Captain Guillermo Donadille: "When we were a minute from the target, which were the English ships in San Carlos, my number 3, Senn, located on the left, I shout on the radio: 'Atento, a plane to the right ! 'I fixed and I actually see a plane a little further away and flying almost on our course.
Now it turns out that the curious thing about the situation -but this I only learned later-is that Senn was pointing me to another plane that was approaching a little in front and the one I see was a second device that was more lateral.
Donadille admits that at first it thought that it was an Argentine Skyhawk, since there was little light and also it drizzled. But when the Sea Harrier pilot saw Senn and started to turn to attack him there was no longer any doubt, he was an enemy.
Captain Guillermo Donadille: "Then I order the squadron to drop all the bombs and the extra tanks, because with all that paraphernalia you can not turn fast enough to try some defensive maneuver against the agile English planes, so that I order to eject the charges And face the Harriers. "
Senn maneuvered to face the one who was heading towards him but did not see the other Sea Harrier, to the right of the head of the CAP, who was positioned to shoot a missile ("welding the pipe" in the Argentine pilot jargon).
Captain Guillermo Donadille: "Although the Harrier was out of range of the 30-mm guns of my plane, the only weapon we had to deal with, that is to say we were more than 700 meters, To shoot with the idea that, as the fire of the two guns illuminates the whole lower part of the fuselage, the British saw me and did not continue with his attack on the inadvertent Senn.
He actually sees me because he immediately leaves it to Senn, reverses and stings to the ground. I as best I could I inverted my plane to where the English would supposedly happen, all this about 100 meters from the ground, and I start to shoot, without aim, I aimed the plane and I threw where I imagined that it would happen ... and apparently Passed by. I almost swallowed the ground to follow him but the Harrier went through the 'jet' of shells. We passed so low that at one point I thought the British pilot had crashed.
I managed to get out of that risky situation, but only to find Senn, who was closing like a madman, so I had to revert or if we both collided. But I passed, I fitted the plane and in that moment they hit me a missile1 and I have to eject myself. "
A few seconds later the other two members of the squadron -Senn and Piuma- were shot down by the Sea Harriers, but all were successfully ejected and were later recovered by Argentine ground forces in the Great Malvina2 and taken to Port Howard.
According to the British version, Donadille and his two companions were shot down by two Sea Harriers FRS.1 of the No. 801 Sqdn flown by Nigel D. "Sharkey" Ward and Steve R. Thomas. According to this same version, the pilot who was shot by Donadille was Ward, who was able to dodge the blast of cannon. Nigel Ward shot down Senn and Thomas did the same with Donadille and Piuma with their AIM-9L missiles.
This is not in accord with what the Argentines observed:
according to the radar of Puerto Argentino3 not less than five Sea Harriers intercepted the three Daggers of the squadron4 «Mouse». Moreover, a ground-based observation post near the battle site had seen a Harrier emerge dropping black smoke at about 15:00 (aerial combat hour). An Argentine researcher, Rubén Oscar Moro, 5 contacted British sources to learn of British royal losses on airplanes and helicopters. These sources gave him the information (according to him his data are 100% reliable) but in return he asked for anonymity. In August 1984 these sources confirmed
that the Sea Harrier damaged by Captain Donadille was manned by the Lieutenant Commander Harry Trent, who, after moving about 30 kms from the air combat site, was forced to eject and was rescued by a Sea Helicopter King.
Incidentally, the Harrier wing was, according to it's chief designer, 'inspired' by the wing of the A-4 Skyhawk! Which preceded the Harrier by about five years...