The Falklands War began after the surprise occupation of the island complex - British territory - by Argentina which was then ruled by the junta of General Galtieri. Contrary to the predictions of the Argentines, the British reacted and sent forces to retake the islands.
Fierce dogfights took place in the air over and around the islands. One of these occurred on May 21, 1982. Early that afternoon three Daggers of the 6th Pursuit Squadron of the Argentine Air Force took off with the intention of striking British warships in San Carlo Bay in the East Falklands . The aircraft were Israeli copies of the French Mirage 5.
The fighters were flown by squadron leader Guillermo Donadile, Carlo Justo Puma and sub-squadronman Jorge Sen. About an hour after takeoff the Daggers arrived at the target area. Other successful raids against British ships had preceded it.
So this time, however, the British were ready and waiting. "When we were about a minute from the target I alerted the others to an aircraft flying to our right," reported Donandile, who believed it was an A-4 Skyhawk. But when the aircraft prepared to attack Sen's fighter, everyone realized it was a British Sea Harrier.
"I told everyone to drop the bombs and fuel tanks we were carrying because with all that cargo we couldn't maneuver fast enough to deal with the onslaught of agile British fighters," said the squadron leader.
Argentine Daggers when on bombing missions did not carry air-to-air missiles for reasons of weight and fuel economy. So they could only rely on their 30mm guns. Shen turned first on the British aircraft as another Sea Harrier made its appearance.
"Although the Harrier was out of range of my 30mm guns, the only weapon I had, I opened fire, distracting the British pilot, who abandoned the attack on the Sen," said Donandile.
"The Briton changed course and dropped altitude. I steered my aircraft towards where I thought it would appear. I was flying just 100m. over the ground... I opened fire again where I assumed he would appear, without making visual contact. And suddenly he passed in front of me. I almost touched the ground to follow him but the Harrier passed through my fire. We were flying so low that for a moment I thought his plane had crashed into the ground...
“I managed to gain height and almost collided with Sen's aircraft. Suddenly a missile hit my aircraft and I left it with the ejection seat' , Donandile describes.
A few moments later the other two Daggers were also falling in flames. But their pilots managed to abandon them. All three pilots were rescued by friendly troops.
The three fighters of the Argentine air force had been shot down by two British Sea Harriers of the 801st Squadron of the British Naval Air Force piloted by Lt. Nigel Ward and Lt. Steve Thomas. Thomas took down Donandile and Puma and Ward took down Sen. All downs were achieved with AIM-9L Sidewinder missiles. .
"I flew after them. I "locked" a missile onto the aircraft closest to me and fired it. The missile hit it, but I didn't see it fall. I was busy chasing the other one. He attempted a steep climb to escape. I "locked on" the Sidewinder and fired it up. The missile followed the enemy aircraft and hit it in the wing," Thomas said.
Ward was the pilot who was shot down by Donandile. Other sources – from Argentina – also mention the presence of a third Sea Harrier which was the one that was hit by Donandillo and went down shortly after. However, the above is not confirmed by the British.