept feasible.Because of this capability for bare base operations and the fact thatNo 1(F) Sqn was the only Harrier squadron qualified in air refuelling, itwas not, therefore, altogether surprising that we should become involvedin the campaign, although if anyone had told me in March 1982, when