Sandiego.
Thanks for the reminder.
I am still gathering information on this one. Allan White, the owner of the Pebble Island Lodge in the Falklands has been a priceless source of information. He reckons Cuerva's Mirage III crashed just south west of Stanley airport in the middle of a mine field! Regrettably, this is still off limits so we cannot get access to the wreckage.
There are still several aspects of this incident that haven't been resolved. Cuerva fired a prolonged burst of cannon fire as he flew directly over the town of Stanley at very low level in what looks to have been deep wing rock. Other witnesses have said he was leaking like a ruptured duck! (Badly ruptured.) Whether this was before or after every gun in the whole of Stanley opened up on him, we will probably never know. (Even the soldiers in the streets were firing their small arms, by all accounts.)
Up until that moment, Cuerva had apparently said over the radio his Mirage was in "Pristine condition".
Landing the Mirage III at Stanley would, according to those who have flown the aircraft, have been an extremely hazardous manouevre!
ES
Last edited by Edmund Spencer; 2nd Nov 2008 at 04:17.