I found the Falklands War coverage in your April 2022 edition most interesting. However, some may have forgotten that the end of the conflict was followed very closely by the decision to build a new airfield and supporting military complex, to become RAF Mount Pleasant. Part of the basis was to reduce the permanent military establishment below the number of the civil population, which brought with it the need to be able to rapidly reinforce the islands in the event of any renewal of hostilities by Argentina. In 1985 the Duke of York formally 'opened' the centre strip of the runway so Tristars could land, with the plan to open the whole complex as RAF Mount Pleasant on 1 May 1986. Consequently, the project was set in motion with construction by two joint contracting organisations, WTW (Wimpey-Taylor Woodrow) and LMA (Laing-Mowlem-ARC, known locally as 'Lego-Meccano-Airfix'). All construction material other than water and crushed rock had to be shipped 8,000 miles from the UK. Towards the end of 19851 was serving as OC Administrative Squadron at RAF Neatishead in Norfolk, when I was told I had been selected from a cast of one to go to the Falklands in January 1986, as project manager for the takeover of the ￡450 million-worth of new buildings and facilities so the military could vacate RAF Stanley and move to the new airfield. I arrived as Strike Command's Air Officer Administration was completing his inspection of RAF Stanley and about to board the Tristar to the UK. He gave me a card with a phone number: "My private line if you ever need it", he said quietly, and I knew if I did, I had 'lost'.
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