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82implementation of station defence plans, the despatch of RAF personnelfrom the UK without their personal weapons and the infinite variety ofdress among Service and civilian personnel which made it very difficultto identify any potential intruders.The Voyage SouthOn 12 May No 63 Sqn embarked on RMS Queen Elizabeth II atSouthampton and sailed for Ascension and South Georgia that afternoon.The squadron%u2019s heavy equipment %u2013 fire units, radars, missiles, stores andspares %u2013 together with its forty-eight prime movers and forty-four trailershad already been loaded on Atlantic Causeway at Devonport and hadsailed the previous day with only five squadron airmen on board.On board QE II No 63 Sqn became responsible for co-ordinating theair defence of the ship by the embarked Army and RAF Regiment units,using 7.62mm and .50\During the voyage No 63 Sqn was unexpectedly declared to be a %u2018ForcesAsset%u2019 and was transferred from the command of HQ 5 Infantry Brigadeto the direct control of Commander Land Forces Falkland Islands(CLFFI). A solitary Regiment officer was transhipped from QE II toHMS Fearless to act as the Rapier liaison officer at HQ CLFFI where,being without communications and support, he was unable to exerciseany influence on the Rapier defence of the Harrier FOB.The LandingQE II arrived off Grytviken on 28 May and No 63 Sqn%u2019s personnelwere cross-decked to three different ships: SS Canberra, MV Norlandand RFA Stromness, with the result that the Squadron Commander wasdeprived of control of his unit at a critical stage of the operation. Therationale for this was that the anti-aircraft defence of the ships by thesquadron%u2019s machine guns on the passage to San Carlos took precedenceover the timely and effective deployment of the Rapier defence of theHarrier FOB.Atlantic Causeway arrived at San Carlos on 1 June and over the next24 hours the Regiment liaison officer in CLFFI%u2019s HQ and the fivegunners on Atlantic Causeway, with some assistance from the RoyalEngineers, managed to get all the squadron%u2019s vehicles and equipmentashore by using Mexefloats, which was a somewhat precariousoperation. Norland arrived on the morning of 2 June and Canberrafollowed that afternoon but Stromness did not reach San Carlos until the