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On 21 May 1982, 43 years ago, the British Flight Lt. Jeffrey "Jeff" Glover was shot down by a Blowpipe fired by the Argentinian Lt. Sergio Fernandez (601 Commando Company) near the site of Port Howard, during the Falklands War.
Lt. Glover was flying a Harrier GR.3 of 1(F) Sq, RAF, (XZ972 -tail code 33) operating from HMS Hermes on a reconnaissance mission. He was shot down at around 09:35 am by a Blowpipe man-portable surface to air missile over Port Howard. Glover activated his Martin-Baker Mk8 seat, which functioned correctly, although he broke his arm and collarbone during the ejection. He fell into the sea and was able to climb into his rescue raft. He was later captured by Argentines, who treated his injuries and brought him back to the mainland a few weeks later.
A British-made Blow Pipe was a modernized bazooka with a range of three kilometers, it fires a 14-kilogram missile at Mach 1 speed. It is manually guided beyond 400 meters, making it impossible to interfere with electronic countermeasures.
Rescue
The commandos were waiting for him on the beach. Fernandez offered Glover his hand to help him down, and seeing him purple with cold, he opened the door with his quilted jacket. At the main aid station, where the medic-commando took him on his motorcycle for treatment, the British pilot was no slouch in the way of chivalry: upon learning that a wounded soldier from the 5th Army needed blood, he offered his own.
Glover with the Argentinian medic
Glover recalled his experience as a POW during an interview in 2007: "Someone who has just ejected and is in stress, maybe injured, is probably an ideal candidate to interrogate, but fortunately that didn't happen. Medically, they did a reasonable job on me. There was certainly no aggro. When I was in the officers' mess I was visited by 10 or 12 Argentine pilots who came in to say hello and ask me how I was feeling. One chap gave me a bottle of wine. Another said he would shake me by the hand because I was a pilot, but he didn't agree with what I was doing. I said 'fair enough' and that was it."
He was in "virtual solitary confinement" for five weeks before being flown to Buenos Aires, where he spent another four or five days in hospital before his plaster cast was removed. Then he was flown to Uruguay and handed over to the British Consul in Montevideo on July 8, 1982.
After several failed attempts, they met again in 2016. Glover was part of the VIP crew of a Middle Eastern tycoon who had arrived in Buenos Aires incognito.
A four-hour breakfast at the Alvear Hotel in Buenos Aires served to meticulously reconstruct what had happened that May 21 in the islands.
J. Glover and Retired Brigadier Gen. (R) S. Fernandez, 2016 meeting.
When Fernandez was asked how the meeting was, he replied: "A strong one. It was the hug we needed, two guys who almost killed each other. And if God wanted us to survive, it was so we could be better."
Lt. Glover was flying a Harrier GR.3 of 1(F) Sq, RAF, (XZ972 -tail code 33) operating from HMS Hermes on a reconnaissance mission. He was shot down at around 09:35 am by a Blowpipe man-portable surface to air missile over Port Howard. Glover activated his Martin-Baker Mk8 seat, which functioned correctly, although he broke his arm and collarbone during the ejection. He fell into the sea and was able to climb into his rescue raft. He was later captured by Argentines, who treated his injuries and brought him back to the mainland a few weeks later.
A British-made Blow Pipe was a modernized bazooka with a range of three kilometers, it fires a 14-kilogram missile at Mach 1 speed. It is manually guided beyond 400 meters, making it impossible to interfere with electronic countermeasures.
Rescue
The commandos were waiting for him on the beach. Fernandez offered Glover his hand to help him down, and seeing him purple with cold, he opened the door with his quilted jacket. At the main aid station, where the medic-commando took him on his motorcycle for treatment, the British pilot was no slouch in the way of chivalry: upon learning that a wounded soldier from the 5th Army needed blood, he offered his own.
Glover with the Argentinian medic
Glover recalled his experience as a POW during an interview in 2007: "Someone who has just ejected and is in stress, maybe injured, is probably an ideal candidate to interrogate, but fortunately that didn't happen. Medically, they did a reasonable job on me. There was certainly no aggro. When I was in the officers' mess I was visited by 10 or 12 Argentine pilots who came in to say hello and ask me how I was feeling. One chap gave me a bottle of wine. Another said he would shake me by the hand because I was a pilot, but he didn't agree with what I was doing. I said 'fair enough' and that was it."
He was in "virtual solitary confinement" for five weeks before being flown to Buenos Aires, where he spent another four or five days in hospital before his plaster cast was removed. Then he was flown to Uruguay and handed over to the British Consul in Montevideo on July 8, 1982.
After several failed attempts, they met again in 2016. Glover was part of the VIP crew of a Middle Eastern tycoon who had arrived in Buenos Aires incognito.
A four-hour breakfast at the Alvear Hotel in Buenos Aires served to meticulously reconstruct what had happened that May 21 in the islands.
J. Glover and Retired Brigadier Gen. (R) S. Fernandez, 2016 meeting.
When Fernandez was asked how the meeting was, he replied: "A strong one. It was the hug we needed, two guys who almost killed each other. And if God wanted us to survive, it was so we could be better."
(Translated from local media)