ABSTRACT
During the afternoon of 24 April a Boeing 707 overflew Endurance while in Hound Bay. Captain Barker assessed that he had been detected. More disturbing news was then picked up from BAS personnel at Bird Island who reported sighting two warships (which were in fact British), two small jets as well as a Boeing 707 aircraft in their vicinity. In the face of possible multiple threats Barker requested support. When the Boeing passed over him, as he was on a secure line to Northwood, Barker asked for permission to attack as it was probably passing his position to the Santa Fe. The request was refused: the ROE were still that only aircraft posing a direct threat could be attacked. 1 The BAS intelligence was recognised to be anomalous: there was no other evidence that enemy warships were in the area, nor of an Argentine capability to get ground attack aircraft to South Georgia using in-flight refuelling. Intelligence indicated that there had been few improvements to the Stanley runway. Nonetheless Barker felt that the whole operation was losing momentum and proposed a plan for landing his small number of embarked SAS and SBS to take Grytviken. His force was judged insufficient to the task and his method too hazardous for his ship.
