Model: Super Étendard
Serial: s/n 0753 Tail Code: 3-A-203
c/n 53 w/o 29 may 96, wreck
At the time of the Falklands War, Argentina had taken delivery of five “Super Étendards” (on 14 ordered) and five AM-39 “Exocets” AS missiles. All five of the missiles were used during the conflict, with one of them destroying HMS "Sheffield" and one the supply ship MV "Atlantic Conveyor". HMS "Sheffield" was first detected by an argentine Navy patrol aircraft Lockheed SP-2H “Neptune” (2-P-112) on May 4. Two argentine Navy “Super Etendards” took off from Río Grande and met with an Argentine Air Force tanker KC-130H “Hercules”. Flying at very low altitude, both “Super Etendards” climbed at 160 meters (500 feet) scanning, the targets appeared on their radar screens. Both pilots loaded the coordinates in their weapons systems, turned back to low level, and after the last minute check, launched their AM-39 “Exocets” from 20 to 30 miles (30 to 50 km) away of their targets. On May 25, 1982 the "Atlantic Conveyor" was hit by an Exocet missile fired by an argentine “Super Étendard” and sunk later that day. All the helicopters but one “Chinook”, callsign “Bravo November”, airborne at the time, were destroyed in the fire.
