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Bombs exploding in San Carlos waters near thesecond beachhead at Bluff Cove.

One of the war's most outstandingly flown missionswas the attack on the British landing forces at Pleas-ant Bay. It was undertaken on June 8th by a relative-ly small number of aircraft dispatched to bomb land-ing craft thought to be in the Fitzroy area. Involvedwere A-4 Skyhawks, IAI Daggers and Mirage IIIs.

Two flights of A-4Bs from V Brigada Aerea depar-ted Rio Gallegos at 11:50 hours. Mission leader wasCapt. Caraballo, who also headed "Dogo" flightwhich was made up of 1st Lts. Rinke and Cachon and2nd Lt. Carmona. "Mastin" flight consisted of lstLts. Filippini, Galvez and Autiero, and 2nd Lt.Gomez. The aircraft climbed to flight level 100( 1 0,000 ft) to rendezvous with KC-I30 tankers.

At 13:00 hours, two three-aircraft flights of Dag-gers from VI BA took off from Rio Grande. Missionleader was Capt. Rohde, heading up "Perro" flightwhich was also made up of 1st Lts. Ratti and Gabari.The second flight was designated "Gato", and consis-ted of Capt. Cimatti, Maj. Martinez and lst Lt. Antio-netti. Lt. Antonietti soon turned back to base due toa cracked windscreen. The remaining five Daggersformed up on a civilian Lear Jet 35 pathfinder.

The SAF command then ordered a diversionaryflight of Mirage IIIEAs from Rio Gallegos. These air-craft would hopefully draw CAPs consisting of thedeadly Harrier/AlM 9L combination, thus leaving theway open for the attacking Skyhawks and Daggers.

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Continuous attacks drove the British tosk .force to establislt the

Meanwhile, the A-4s had by now rendezvousedwith the tankers half way between the mainland andthe islands. It was then that two pilots, Capt. Carballoand 1st Lt. Autiero, discovered their refuelling probeshad frozen. At the same time, 1st Lt. Filippini's en-gine oil pressure began fluctuating. The three Sky-hawks were forced to retum to base. Capt. Carballotumed over the leadership to "Dogo" flight's 1st Lt.Cachon with the words "Take charge of the forma-tion and lead it to glory".

After the in-flight refuelling was completed,Cachon ordered his wingmen to form up in an arrow,with two planes on either side of his aircraft. Atabout 140 km before the target area, the leader usedhand signals in ordering his men to follow him downto wave-top level in hopes of avoiding enemy radar.

When the Skyhawks neared the islands, the Mirageswent into action, or rather "inaction". They flew to-ward the beachhead from the north at a deliberatelylow altitude so as to be picked up by the Britishpicket ships' radar. As was expected, Harriers weresent to intercept the Mirages, thus freeing the south-em approach route to be used by the incoming Sky-hawks.

The five A-4s flew through a number of short rainshowers on their way to the Fitzroy target area. Theyflew at about five meters over water, and once they

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reached land they climbed, however barely, to 10.

Three minutes before reaching the target area, 1st Lt.Cachon signaled his wingmen to increase their speed

to 900 kph. At two minutes from the target area, theflight turned and successfully eluded a Sea King heli-copter which was probably acting as a surveillanceplatform. At fifty seconds out a Lynx helicopter was

sighted but also successfully evaded. When the flightfinally arrived over the internal end of Fitzroy Bay.no British landing ships were to be found! lst Lt.Cachon decided to fly on over the body of waterlooking for the shipping that was supposed to have

been there. The formation continued but saw nothing.When the leader decided to egress the area, the flightwas to tum right. Since turns can be dangerous in thearrow formation at low altitude, the aircraft man-oeuvred into a left echelon before initiating theirright turn. The outermost pilots, climbing to keep

formation in the turn, then saw what they had missed

at the lower level - the antennae and masts of Britishlanding craft. The LSTs were found in Pleasant Bay, asmall inlet south of Fitzroy and separated from it bya narrow peninsula. 1st Lt. Cachon gave the order toattack, and since the targets were already so near thebombing run was commenced immediately. The air-craft approached perpendicular to the targets, whichturned out to be HMS Sir Galahad and Sar Tristram.Cachon assigned the former to himself and his num-bers 2 and 3, and the latter to aircraft 4 and 5. Thefirst section commenced their attack on the Sir Gala-

/rad. Number I dropped three 500lb Mk. 82s right on

Sir Gallahud cruising to the landing zone on East Falkland's Pleasast Bay, south of Port Stanley

target. Number 2's bomb ejector mechanism failed,and the pilot was forced to jettison his load on theway back to the mainland using the emergency re-

lease unit. Number 3's bombs skipped off the ship'sstern and ended up on shore where they explodedamid personnel and cargo. The second sectionlaunched their bombs successfully but were unable toascertain whether there were any hits due to thespeed of their exit from the scene. Their bombs man-aged to damage the S# Tristram so that the vessel

ended up being towed to Port Stanley for'use as a

floating barracks. HMS S,r Galahad, on the otherhand, was so badly damaged that it was scuttled seve-

ral days later. The attack was carried out at 13:50,exactly two hours after takeoff.

The two flights hurried away from the area, widen-ing formation. KC-130s were loitering nearby to assist

any aircraft with fuel problems. The tankers were in-formed that all was well and their services would notbe needed. The Skyhawks flew their return trip at1ow level, climbing to 35,000 ft some 500 km fromthe mainland in order to conserve fuel.

Shortly after the Skyhawks departed the targetarea, the two flights of Daggers arrived. The diversionby the Mirage was still keeping the area free of CAPs'

The aircraft located a Type 12 figate - HMS P/y-

mouth - and dropped their bombs. None of the ord-nance dropped by "Perro" and "Gato" flights that hitthe target exploded. The pilots said at least four1,000 lb Mk. 83s hit the vessel. The Dagger's DEFA30mm cannon also registered. hits, with one of the

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rounds setting off a depth charge that caused seriousfire damage below decks. Contrary to British reports,all the Daggers got away safely and returned to base.

While the "Dogo" and "Mastin" Skyhawk flightswere on their way back to base, the SAF commanddispatched another two flights of Skyhawks - A-4Bsand Cs - to mount further attacks against the Britishlanding forces at Pleasant Bay. "Mazo" flight consis-ted of 1st Lts. Bolzan, Arraraz and Sanchez,and2ndLt. Vasquez flying B model Skyhawks. Capt. Caffa-rati, lst Lts. Zattara and Paredi and2nd Lt. Codring-ton flew C models in "Tigre" flight.

"Mazo" flight arrived over the target first, findingand attacking a large landing craft (LCU) which wasferrying stores. The vessel later sank due to heavydamage. But by this time, Harriers were back in thearea, having recovered from the diversionary MirageIII "attack". The British jets jumped the 'oMazo"Skyhawks and scored hits with AIM-9Ls. I st Lts. Bol-zan and Arraraz were killed when their aircraft ex-ploded. 2nd Lt. Vasquez was seen to eject, but wasnever found and was listed KIA. 1st Lt. Sanchez wasable to jettison his extemal fuel tanks and bombracks, and outdistanced the pursuing Hariers on thedeck. The pilot used up most ol his remaining fuelduring his low-altitude getaway, and had to hook upwith a KC-130 for a mid-air refueling in order tomake it safely home. In this attack, the British er-roneously reported that they had shot down threeDaggers.

The A4Cs of "Tigre" flight appeared over the tar-get area at 15:45 hours just as the winter sky wasdarkening. Their reception was most spectacularowing to the twilight - red tracers criss-crossed the24

Argentinian Nav1, a4 Skyhawk being refueltetl in fligltt",Tltiscapabilitl' enablecl the FAA to attack tltc L'asr Falktands andreturn home sofeb'.

sky while the exhausts of Rapier and Blowpipe SAMslit up the area. Two of the aircralt were damaged, butall were able to drop their bombs on defensive instal-lations erected on shore by the British landing partiesbefore returning safely to base. This attack waveended one of the FAA's most successful days in theSouth Atlantic war, leaving ships and shore positionsburning brightly into the night.

AIRCRAFT LOST BY THE FUERZAAEREAARGENTINA AND THE CAUSES

A4Bs of V BA12 May1st Lt. Bustos (KlA)lst Lt. Nivoli (KlA)Lt. lbarlucea (KlA)lst Lt. Gavazzi (KlA)23 May1st Lt. Guadagnini (KlA)25 MayCapt. Palaver (KlA)27 Mav1st Lt. Velasco (eiected)8 June1st Lt. Bolzan (KlA)1st Lt. Arraraz (KlA)2nd Lt. Vasquez (KlA)

A4Cs of lV BA9 MayLt. Casco (KlA)

Lt. Farias (KlA)

21MayLt. Lopez (KlA)Lt. Manzotti (KlA)24 MayLt. Bono (KlA)25 MayLt. Lucero (ejected/POW)Capt. Garcia (KlA)30 May1st Lt. Castillo (KlA)1st Lt. Vasquez (KlA)

Seawolf SAM - HMS Brilliantsamesameown AA over Darwin

20mm AA - HMS AnteloPe

Sea Dart SAM - HMS CoventrY

40mm AA - HMS lntrepid

Harrier/AlM-9 Lsamesame

crashed due to bad weather overW. Falklands.same (Note: British claimed twoSkyhawks at this time by SeaDart SAMs from HMS Coventry)

Sea Harriersame

Blowpipe SAM-HMS Sir Percival

Rapier SAMRapier SAM (? )

4.5 in AA - HMS Avenger (? )

Sea Dart - HMS Exeter

Lt. Bean (KlA)

1st Lt. Luna (ejected)Maj. Piuma (ejected)Capt. Donadille (ejected)1st Lt. Senn (ejected)Lt. Volponi (KlA)Lt. Berhardt (KlA)

24 MayMaj. Puga (ejected)Capt. Diaz (ejected)Lt. Castillo (? )

C-130 Hercules of I BAI JuneCrew missing")

Sea Cat SAMs - HMS lntrepid/PlymouthSea Harriersamesamesamesame

Sea Wolf SAM - HMS Broad-sword

Sea Harriersamesame

Sea Harrier

Mirage lll EAs of Vlll BA1 MayCapt. Garcia-Cuerva (KlA) own AA over Port Stanley1st Lt. Perona (ejected) Sea Harrier

Daggers of Vl BA1 May1st Lt. Ardiles (KlA) Sea Harrier21May

Sea King helicopter delivering supplies ashore, seen over the"Sir Tristram" landing support ship, still pouing smoke afterthe Argentinian raid.

Canberras of ll BA1 MayCapt. Gonzales (KlA) Sea Harrier (Note: both crew-Lt. lbanez (KlA) men ejected and two good

chutes were seen, but they werenever found)

13 JuneCapt. Pastran (ejected/POW) Sea Dart - HMS ExeterCapt. Casado (KlA) same

Pucaras of lll/lX BAs1 MayLt. Jukik (KlA) direct hit by cluster bomb from

Sea Harrier while taking offfrom BAM Condor

2l MayMaj. Tomba (ejected) Sea HarrierCapt. Benitez (ejected) Stinger SAM28 MayLt. Cruzado (ejected/POW) Blowpipe SAMLt. Giminez (KlA) same(Note: earl ier figures released by the FAA listed five Puca-ras as being destroyed in the air. The ground destruction ofLt. Jukik's aircraft revises that number to four. Ten otherPucaras were destroyed on the ground, while another 11

were abandoned in varying states of damage during theBritish landings. A continental-based Pucara also crashedinto the sea during a wartime surveillance mission, killing itspilot, 2nd Lt. Valco)

* Vicecomodoro Meisner, Capts. Martel and Krause, andNCOs Lastra, Abelos, Cardona and Cantezano.

Lear Jet 35A of ll BA7 June (crew KIA*) Sea Dart - HMS Exeter* Vicecomodoro de la Colina, Maj. Falconier, Capt. Lotufo

and NCOs Luna and Mariza

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