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The Argentine Super Entendard lighter bombers took on an awesome reputation largely thanks to their air-launched Exocet anti-ship missiles which had the potential of wreaking havoc among the British fleet.
Air War in the South Atlantic
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Squadron Leader Jerry Pook was hit by ground fire during a ground attack sortie against Argentinian land forces and was forced to abandon his otherwise largely serviceable Harrier GR3 over the sea when he ran out of fuel, about 35 miles short of the task force. At the time he did not view his chances for survival with much optimism. He was, however, picked up by a Sea King within minutes of hitting the sea and whisked back to his base ship, HMS Hermes, flagship of the task force, where he was given the rest of the day off. He experienced no injuries through his ejection and consequently was allowed back quickly to the Squadron’s flying strength, taking part in the air attacks on Argentinian positions in the final phase of the fighting. He also had the opportunity of inspecting some of the ground targets once the fighting had ceased.
I flew on the second RAF Harrier ferry flight from the United Kingdom to Ascension Island. We left on May 4 in a formation of four aircraft and on May 6 were on board Atlantic Conveyor at Ascension. Arrival on board Hermes was on May 18, when we cross-decked via a short VTOL, flight to the flagship, which was only a couple of miles away.
On board we had just one day of flying training to become acclimatised to the naval style of operations before we started working on our task in earnest – ground attack and reconnaissance missions in support of the land forces. I flew as the number three on our first operational mission which was an interdiction sortie using cluster bomb units (CBUs), against a large Argentine fuel dump at Fox Bay. I was last man over the target which was burning very well when we had finished with it.
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