Very interesting, esp. the range of 32nm when the Canberra was hit. That is a lot further than I thought. Griffiths, from what I have read, the Argentine radar control at Stanley also thought a Mirage had been downed, it was not until a bit later that repeated attempts to contact ‘BACO 2’ failed and they realised B-108 was down.

What is also interesting is this talk of the Mirage escort having to avoid these multiple SAMS. I’d be curious to know whether this was inbound to the target or outbound. From what I read, the Cans were lit up after the bombed and turned for home, and then hit very shortly after this turn. Not being a Sea Dart expert and knowing the speed of travel for 32nm, one would think this implied they had been lit up prior to this turn and fired on before. Maybe Griffiths can confirm his thoughts on this. Also the sad irony that the very escorts sent to protect them were responsible in way for the detection of the whole flight.

Either way, it just shows what a tough old girl the Canberra was to take that Sea Dart hit right near the No.1 fuel tank and not just outrightly explode. Very brave of Captain Pastran to buy as much time as possible for Capt. Casado to eject, which sadly was not to be.

B-109, the other Canberra in ‘BACO flight’ claims it had a hell of ride home and had to avoid AAA and more SAMs, using their countermeasures. This certainly doesn’t tally with the single Sea Dart launch that night, but then who’s to say what one might mistake in such circumstances.

Jualbo, thanks for the info as well. I heard that the 2 Para man had damaged ear drums, or possibly that was from an earlier raid in May. Graham Colbeck in ‘3 Para to the Falklands’ remembers the sound and concussion from one of the night bombing raids prior to Mt. Longdon. I wonder if this Eagle Base attack is the same incident? My records also show a telephone exchange was damaged in one raid – need to check the date on that.

No apologies necessary, your English translation is excellent and my Spanish is non-existent! 🙂

I still think there is a real possibility that the wingtip (the right one) touched the sea.

Three Canberras flying in V-formation; would they all turn the same way to change course at low level? Probably.

I would expect a great deal of fragmentary damage from the warhead of a missile that exploded close enough to bend part of a wingtip. Is it really steel or aluminium alloy? Also there is no mention of a flash, fireball, sound or blast, just that an impact was ‘felt’ by the pilot.

It is still a great mystery.

Just came across this thread while trying to research more on Argentine Canberra ops in the conflict – very interesting discussion and nice to see contributions from both sides of the Atlantic. I think it is suffice to say this was a remarkably audacious mission, to attack the fleet in broad daylight with no ECM to speak of and no escort, and using visual bombing methods at low level. Since this is a ‘what if’ topic, my mind boggles at what if they had made into a bomb-run? My guess is something like what the second group experienced and all hell would have broken loose.

Another ‘what if’ concerns the mission to bomb the fleet retaking South Georgia prior to the 1st May. Another well-planned and audacious mission, using a Boeing 707 for comms relay and nav aid most of the way down there the mainland. What if the weather had been clear enough to bomb? Would they potentially had more success than the Task Force groups on the 1st? My guess is possibly, but from what I have read, the approach to the ships in the harbour would have been very tricky to bomb from. One can also speculate how much accuracy would have been increased had the Canberras been successfully fitted with their ‘Pelicano’ radars. They would have certainly helped on their later night-bombing raids. From what I understand, B-101 was the only Canberra to fly with it fitted, but I don’t believe it was active. Need to find out more on that…

Anyway, cracking thread, and I agree with some of the sentiments echoed regarding the tragedy of these two nations fighting when prior to this we had an excellent relationship, especially between our navies. I’m Anglo-Argentine myself, and when we visited there in ’84 and ’86 there was absolutely no animosity that I remember. In fact more of a curiosity, right down to the member of their 601(?) commando group who shot down Geoff Glover with the Blowpipe whom we befriended.

This is sad news… I met Les on many occasions at the Midland Air Museum, and had the utmost respect for his Canberra knowledge….

Blue Skies Les, you will be missed

Very, very sad. I just saw this now. Like Hunterfx, I met Les at the MAM once as well, following almost a year of e-mail correspondence in which he kindly filled me in a lot of Canberra ins and outs, as well as some cracking cold-war stories from his RAF years. He also ‘proofed’ my early Canberra repaints for FS2004 very thoroughly and I thank him for that. Top, top bloke and I will miss him a lot.

I do wonder what will happen to his superb web site, as it is too good to let fall by the wayside. I shall pay my respects to him from this side of the Atlantic and will miss his posts on all the forums. Definitely the authority on the Cranberry. Rest in peace, Les.

Steve

Does anybody have any info on specific work performed by Airwork Sea Hawks? You’ve probably all seen the photos of them in their all-black livery. Given that some were fitted with Harley lights, I think the FRU used them for gunnery practice, but I wondered if a) anyone on here flew them or b) knew some more details.

ATB,

Steve