Malvinas: Bombs Away! (Part 2)

Bombs Away! (Part 2)

The second part of An intimate, marvellous and moving account by Mr Captain JOSÉ NICOLÁS PAGANO
(Navigator of a Canberra aircraft)
ACCOUNT DATE: 4 June 1982

The story continues...

We were flying on a bombing mission.
Above the clouds, there was a huge moon and a dark blue sky; we levelled out.
I was tracking the navigation minute by minute, occasionally "drifting" to thoughts of my wife and kids.

— N: Oxygen.
— P & N: Sufficient, two lines flowing normally.
— N: Electrics.
— P: 28 volts, all dark, generator lights off.
— N: Engines.
— P: RPM, pressure, and temperatures all normal.

After the silence that followed the checks, the radar from Puerto Argentino, operated by Major SILVA, called us. He would be our guide to the target and would alert us if we were intercepted.
— No hornets (enemy fighters).



One less worry — only the Sea Dart missiles from the frigates remained a threat. Perhaps the absence of “hornets” was thanks to the tireless work of the beloved “FÉNIX” Squadron.
We flew over the cushion of clouds far below. We entered the island via the Federal Peninsula.

— Open bomb bay doors.
— PUMA - RADAR, confirm heading for final run, looks like they’re spreading slightly.
— Affirmative, final run heading 140°.
— LINCES - RADAR, stand by... 1 and 2, fire range... NOW! ... Number 3, correct 5° to the right, perfect ... standby ... NOW!

Eighty seconds of flight — and the eighteen bombs from the “LINCE” were released. The “PUMA” bombs followed right behind.
Below us, the thick cushion of clouds lit up with the glare of the explosions.

— LINCES and PUMAS - RADAR: GOOD HIT!!! Stay calm, no hornets, and thank you.
— Thanks to you for the support. (A Quechua accent)
— Let’s thank the Lord God!!!



I began to entrust the fallen enemies and their families to God — for we truly dropped those bombs without hatred — when the calm, battle-hardened voice of the radar operator warned us:
— Attention “LINCES” and “PUMAS”, hornets on the tail of the “PUMAS”, 25 miles... 23... go full throttle and try to climb if you can.
— “PUMAS” going full throttle.
— 20 miles... 19... stay calm, I think they’re turning back... 18 miles... they’re no longer closing in... they’re turning back.

Ten relieved sighs echoed inside our oxygen masks.
From their baptism of fire, our noble birds had cleansed their “Original Sin” of having been born in the land of the usurpers (the Canberra aircraft is of British origin).

Again, the alarmed voice!
— Attention, the returning “LINCE” is alone, it has a radar echo ahead at 15 miles, turn immediately to starboard, heading 290°.

We all turned hastily. I miscalculated nervously and dropped the chaff (a rudimentary electronic countermeasure) and a flare — which exploded and made the pilot think it was a missile. I earned quite a few "congratulatory" remarks (they remembered my mother) for not giving prior warning.



Once more, the radar chimed in during those tense moments:
— It’s disappeared — must’ve been a missile.

We kept flying, now more relaxed.
— LINCE “ONE” to “TWO”, I’ve lost an engine.

Due to power loss, we all overtook him — he fell to the rear of the formation, but he was still flying.

We landed...
The Canberras had completed yet another mission!
I embraced Warrant Officer LUIS SÁNCHEZ, an old armourer, as the night filled with cheers and caps flying through the air.

Before falling asleep with the rosary between my fingers, I thought about those fighting, those giving what little they had, the pride of the families of those who fought with honour, and a friend’s home where their children prayed each night for our dead — and theirs — and asked God “so the English wouldn’t steal the Malvinas from us again.”

Argentine Naval Aviation: Snakeyes Against the Fleet

Details regarding bombing operations

When releasing up to six 500-pound bombs using a multiple ejector rack, we employed automatic release with a 200-millisecond interval between bombs. At a speed of 450 knots, this allowed the bombs fitted with retarded tails (Snakeye) to fall approximately 40 metres apart. Dropped at a 45-degree angle off the ship’s longitudinal axis, the probability of at least one bomb hitting the target—thus neutralising it—was very high.

We had shared these experiences with pilots of the Argentine Air Force who, at the time, had been training at the Espora Naval Air Base. Although our armaments differed, we strongly emphasised the need to avoid high-altitude approaches, as radar systems such as the Type 965 could detect them from 150 nautical miles away. This would increase the risk of interception by CAPs (Combat Air Patrols using Sea Harriers armed with AIM-9L Sidewinder missiles) or of engagement by Sea Dart missiles with a 30 NM range. Furthermore, early detection of an attack would allow ship-based anti-aircraft fire to be directed by radar, thereby making it far more accurate.

We also warned those same pilots that a bomb dropped in a dive bombing run was unlikely to achieve a hit, given the bomb’s time of flight and the ship's manoeuvrability at 30 knots in open sea.

The American MK-82 bomb from our stockpile, weighing 500 pounds and fitted with a retarded tail, could be dropped from low-level flight. Its fall was delayed relative to the aircraft due to the high-drag fins that deployed after release. This ensured that, upon detonation, the explosion did not affect the launching aircraft, which would have already moved ahead.

To ensure that bombs were armed after release, we tied the cables that activated the tail and nose fuzes directly to the aircraft’s bomb rack structure, rather than connecting them to the designated solenoids. The latter is the standard procedure, allowing for the bomb to be released either armed or, if necessary—by means of a cockpit switch—unarmed, by opening the solenoid and detaching the arming wire. As these solenoids could fail, we opted not to use them. This ensured the fuzes were always armed once the bomb was released, ready to detonate. In the event of an emergency, we would jettison the bombs into the sea, where they would explode.

During this period, we also conducted air interception exercises, guided by the radar systems of the aircraft carrier and its escort ships, targeting Argentine Air Force aircraft operating south of Comodoro Rivadavia that simulated attacks on the Fleet.

We disembarked at Puerto Belgrano Naval Base on 25 April, and over the following days, VLF Omega navigation systems were installed on two aircraft to improve navigational accuracy over the sea.

This had been a longstanding request in previous years, but the Navy's leadership had always found reasons not to implement it—just as our requests to fit 30 mm cannons to the A-4s, to increase firepower and reliability, had never been heeded. We also installed, as a test, OTPI equipment in two other aircraft. These are sonobuoy receivers, typically used for anti-submarine warfare by Tracker aircraft, allowing pilots to home in on the signals of sonobuoys deployed at sea. The goal was to enable aircraft to reach a sonobuoy deployed by a Tracker and, from that point, obtain bearing and distance to a target designated by the reconnaissance aircraft, which could not remain in the area due to limited endurance or the threat posed by the enemy.

—

Testimony of Navy Captain (Ret.) and Malvinas War Veteran Rodolfo Castro Fox, A-4Q Skyhawk pilot of the Argentine Navy's Third Fighter and Attack Squadron.