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Old 29th Oct 2008, 02:34
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Edmund Spencer
 
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And thereby hangs a tale!
Humblest apologies if this introduces thread creep but it probably needs to be told.
Tony Penfold and Martin Hale were vectored against what they thought were two Mirage III's armed with Magic and Matra. Turns out it was a single Mirage V (Dagger) flown by Lieutenant Jose Ardiles armed with only heat seeking Shafrirs.
As far as I am aware this missile did not have much of an all aspect capability so it is mysterious as to what tracked Martin head on to begin with. I most certainly do not want to question Martin's account but it would not be the first time that drop tanks have been mistaken as missiles.
According to the Argentinean pilots they had no radar in the Mirage V so they could not have given guidance to a semi-active Magic anyway.
ES
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