Mirages Over The Falklands: The Argentine High-Altitude Fighter In The War In The South Atlantic 198

On 1 May, Grupo 6 de Caza, flying Dassault Mirages, carried out its first sortie. The section, call sign Fierro, flew in 'India' configuration, carrying Shafrir air-to-air missiles, 30 mm cannon with full ammunition, and three 1,300-litre drop tanks. Capitán Díaz (C-421) and Teniente Aguirre Faget (C-403) were assigned to the mission, but Aguirre Faget was unable to take off due to technical issues, leaving Díaz to depart alone. Twice British fighters were guided by radar from Stanley toward the Mirage, but they were unwilling to engage and Diaz returned unscathed to San Julián at 14.30 hours. At 15.30 hours, an attack on four ships some seventeen kilometres north of Port Stanley was ordered. Flying as Torno, the Mirage strike group Capitán Dimeglio, Primer Teniente Román, and Teniente Aguirre Faget carried two 250kg Expal BRP bombs with braking devices, full 30mm ammunition, and three 1,300-litre tanks. At 15.55 hours a pair of Mirage Daggers armed with Shafrir missiles took to the sky to provide top cover. At 16.30 hours, near the islands, the Torno group surprised a British naval force shelling Port Stanley. The group identified two Type 21 frigates HMS Alacrity and HMS Arrow and the County-class destroyer HMS Glamorgan. Glamorgan was struck by two bombs on either side of the waterline, causing damage, while the frigates sustained lighter hits. Low on fuel, the Argentines climbed for the return flight, using staggered altitudes to complicate interception. A British Combat Air Patrol approached, but the Sea Harriers were forced to break off. Some accounts later claimed the target was actually the destroyer HMS Sheffield, suggesting the damage inflicted by the Daggers contributed to her sinking days later and that the Exocet missiles fired on 4 May may instead have struck the light carrier HMS Hermes. These claims remain disputed. Mirages Over The Falklands deals in detail every action in which the Mirages were involved in during the Falklands' conflict. AUTHOR: Salvador Mafe Huertas is a Defence Analyst specialising in military aviation, especially that of Spain, but also the rest of NATO countries, Israel, Russia and Argentina. He has flown in most of the Spanish armed forces' aircraft and helicopters, as well as with the US Navy, US Marine Corps, USAF, Israeli Air Force, and the Russian aerospace forces. He has published hundreds of articles in Spanish and foreign journals, and has written more than fifty books. From 1998 to 2021 he was editor of the Spanish journals Fuerza Aérea, Fuerza Naval and Fuerza Terrestre. Among the most impressive of his experiences has been that of flying seven times with the Spanish Air Force demonstration team, 'Patrulla Águila', in their CASA C-101 Aviojet, with the Blue Angels, in an F/A-18D Hornet, and the Russian 'Strizy' team in a MiG-29UB 'Fulcrum'. 196 colour illustrations