The fierce "baptism of fire" of the Falklands war pilots: 57 air missions and 20 tons of bombs on the British fleet

He approaches May 1, 1982. The lieutenant of the Royal Air Force (RAF) Martin WithersAt the command of a Vulcan B MK1 bomber, check the fuel level of this huge aircraft: load 9,200 gallons, almost 42,000 liters. Inside, he also wears 17 pumps of 500 kilos each. He goes to the Malvinas Islands. The operation begins Black Buck (Black butcher).

It is 04:02 and It's 40 minutes of white.

You have already done 5 refueling from the island of Ascension.

The pilot of 44 Squadron RAF is exhausted. It takes hours to fly in a plane of the 50, that of not being in conflict with this distant country of South America, they would already have thinned it of the active service.

Their task is to disable the runway of Puerto Argentino, so that no type of air supply reaches the islands. After the launch, it will surely take a few days, at most a week, for the garrison to fall into British hands with minimal resistance, he thinks.

The British intelligence services warned him not to come down and detonate the bombing. The Argentineans have rapid-fire anti-aircraft guns and short-range surface-to-air missiles. This is not a risk issue.

Look again at the clock. The instruments indicate that it is a few kilometers from the target. Check the pump panel. All ready. The main key that activates the bombs so that, after having released them, they are armed to touch the ground, they have all their lights in "Armed" (Enabled).

Control the wind again. The drift that produces the terrible side wind, greater than 3,000 meters (3,000 meters), causes the bombardment of an oblique line of 35 degrees to the path of the track. It has already activated electronic warfare systems to confuse Argentine radar. This is not a good launch. Only one bomb hits the side of the track.

Do what is planned, follow the evacuation route as planned, retry the calculations, make 5 more refills and return to the Ascension Island.

So much to steal, for so little accuracy !!!, the man of the RAF gets angry.

In Puerto Argentino, the landscape of the Malvinas military airbase is dantesque.

The bombs did not hit the runway, but they hit the camp where the troops are staying guarding the airport facilities.

These were officers, NCOs and air force soldiers.

The soldiers are falling at this moment Héctor Ramón Bordón and Guillermo Ubaldo García, who served as a sentry for the military police.

The Commodore Luis "Cholo" Destri, head of the BAM, calls the commander of the South Air Force, brigadier Ernesto Horacio Crespo, and almost communicates with cries:

-The Malvinas BAM is under fire from the enemy!

Crespo rebadures Destri, he reminds her that they are not alone and that the English will regret it.

The brigadier looks at the map of his deployed command, with the means at his disposal. Analyze the decision you need to make. Sign the first fragmentary order of the war. In this brief document of a secret nature, pilots receive the necessary information about the attack.

Order the Mirage MIII interceptors to hunt the Sea Harriers in the Malvinas skies.

Later, British fighter-bombers, coming from British aircraft carriers Hermes and Invincible, will attack BAM Malvinas and BAM Condor in the Darwin area again in flight, with the intention of deactivating the tracks, destroying the ground attack aircraft IA 58 Pucará and Aermacchi MB 339 of the Navy, as well as to neutralize the anti-aircraft artillery and Argentine radars, which gave the alerts of the English attacks and guided the fighters towards the enemy.

The attack begins. Pilots run to their planes trying to attach to their seat while they start. surrounded by technicians and soldiers who are desperately trying to help them get them in the air as quickly as possible.

British fighter-bombers approach the maximum attack speed of between 250 and 350 meters per second, or 500 to 680 kilometers per hour. They drop Beluga-type cluster bombs at low altitude, releasing small bombs that scatter everywhere and explode with different delays.

This creates even more chaos, It's harder to help the woundedSince the explosions take place in a vast area at different times, shots and shrapnel also spread to the rescuers.

A bomb hits a Pucara, who was ready to leave armed and full of fuel. The pilot and all the staff who helped him die, there are seven between armored and mechanics.

Never before has the conflict understood the sacrifice of the attendants next to their pilots.

In the midst of the bombardment, the anti-aircraft artillery stands firmly in its positions, continuing to fire at speed on the approaching raiders at high speed. They do not see a problem with the light of death shining from the mouth of the Aden cannons of the Sea Harrier.

The rule is: "Take care of the plane that arrives, for which it happened, there will be another opportunity".

Nobody moves from their position, although they feel the grounding of 30mm ammunition fighters very close to the ground. They manage to kill at least one English fighter, a Sea Harrier: it will not be easy with the "hunters hunters".

Brigadier Crespo looks at his watch. Captain Mirage MIII Gustavo García Cuerva and the first lieutenant Carlos Perona They must be on the islands. Think about your past, the years of flying the F-86 Saber and the obsession with finding your enemy. Now he is suffering in the shoes of other young runners. He knows that every man he will send into battle will weigh in his conscience until the end of his life. How would it change for him to be at the top of a fighter head-to-head with the Harrier! Come back to this world. He asks: "García Cuerva and Perona, will they have found Harriers?"

The Mirage section is fighting as it can against the Sea section Harrier.

The Argentines rely on thermal guided missilesyou have to queue to pull it; on the other hand the harrier have the AIM-9L missile, which can be fired from any angle.

In aerial combat, Perona falls but manages to eject. García Cuerva continues and accidentally finds the aircraft carrier Hermes. He fires a cannon, causes minor damage and manages to damage a Harrier who was about to land on the main deck.

Look at the amount of fuel left in your plane. It is not enough to return to the continent. Decides to try to land in Puerto Argentino. Advise the Malvinas radar information and control center to stop fire and try. He must eject the external charges to land. The anti-aircraft artillery has "marked" the area where to shoot down enemy ships. García Cuerva is upset by the fire friend and dies near the track of Puerto Argentino. These are the first and painful experiences of war.

Staff injured in the attack at BAM Condor, is quickly loaded into the H-91, a modern Chinook heavy helicopter, which commutes between Darwin and Puerto Argentino, bringing all those who can to a health center. Everyone does not survive. In the middle of the battle, the helicopter works the same way, regardless of the crossfire of the anti-aircraft guns and the pbadage of Harrier.

The commander of FAS launches 57 air departures, in cover and attack missions on British naval targets, of which more than half reach the badigned objectives. It is almost four o'clock in the afternoon of May 1st. The baptism of fire of the air force has begun.

Once the place where British ships were concentrated, Canberra bombers take off to attack the fleet, one of them is shot down.

There are facts of unprecedented courage. The waves of Mirage Dagger come from San Julián, which attacks relentlessly to the British. The First Lieutenant's Dagger section José Leonidas Ardiles, who flies only to the islands because the plane of his boss suffers a fault and must return to the mainland, He attacks the fleet and has to fight two Harriers at the same time.

"Pepe" Ardiles launches a Shaffrir missile. The British pilot avoids it by throwing Chaff (a metallic material thrown in the air like confetti to divert the missile) while searching for clouds at an altitude of 5000 feet. The missile is hijacked. The other Harrier is put at the tail of the Argentine fighter. He fires an AIM 9L Sidewinder missile, which hits the Dagger of Ardiles. The plane explodes. Ardiles would not have had time to eject. Shortly after, they remained of the ship in the island of Boungaville, but not the pilot.

Argentine airmen launch this day 20 tons of bombs on the Royal Navy. Captain Gustavo García Cuerva falls in battle; the first lieutenants Mario González and José Ardiles; Lieutenants Daniel Antonio Jukic and Eduardo de Ibáñez; the principal corporals Mario Duarte, Juan Antonio Rodríguez and Miguel Ángel Carrizo; the first leaders José Alberto Maldonado, Agustín Hugo Montaño, José Luis Peralta and Andrés Luis Brasich; and the soldiers Héctor Ramón Bordón and Guillermo Osvaldo García.

In a single day, the British suffered the following losses: a damaged Sheffield D 42 clbad ship, HMS Exeter and HMS Sheffield, two Amazon frigates (Type 21), HMS Arrow and HMS Glamorgan damaged , two Sea Harriers shot down.

The English must change their plans. The vice admiral Sandy Woodwardof the Royal Navy's flagship, the HMS Hermes – which since April 30 is 400 kilometers northeast of Puerto Argentino with the bulk of the British Task Force – does not end the Business operation, the military plan to "recover" the islands. The bombing of Vulcans and Sea Harrier at the two marked military aerodromes the beginning of the war. And the order pointed out that May, the 1st they had to disembark and press the surrender of Argentine troops. But that does not happen.

The British fleet is moving away from the Falklands. The air force had shown them that it would take them more than a week to land on the islands.

The battle had just begun.