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58MORNING DISCUSSION PERIODCdre Toby Elliott. Before I ask my question, as I am, I believe, the onlyRN member of the RAF Historical Society, perhaps I can offer a navalperspective. I was Captain of HMS Resolution at the time; we had justgone on QRA, for what was expected to be a standard 72-day deterrentpatrol, when I was awoken by the Officer of the Watch to say that theFalkland Islands had been invaded by the Argentineans. I switched onmy radio in time to catch the World Service news bulletin. Thisconfirmed that the Falklands had been invaded but reassured us that itwas alright, because the first British submarine, HMS Resolution, wasalready off Buenos Aires with its missiles trained (Laughter) %u2013 whichcame as something of a surprise, I can tell you!I was very taken by Ron Dick%u2019s lovely story about the Soviet admiralenquiring as to whether the Russian submarines were being of any help,but I doubt that he will have been referring to the dozen or so Russiansubmarines that were out beating up the Norwegian Sea and the NorthAtlantic looking for HMS Resolution.But, to my question. I just wondered whether, when Sir JohnFieldhouse was being briefed on the amazing efforts required to get onebomb over the airfield, he ever asked whether it might not be a good ideato go back to aircraft carriers?Sir John Curtiss. No he didn%u2019t! (Laughter) He was a submariner ofcourse!AVM George Chesworth. I would just add that Sandy Woodwardthought it was a tremendously good idea that the Vulcans went down.Air Cdre Max Bacon. Perhaps I could offer an observation. Even if wehad had conventional aircraft carriers with fixed-wing aeroplanes, Idoubt that they would have been able to operate as effectively as theHarriers did because of the rough weather conditions in the SouthAtlantic. V/STOL aircraft could continue to take off and land with apitching deck and wind strengths which would probably have precludedoperations by fixed-wing aircraft, so conventional carriers probablywouldn%u2019t have been the answer.Mike Meech. Mention was made of Ships Taken Up From Trade, but Ibelieve that we were also obliged to hire civilian aircraft to assist withthe deployment, some of these being ex-RAF Belfasts. Were there any