I shall be away this weekend, so let me offer my final contribution to this story............
We were getting close to what we now know was the end. Ground forces had taken the high ground to the west and north of Stanley - the only bit left was Sapper Hill which was more of a pimple than high ground, but it was being used for artillery to increase their range.
On 14 June I was launched with 2 LGBs to attack Artillery on Sapper Hill which would be designated by an FAC. I took the brief in the safe air above 20,000' over Stanley, and was starting to let down to run in to loft the bombs against Sapper Hill when the FAC told me to stop and hold off. Some 5 minutes later he told me not to attack, as the white flags were up and troops were streaming back into Stanley. Ground Forces had gone "guns tight" and the feeling was that Argentinian forces had given in.
I headed back to HERMES and decided that I could do a vertical landing with the bombs on if I burnt off fuel to not much left. I didn't want to jettison the bombs into the sea, as considerable effort had been taken to get the LGB kits to us, and I didn't know if they might be needed later that day, or the next. So I jettisoned fuel and then raced around at low level burning off fuel to get down to hover weight, and landed on HERMES. As I got out of the cockpit, I was met by a very agitated RN Lt Cdr who told me that the Captain wanted to see me.
I went to the Bridge, and the Captain proceeded to bollock me for landing on his boat with my bombs on. I explained why and he stopped bollocking me and told me to "wait there". He disappeared and returned shortly afterwards with Adm Woodward and told me to "tell him what you have just told me". I did - so I was effectively the carrier pigeon that gave Woodward the news that he wanted that it was all over.
Of importance to me - I only got half a bollocking.
Last edited by ex-fast-jets; 11th Jun 2022 at 07:06.