An Invitation
If you were a Veteran of the Falklands - Malvinas War, from either
England or Argentina, I would like to hear your story and see your
pictures. Please send them to the Webmaster. Thank you very much
Here is the A-4 Skyhawk
which sunk the HMS Coventry, flown by Mariano Valasco and shot down
by Neil Wilkinson.
C-207, Fuerza Aerea Argentina,
Falklands/Malvinas War, 1982
Made by Hobby Master, this 1/72 scale die cast model
wonderfully replicates the A4 Skyhawk, C-207, flown by 1st Lt. Mariano
"Cobra" Velasco of the Argentine Air Force when he dropped three 1,000-lb.
bombs to sink the HMS Coventry during the Falklands/Malvinas War in 1982. It
features outstanding details such as engraved panel lines; a detailed
cockpit with an opening bubble canopy; removable stores including a bomb,
missiles and fuel tanks; an aerial refueling probe and a tail hook; optional
position landing gear with real rubber tires; a display stand and more.
Measures 6¾" long with a 4½" wingspan and arrives ready to display. #0098065
Price: $32.95
12-1-2008
Hi Jeff,
I have found out
some very interesting information
today!
I will tell you
first about the pilot then tell you
what i have found out at the end.
Mariano Valasco
flew A4 Skyhawks with Grupo 5
Argentine Air force.
He was probably a
pilot before I even joined the Royal
Navy.
Four years before
i joined the navy a friend of mine
from my home town of Leeds, West
Yorkshire, joined the navy as an
officer, he became the Gunnery
Officer onboard HMS Coventry.
Before the
Falklands started I was given my
next sea draft, it was going to be
HMS Sheffield, Sheffield was sunk by
an Exocet, I stayed on my original
ship Intrepid.
When the Falklands
broke out and we sailed there on the
23rd May that year I hit a Mirage
fighter and he crashed.
On the 27th May
Mariano Valasco attacked and I
managed to get 6 rounds off at the
two planes that were incoming,
although another ship eventually got
recognition for the hit, it was
given to me by my captain as he was
on the bridge and saw everything.
Mariano Valasco,
on the 25th May sunk the Coventry!
My best buddy
survived, but suffered as we all do.
Now the good bit.
When I hit Valasco
he went over the hill with a lot of
smoke trailing from the rear of his
aircraft, the history books state he
was flying C207, but he was actually
flying C215, how do I know?
Well the other day
I was trawling through a lot of
stuff about A4 Skyhawks and came
across a site that had C207 in a
museum.
1-26-2008
Hi Jeff, Many thanks for replying so quickly to my email. The offer of the story is great and I am in
contact with one of my friends as we speak about
doing a story for you with some pictures
included. You certainly seem to have a
broad variation of stories on your site?
Since finding out last year that Mariano Valasco
had survived the A-4 Skyhawk has suddenly become
a more fascinating aircraft to me, I have
researched quite a lot about the aircraft and
think they are a remarkable aircraft.
I will now just tell you a brief timescale of
events of things that occurred in the Falklands,
if you don't mind?
The shell is 40/60mm Bofors, that
was my gun.
The
engraving on the shell reads:
Fired in Anger
23rd May 1982
HMS INTREPID
AB(M)Wilkinson.N
D178349K
This shell was
fired against a group of Mirages, the shell that
hit Valasco was fired a few days Later.
I was on the starboard
battery, I have to admit it made a heck of a
bang when fired, I do believe that I could be
the last person in the Royal Navy to hit an
aircraft with a conventional weapon, that could
be one for the Guinness Book of records?
The gun I fired was a
single barreled Bofors gun 40mm, it is called
40/60mm purely because the shell casing is 60mm
and the shell 40mm, it may be called something
different by other navies.
On the 21st
May we went into San Carlos and off loaded 3
para brigade who had travelled on our ship.
Shortly after daylight broke the air attacks
started. No amount of training can prepare
you for this, it's for real. On the
23rd of May I opened fire on a group of Mirage's
(6) and I blew the tail off one of them.
Most days were the same, attacks, rest, attacks.
On the 27th of May, nothing much happened all
day, until late that afternoon. Valasco
and his wingman had sneaked through and was now
lining up for there attack, I was resting on a
box of ammunition. The alarm sounded and I
leapt into my gun and as they screamed into San
Carlos, I managed to fire 6 rounds off at them.
I then saw a lot of smoke coming out from behind
his aircraft, he then went over the hill.
It wasn't until we got back to the UK that my
Captain confirmed to me that I had actually hit
the Skyhawk, up until then I wasn't 100%
certain.
In the history
books HMS Fearless took credit for knocking
Valasco out of the sky, but I now know
different! My life after the
Falklands took a dive and I suffered from PTSD
and a lot of mental stresses due to the
conflict. Last year with it being the 25th
anniversary I put on a program and found that
the pilot in the documentary was in fact the
very same pilot I thought I had killed and I
decided to track him down. After 8 months
of trying I hit the jackpot and we are now in
contact with each other, the feeling of guilt
was lifted, he has confirmed to me that fearless
could not have shot him down as previously
recorded.
These stories
I had heard happen from ex World War 2 vets, but
I never thought it would happen to me.
Once again
many thanks and I look forward to your replies.
Regards Neil
11-24-2008 This
is the first letter that Neil Wilkinson sent to the
Webmaster at YellowAirplane.com, Jeff Dyrek.
Dear Sir,
I have just being on your website and
found a model that is of interest to me.
It is C207 Mariano Valasco`s A4 that
flew in the Falklands.
I am very pleased to see that he was one of the most
successful Argentinean Skyhawk pilots. But on the
27th May 1982 his run came to an end although he did
survive. I am in contact with Valasco on a regular
basis, we have a lot in common, he flew his plane on
many dangerous missions against us. I am hoping
to eventually meet him some day in
Argentina and shake his hand, I am really glad he
survived, after all it was me who shot him down.
Sinking of the HMS Coventry during the Malvinas War
showing Mariano Valasco This was the Pilot that Neil Wilkinson Shot Down
Neil Wilkinson's
Recollections of Communications between himself and Mariano Valasco
Mariano has had a brief outline of events on that
day, but when he does reply to me it's in Argentinean and not
English so I have to get it translated.
So far he has told me that he did not think that he
could have being hit by HMS Fearless because of her position in San
Carlos, which does hold an element of truth. The HMS Fearless
was down at the bottom end of San Carlos whereas HMS Intrepid was
further up towards the entrance.
He told me he was doing roughly 200knots and
had to climb to around 1000 ft. before ejecting. He said that he
felt the plane jolting as it was hit, at first under the left wing
area, which would discount the HMS Fearless as she was on the right
of the plane. Also it could discount the HMS Intrepid
initially because it could have being ground fire that hit him.
Or it could have being my shell exploding underneath the aircraft!
Although the HMS Intrepid was to the right of
the planes, we were on a better angle, so as you looked at the
aircraft I would be looking at an angle from the nose to 20%, so I
could see the left side as well, but he was flying about to evade
being hit, so it is also possible that my shell exploded first!
The next thing I saw was a lot of smoke coming
out of the plane, at first I thought it was after burners, then
after a short while we were told it had crashed somewhere.
Once the aircraft went over the hills or low lying land we were
unable to see them or tell which direction they had gone.
The most nerve racking thing was knowing they
were coming and then suddenly from nowhere there would be aircraft
all over the place. Bombs and rockets were flying about and
you could then hear the sounds of our guns and AA fire, the noise
was tremendous.
GPMG`s and larger AA guns firing, then
Anti-Aircraft Missiles being launched, 20mm Cannon's firing, then
there would be an explosion as an aircraft took a direct hit.
As I said before, I have an utmost admiration
for those brave pilots, they flew there aircraft to the limits and
paid the ultimate sacrifice.
I think one of the most heart breaking sights
for me, was sitting in my gun watching HMS Antelope explode!
That then brought it all home to us and it was a very tearful
moment, watching one of your own ships explode, when hours earlier
it had sailed past us.
We lost many ships and many good men, but so
did they too. War is not just about two or three nations going on a
battle field and killing each other, people seem to forget the
aftermath and the people who have lost loved ones, the younger
generation (although taught it in schools) don't fully appreciate
what the armed forces of the world achieve.
1-21-2009
The initial credit and in some books say
Fearless plugged Mariano, some say both ships hit him, but I'm
not sure Fearless did actually hit him.
But according to Quinny a junior seaman on
Fearless got the praise for it by his captain, then I got praise
for it off mine! But when I look back, I have to admit I
was exceptionally close to hitting him and I did think I had ,
but then the doubts creep in and i dismissed it, until we got
back and my captain said I had hit it in front of the Defense
secretary. So I don't think he would have said anything if
I hadn't hit it!
A Royal Navy Helicopter carrying a Royal Marines
Helicopter
Royal Marines Helicopter
Harriers Landing for Refueling
Photo from Neil Wilkinson
Harrier on the HMS
Intrepid
Harrier
Photo from Neil Wilkinson
Handley Page Victor Tankers
Photo from Neil Wilkinson
Victor Tankers used for Air to Air
Refueling Missions The Handley Page Victor Tankers could carry 91,000 lbs of fuel which is
equivalent to 41 Metric Tons. The taker was withdrawn from service in
October of 1993
The A4 is C207, Mariano Valasco's plane! the picture
is courtesy of Mariano Arribillaga
and the aircraft is in the Museo Nacional do Aeronautica, Moron, Buenos
Aires, Argentina.
Remains of Mariano Valasco's A-4 Skyhawk after Neil
Wilkinson Shot it down. Photo taken in Jan, 2009
1/48 Scale Model Reproduction of Mariano
Valasco's
A-4 Skyhawk C-215 by Adam Coleman.
Adam actually visited the crash site of this airplane and
took paint chip samples to ensure that the model that
he built was painted exactly like the real airplane.
He even looked at the scratch marks that were made
prior to the crash and added them to the model for realism.
This is the impact crater created by Mariano's
aircraft. The nose cone of the A-4 Skyhawk is visible in the
center of the crater. Photo by Adam Coleman.
Landing Gear of Mariano's A-4 Jet Fighter
Aircraft after the plane crash. Photo by Adam Coleman about
2004.
In the above photos I may have some of the aircraft types wrong. If
you know exactly what
they are, please let me know at the bottom of the page. Jeff.
Sinking of the HMS Coventry during the Malvinas War
showing Mariano Valasco This was the Pilot that Neil Wilkinson Shot Down
While I was stationed at NAS Lemoore,
in Lemoore California, my friend, Dan Dove, and I took a break and
walked around to the side of the hanger to watch flight ops at
night. It was almost instantly that we saw an A-4 Skyhawk
coming in with its wheels up and at a higher approach angle than we
expected. The plane hit the ground and there was a huge flash
of light. We didn't actually see the plane hit because it hit
the ground behind the hanger of VA-127 which was across from our
hanger at VA-125. However, we did see the flash coming from
behind the hanger. I can't actually remember what we did after
this, but we must have ran across the street because I remember
seeing the airplane on the ground and the pilot was opening the
canopy.
These A-4 Skyhawks were real good at doing belly
landings because of the low wing and the wing tanks that you can see
in the picture above. The tanks were ground down, in half, and
the flash must have come from the residual fuel in them. The
next day we watched the plane being hauled past our hanger with a
cherry picker truck. It looked like that there was zero damage
to the plane and it also looked like it was just a toy hanging from
that huge crane.
