39 years ago - today...............
I was over the Falklands in a GR3 with two LGB's destined for artillery on Sapper Hill, the last high ground before Stanley.
I took the FAC brief and was about to run in to loft the bombs against the target, when the FAC told me to stop and hold off.....
The white flags had gone up, and the Argentinians were streaming back into Stanley. Our ground troops had gone "Guns Tight" - I was told to return to HERMES.
The LGB kits had been air-dropped to us, so some considerable effort had gone into getting them down to us. I didn't know if fighting would resume that day or the next, and I was reluctant to jettison them into the sea in case they were needed again. I worked out that if I jettisoned fuel and then burnt off to not a lot, I could VL with them onboard. So that is what I did. When I got out of the cockpit, I was told that the Captain wanted to see me, so I went to the bridge, where he proceeded to bollock me for landing on his boat with my bombs on. I explained why I had done so - at which point he stopped bollocking me, told me to "wait there" and disappeared, returning with Adm Woodward. "Tell him what you have just told me" he said - so I did.
I was, effectively, the carrier pigeon that gave the TF Commander the news that he wanted - that it was all over.
ENDEX