SAS Raid - Argentina 1982 

Having served in the Falkands, the weather was atrocious.

With your info-diggings skills you could probably find Atlantis in two weeks

Regardless of what you think of the politics, those Argie pilots had some serious stones, making those wavetop attacks in those Scooters. Some real ace stick-and-rudder work.

France suspended deliveries when Argentina invaded the Falklands. Now imagine if Argentina had invaded the Falklands AFTER taking full delivery of the Super Etandards and the Exocet missiles!

Why do all history RU-vidrs have such good voices?

That would have been one hell of a SAS assault on that Arge air field, most definitely would have went down into the history books.

My mums first boyfriend flew the remaining Chinook off the Atlantic Conveyor. Ironically he survived the war but died in the Falklands on exercise some years later, because of water contamination!

This channel is better than history channel thanks mark felton!! Thanks for 400 likes hahaha History channel is crap now aliens mysteries etc no lore history in it.

I felt so guilty after watching your videos so often, I just sent a small payment via PayPal. You are one of the best video producers on RU-vid, and whether you know it or not are making a MAJOR contribution to history with this. Deep respect.

I was a RAF technician supporting the aircraft that joined the fleet, the aircraft that bombed the runway and various 'other aircraft' during the Falklands conflict. I've never seen the footage you are showing. Thank you.

Jabber 1974, You do a disservice to the French, they kept stalling on delivery of previously ordered Exocets until the war was over. The Exocets used were old stock delivered when Argentina was still a British ally. Britain and Argentina were close friends until this incident.

Nice video, thanks. I have read in the Argentine mass media articles that the "Seaking" helicopter was first detected (heard) by an Argentine oil extraction tower ignored by the SAS. The employees of this tower had reported the contact to the military authorities of Tierra del Fuego who alerted the coast guards about the incursion. There is another report of an Argentine patrol vessel detecting a small boat approaching the Argentine coast very close to Rio Grande. Apparently, the ship opened fire "blindly" following the radar "mark" at what, the boat (presumably British), noticing that it had been discovered, salied away. The Argentine Navy knew that the Super Etendards were important military targets and, every day, they took the airplanes out of the base and hid them among the houses of the city. Obviously, every day the place where each plane was hidden was changed. The "sensitive" sites of Tierra del Fuego (Argentine side of the island) and the border with Chile was guarded by, whatever was considered, the best troops of the Argentine Navy. The fear of a direct intervention of Chilean troops on the Argentine side of the Island of Tierra del Fuego caused that, neglecting the participation of these troops in the conflict, (there were many command groups of the Argentine Navy), any military attack on the Argentine side of the Island was very difficult. I have a couple of Argentine books about "mikado operation" seen with "Argentine eyes" but, saddly, I haven't had the time to read them yet. I promise to do that soon !!!

Once a respected foe now a respected ally Greetings and respect from Germany to our British friends

Coming home from work and excited to finally watch another excellent episode of Mark Felton's history documentaries!

The tension in these videos is amazing, even though I knew Argentina had never sunk an aircraft carrier I was still on the edge of my seat. Thank you, great channel.

That footage at 1:50 of the Argentine jets flying low against the British ships is the hilight

Very good description on Operation Mikado. The Falklands/Malvinas War is such a short conflict that if any small incident was changed it could define a different aftermath. Respect from Argentina

Thanks Mr Felton, keep up the good work.

Many thanks Marc, as every post, highly interesting. This one in particular as I lived in AR at the time.

I know the Rio Grande base area well and let me tell you: It would have been extremely difficult for unsupported raiders to make it out of the landing strip. They might have caused some considerable damage because they were the SAS and who dares wins and all that, but on the whole they would have come out of the affair with quite a collection of holes each. For one thing, the landing strip itself was watched as much as the outlaying zone. A hostile landing inside the base had been considered a possibility, for obvious reasons, and there were literally dozens of bunkers and mutually supporting positions that looked both in and out. The Rio Grande base wasn't an improvised landing strip in the Libyan desert watched over by poorly led, poorly armed Italians. The area had been in fact a war zone during the entire seventies because of the leftist insurgency that had ravaged the country back then and constantly tried to assault military bases to steal weapons, kill soldiers and for propaganda purposes. So the place was not stranger to war. The perimeter of the base, which held critically sensitive materiel, was therefore quite beefed up, heavily mined and watched over by four battalions of Marines, perhaps the toughest soldiers we have outside the "Buzos Tácticos". Some of their commanders had in fact undergone training in the UK with the SBS and knew what to expect from the daring British. Also, unlike our starved, half-frozen conscripts in the islands, the Marines manning the defenses were well fed, well equipped and had decent bunkers and material support. The SAS brass was perfectly right when they called it a suicide mission. It would have been one more tragedy in an already tragic and unnecessary conflict.

Amazing work as usual!! 👍👍

Damn, interesting, never knew of this. Love the little facts behind larger stories. Also, firmly agree, awesome channel! You are great!

The result of losing the Atlantic Conveyor was that troops landing in the Falklands had no overland helicopter transport and thus had to walk multiple days and fight their way to their target town.

Interestingly the destruction of HMS Sheffield was down to fires started by the missiles engine rather then the warhead which did not explode. In fact if it was not for the fact that the sea water fire main was knocked out the ship could well have been saved. In the case of the Atlantic Conveyor there is no conclusive evidence that the warhead exploded and again it is possible the missiles engine caused a fire in the fuel and ammunition aboard the Atlantic Conveyor which burnt the ship out. So it is possible that even if the carriers had been hit, and assuming the fire control worked well, the may not have been knocked out. Argentina did try to obtain more missiles but the British Secret Service did set up a number of fake arms dealers to diverted Argentina from pursuing sources which could genuinely supply a few missiles. France, to its credit, stopped a supply of missiles going to Peru which they thought could have been diverted to Argentina. Though how much that was influenced by the fact that British intelligence knew what was going on would be interesting to know.

I’ve been watching your high quality videos since February,keep up the good work!

I am REALLY enjoying your recent Falklands videos! Thanks!

Loving the Falklands videos, keep up the good work!

Brilliant as always Mark. Less known incidents and always meticulously researched and presented. Thank you.

Yet again, Dr Felton, a superb production. Interesting, concise, to the point.... if only more history documentaries were made in this style, I think they would receive far more viewers. I recently saw a documentary about Operation Thunderbolt (the Israeli Special Forces operation in Ntebbe, Uganda, in 1976, mentioned in this film). It was 1.5 hours long. So, it must be amazing, right?? Wrong. It was SO full of repetition, padding, re-summarizing the story so far, and so on (this was excluding the endless commercials), that it made me realise just how good the Felton Production films are. It left me longing for a concentrated, 10 - 15 minute version. Awesome job Sir!!!

Well credit where credit is due. The Argentine pilots showed some real guts. Can't deny that.

I love the coverage of lesser known events in history. I feel The Battle of Castle Itter would make a great video, it's an incredible story that doesn't get enough recognition.

Keep up the great work Mark. I always look forward to learning something new about our past when you upload.

These videos are so addictive, always learn something new from them, thank you Dr Mark

These episodes leave me on the edge of my seat! More, please!

Love the content, format, and your channel, truly appreciate what you do, thanks

Mark, would you consider doing a video on Ethiopian/African forces in the Korean War?

Good video! The last Exocet misil was lunch in a combine attack with 4 Skyhawks that Argentina claim damages a carrier and England claim that hit the floating shell of the Atlantic Conveior.

I love it! So glad to see more on the Falklands from you.

My understanding from the Argentinian pilot’s testimony is that his target radar could not differentiate between the carrier and the transport ship as they were both large targets. He had detected both, and he just had to pick one.

Cracking story. I remember the events but had no idea on the details. Thank you very much.

First time I've ever heard about this and I live in Hereford !! Great video Mark.

Dr Mark any chance of some Ghurhka history videos? Just visited the Ghurkha Welfare Trust nursing home in Pokhara which was very humbling.

Considering the seeming crackdown on military history on RU-vid I'm very pleased this was on top of my feed when I got home from work. Keep up the good work, Mark. Cheers to you for these videos!

Lindybeige and mark both doing falklands war videos. Absolute winner !

You forgot two more missions. The air attack of 05/30/1982. On that mission, the Argentines claim to have hit the invincible or something. And the attack on 06/12/1982 with an exocet MM.38 (from the ground) that hit the Glamorgan.

Just in case it was not already mentioned : The Argentinians did expend their last air-launched Exocet on May 30th. By using two air-to-air refuelings instead of one they were able to attack the RN TF from the SE. But they were still short of the carriers and the missile apparently locked onto the Type 21 HMS Avenger. Avenger's maneuvering and chaff rockets were enough to break the lock and it failed to hit any target.

Interesting video. Yes some fairly crazy things were considered during the Falklands conflict. Credit should also go to the Argentinian technical team that repurposed the MM38 ship launched exocet onto a truck, added a radar and successfully hit HMS Glamorgan on Jun 12 killing 14 crew. They had something like 30 missiles available from the navy. A week earlier and this small team of geeks might have changed the outcome of the conflict. Frustratingly I can find very little detail, but as they say victory is written by the victor.

Best history channel on the platform, and yet another great video.

Well done mark another great video about the falklands war i would love to see one about the battle of port stanley and the argentinian invasion

Mark please do one on the decoy mission that fended off the two exocets. Apparently they used sea kings like matador's capes pulling up above the maximum altitude of the exocets as the missles passed beneath them. I was aquainted with the proud father of one of the sea king pilots. The father was former SAS.

Long time subscriber, love your videos mark! ~cheers from Argentina

Thanks for doing a video on this I’ve only read old websites and summaries. Never a multimedia presentation. Completely fascinating

Mr Felton sir I just wanted to say thank you for your bringing all these interesting and overlooked stories to light. I emensly enjoy them and look very much forward to the next. I am a very proud ex member of the Canadian Armed Forces and as such I appreciate the significance of the stories. Ther are many Canadian stories as well I,m told we played a very important part in both wars. Thank you again sir . Cheers Wade

I keep thinking I know a lot of military history until you post a video. Such fun. Thank you Mark.

Fascinating and smoothly produced video as ever, only the raid itself an anticlimax!

Smashing video Mr. Felton!

What I read on the sinking of the Sheffield was the use of aluminium in the ship's construction caused some horrific incidents.

I recall being told at the time, that Argentina’s shocking success with their small stock of Exocet missiles, was viewed with such alarm and dismay by our Government, that immediate steps were taken to purchase all of France’s remaining stock of Exocet missiles, in order to prevent Argentina from getting their hands on any more!

I love the mix of eras of history you portray on your channel ......loved to see this one..... Had only seen previously this described in one or two sentences.....nice to finally get the WHOLE story...... keep up the OUTSTANDING work!!!!!💂💂💂 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Like always an amazing video. I wish you were my history teacher back in the day

This channel is simply amazing. The only thing I can find wrong is that the videos need to be at least double the length. 5-10 minutes is never enough, :) Keep up the great work!

Another amazing video and piece of history. Thank you.

As a low brass/trombone player, I approve of the theme music you use. Love that bass bone on the right channel!

I have always had a lot of interest in the Falkland War and you really go into amazing detail keep up the beautiful work.

The Skyhawk was one of the most agile aircraft ever made , light and could carry a huge payload and manouverability was outstanding and was one of the only aircraft of its size capable of carrying nuclear bombs

The U.S. secretly offered to loan Britain an amphibious assault carrier in the event that one of her carriers was sunk.

Thank you so much a very good narrating and always Crystal clear ones a again thank you

I did not know of this not-so-little mission! Thanks Maek!

Awesome video, refreshing for something more current to be explored. 👍

Always good to see that History is not all being lost to Hollywood remakes, and historical facts are being kept intact. Thanks

The Atlantic Conveyor name was put on a new ship. I used it to send a wooden classic boat to Liverpool from Baltimore. The name on the shipping documents surprised me.

Great story told well, thank you Mark!

5 star Mark! Loved it.

You've done it again, another story I'd not heard before!

Thank you Mark very cool!

Mark. I think this dude deserves one of you quality vids!! - Lachhiman Gurung

Keep up the Falklands War vídeos if you can, very interesting and no one else seems to cover specific stories about it like you do. Most docs or info out there are about the war as a whole that everyone has heard of.

Thank you for another interesting story!

As always, a great video Mark! Will you be making a video about foreign involvement in the Falklands war? Especially that of the Soviets?

More More More...lovin the 80s conflicts...

Another brilliant episode

You are the new history channel. Great video and story.

Any day that Mark uploads is good day !!

interesting video, i had no idea. on a separate point. i know french advisers visited argentina during the war, i always wondered if they helped or hindered their war effort.

Excelent video as usual, Thank You Mark. Could you do a vid on Doolittls raids, specificly how they put bombers onto carriers . Thank You Sir.

When you hear that intro music, you know it's going to be good.

Epic mark

Very good video. Very informative and fascinating. Keep them coming.

Nice little history blurb. I actually have a model of an Argentine Super Etendard sitting on my desk that I built a few years back. It's aircraft 03.

Omg I love this channel!

Mark should've been my history teacher is high school

Also I really enjoy your channels content informative and entertaining.

I really enjoy the videos on the Falkland Islands war. I am learning a lot.

Good one Mark. I was down there during the scuffel but our part has yet to be acknowledged. However it's good to find out what other things were going on. People have no idea how complex an opporation the whole thing was. The fact that there were more supply ships than warships should be a clue. But!!!!

Very interesting video again Mark. We would all love to learn more about the Falklands war. I don't know alot about it

Sounds like Cpt Legg bottled it. Preferred to be near to Chile rather than the target and baled out at the first opportunity.

Holy crap, those argentinian skyhawk pilots got balls

Class production once again :)

I would like to say that there was an another mission, against the HMS invincible with the last exocet missile, and a couple of A4-B bombing the carrier. But there are serious doubts about the result of the mission, with diferent versions from both sides. Apart from that, great video.

Thanks for bringing us this coverage of the short, far away Argentine War. It was fascinating to read the news coverage at the time (made more interesting in that I was dating an Argentine woman then) and I've read an excellent book on the war, but I never heard of this attempted raid until now.