How Argentinian Pilots Bravely Attacked Royal Navy's HMS Antelope

On 23 May 1982, Argentinian attacks against the British Landing Group in San Carlos Water continued. The first to launch were four A-4 Skyhawks from Fuerza Aerea Argentina's 5th Aviation Group from Rio Gallegos, quickly followed by four more Skyhawks from the Naval Aviation. In yet another display of bravery, Argentinian pilots performed risky point-blank bombing attacks against Royal Navy ships. While some of them paid the ultimate price and their technology proved less than reliable, success didn't evade them.

Check out Patrick Cloutier's book - Mussolini's War in the East

Sources:
- Marcelo Larraquy - La guerra invisible: El último secreto de Malvinas
- Pablo Camogli - Batallas de Malvinas: Todos los combates de la Guerra del Atlántico Sur
- Edward Hampshire - The Falklands Naval Campaign 1982: War in the South Atlantic
- Jeffrey Ethell - Air War South Atlantic
- Michael Clapp - Amphibious Assault Falklands: The Battle of San Carlos Water
- Various magazines

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#militaryaviationhistory #militaryaviation #falklandswar #fuerzaaereaargentina #skyhawk

[showtime]

Not all the assets used in this reenactment are 100% accurate. The A-4 model used here is A-4E with the humpback while Argentinian airplanes were earlier models with no hump. HMS Antelope is represented by a Leander class frigate and so is HMS Broadsword. There are not mistakes and there's no need to comment on this. The locations however are authentic and exact ship positions are estimated to the best of author's knowledge based on available sources.

[mjc]

My father was quite senior in the RAF at the time of the Falklands based in one of their headquarters... He has a number of stories of the bravely of the Argentinian pilots, he was especially moved by the frantic radio calls as many of their planes ran out of fuel on the way back to the mainland and yet they came out hard again day after day.

[mick]

I was on HMS Antrim. I can attest to the bravery of their air force.

[tefras]

The Argentinians fought bravely and made a very respectable attack despite the technical issues

[kurnuyt]

Great video ., i was a young kid at the time the war in the Falklands broke out but i can still visualize the images on tv of these Skyhawks attacking the British vessels . Respect to both countries !

[seeky]

The footage of those A-4s attacking the Royal Navy at anchorage is amazing.

[philsmith]

Another outstanding video, the amount of research and work you put into them is plain to see. I don’t know how you do them so quickly without accuracy suffering.

What’s really amazing is how little air attacks and air defense had changed in the 37 years since the same thing was going on around Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Hits were still luck more than anything else.

RIP to all the Marines, pilots, sailors, and soldiers who died on both sides.

[squadman]

The pilots were excellent. Their equipment was not. Their leader, General Galtieri, was a fool.

[Loneranger]

The story of the pilot who brought his stricken and damaged plane back home and then died as a result of a failed ejection seat was tragic

[jontalbot]

When you hear the respect both sides had for each other, the professionalism and courage it’s kind of weird they were fighting at all

[bobamarmstrong]

Excellent video. Indeed argentinian pilots were very brave going toe to toe with a more advanced country

[joaopessoasouzafilho]

There was another mission where two A4s had actually put their bombs on a frigate, flying wave level. One of them was hit by an AAA gun and lost its gun sight, nevertheless the pilot managed to land some 20mm rounds on a helicopter while fleeing the area. Both fighters survived this mission and the ship sunk.

[alejoquiroga]

Honor y Gloria a nuestros valientes pilotos dieron sus vidas por la Patria 🇦🇷.
Gracias por el video.

[Markos]

Magnificent video!!

First of all, as an Argentine, I want to thank you enormously for the work you have taken to investigate and try to explain the facts in detail, while being respectful towards the actors on both sides.

From my personal point of view, that is the main factor when making this type of video. But unfortunately, in 80% of cases these things do not happen.

The Malvinas/Falklands issue is very, very complicated, since it has an endless number of edges: operational, military, logistical, political, social, human...

I am born in 1980, I have no direct memories of that war.

My father was a reservist, he was nowhere near showing up. my mother, pregnant with my younger brother, managed to convince him.

I had the great honor of having worked for 10 years with the Malvinas Veterans of Ensenada, in their War Museum: what I learned and was able to do is priceless.

From the vast majority of Argentine Veterans I learned first-hand the respect they have for British veterans (by most of them), to the point of almost reaching a "brotherhood of arms", to call it somehow.

Their dislike is for English political leaders, not for combatants who have conducted themselves with honor.

Again, thank you very much and congratulations for the content!

I just discovered the channel for this video, and obviously you've gained a subscriber, even if it's not much.

Greetings from the Austral Lands!

[offshorequest]

Great video! I recall these events being on the news on a nightly basis in 1982.

[antimimoniakos]

Argentina and Greece have in common end of dictatorships with a national defeat. Argentina the Falkland war and Greece the occupation of 37% of Cyprus by Turks.
I have read argentinian aircrafts had bombs not proper from low level release so there were direct hits to 14 british ships and bombs didn't exploded. If they had proper bombs Argentina would had won the war. Not mention the 6 Exocet missiles. What if they had 26 or 36?
British were lucky. Argentina had heavy losses i think 20 Mirages and 100 aircrafts in total. British had two Harrier losses due to A/A ground fire none in the air.
If i am not wrong Argentina lost 750 troops and British 250. But since there were more suisides due to PTSD for British no record for Argentinians. May all rest in peace.
This war revealed that fleet was literally unarmed against antiship missiles like Exocet. I think later developed the CIWS Phalanx.
The only good thing came out of this war was the end of dictatorship and politicaly the sad thing is the surviving of Thatcher regime.
By the way both Exocet and Phalanx are greek words.

[nachogranatemalvarg]

Thank you thank you thank you!!!, i love your work and i've been waiting for a Falkland video for so long. Thank you for treating the subject with respect, and thank you for letting the world know what our pilots were capable of. Respect to both our brave Falcons, and to the british sailors. I imagine it to be a terrifying experience for both sides. Greetings from Argentina

[ndairwing]

As the Royal Navy Task Force sailed on the long journey south, the Argentinian Air Force realized they’d have to conduct anti ship operations. A mission they hadn’t necessarily expected to complete. They asked the Argentinian Navy for assistance with sparing decommissioned ships for bombing practice, including validation of their bomb fusing. The Argentine Navy declined, which forced their Air Force to improvise the bomb fusing with a best guesstimate setting. We see the outcome in the history books. Had the Argentine brass put aside their inter service rivalries, the Royal Navy would have experienced significantly higher casualties.

[SpawnofChaos]

While it was sad to see an outmatched force defeated in the air, one of the best stories from the Falklands air war was Sharkey Ward's shootdown of Major Juan Tomba's A-4 Skyhawk. Taking cannon fire from 3 Sea Harriers and with his jet lit on fire as it disintegrated around him, the Argentinian pilot courageously stayed with his plane til the very last moment before ejecting. Sharkey sang Tomba's praises, describing him as the bravest pilot he'd ever seen.

[rainbowseeker]

Hats off for those brave and highly skillful Argie pilots, who went far beyond the call of duty with old fighters and yet managed to sink 2 destroyers, several frigates and transport ships of the British Fleet...Remember that was 1982, in the peak of the Cold War, and the Royal Navy was supposed to be the backbone of the NATO's naval forces...!