During the attacks in San Carlos Fearless (a troops transport ship that was frequently used as COC by the British) was attacked by a M5. The shot was taken by a journalist that was close to the área. The very beautiful picture shows the plane flying at high speed lower that the bridge and very close to her. It was published in the British press.
I wanted to me a much more detailed image and from another angle thus I was inspired in the story by the then Capt Mir González and current Chief of Staff of V Brigada Aérea (1995).
Mir González’s bomb hits the stern without exploding. The enemy admired him because they believe that no one would have dared to pass so low and so close to the ship doing 900 km/hr.
Artwork by Exequiel Martínez
This painting is part of the series dedicated to the Malvinas War of 1982, one of the central themes in the work of Exequiel Martínez. The artist, who experienced the conflict closely as a former pilot of the Argentine Air Force, has documented with historical rigor and emotion the missions of Argentine pilots who faced the Royal Navy in the South Atlantic.
HMS Fearless was one of the landing ships of the British Task Force. Argentine pilots carried out daring low-altitude attacks under extreme conditions, in missions that went down in the history of world combat aviation. Martínez captures in his paintings the courage and sacrifice of those aviators.
Explore the complete collection of works on the Malvinas War or learn about the artist in his biography.
The Malvinas War (April-June 1982) saw Argentine Air Force pilots achieve remarkable feats against a technologically superior enemy fleet. Flying at extremely low altitudes to avoid radar and missiles, they attacked British warships with great effectiveness and personal courage. Exequiel Martínez, himself a former military aviator, brings unparalleled authenticity to these battle scenes, making his Malvinas War series an essential visual record of this chapter in Argentine military history.