On June 7, 1982 an Argentine Air Force Lear 35A was shot down on a reconnaissance/decoy mission by a Sea Dart SAM fired from HMS Exeter near Pebble Island on the north side of West Falkland...but What If...?
Vice Commodore Rodolfo De La Colina rolled the Lear 35 almost inverted and pulled hard towards the incoming Sea Dart missile. The business jet was not built like the Mirages and Skyhawks that his comrades were flying in the war, and he hoped the airframe held together as the G-load increased. He strained to see the missile exhaust plume out his windshield. His co-pilot had better view and gave a running commentary of their situation. He could hear the distressed cries from the three reconnaissance officers in the jet's tight cabin a few feet behind him.
As the missile screamed towards his jet he abruptly rolled in the opposite direction and dove to the ground. The maneuver worked. The missile passed close off the right side, nothing but a bright streak in his peripheral vision as it screamed past.
Before he had a chance to even contemplate relief he felt a thud against the airframe. The missile had detonated behind the Lear, too far past to destroy it, but close enough to send warhead fragments into the business jet. Now flying well past it's maximum design speed and well into the transonic range Rodolfo felt the jet buffet violently.
He eased the nose up and pulled the thrust levers aft in an effort to slow the jet. Passing back through 220 knots indicated airspeed the buffeting became much more gentle. Still there, but he could at least read his instruments now. Now low and slow, barely 2,000 feet above the rocky island below he knew he would be pushing it to try to cross the icy ocean to return to base at Comodoro on the mainland. He looked at the young co-pilot beside him and in an unspoken moment he nodded in agreement. He turned the aircraft towards Stanley, descending to 200 feet above the terrain, in hopes they could reach safety without encountering more Royal Navy fire on the way and without finding trigger happy conscripts manning AA guns when he got there.
Luck was on their side, and the Learjet rolled to a stop at Stanley airfield 25 excruciatingly slow minutes later. The crew finally breathed a sigh of relief but realized how lucky they were as they inspected the aircraft and saw the rudder and right elevator shredded like tin foil...
The Lear sat on the apron at Stanley, untouched until it was found by liberating British forces five days later. It joined a Pucara and three Agusta A109 helicopters in becoming captured war trophies. Both the RAF and RN wanted the Lear, seeing it as a fast, comfortable Communications aircraft. In the end the Royal Navy won the battle, on the grounds that it was one of their missiles that had disabled the Learjet in the first place.
The aircraft was repaired and with a new interior and suitable repaint it entered service with 781 Naval Air Squadron at RNAS Yoevilton in Spring 1983 where it proved a popular mode of transport among high ranking officers until it was sold to a private company in October 1994.
Kit is the Hasegawa 1/48 Learjet 35A built as an entry to the "Captured" GB on the other site. It's an ancient kit but went together nicely, just a bit light on detail by modern standards.
My plan was to have the door open, but it really didn't want to be coaxed open so rather than risk damaging the paint around it I decided to leave it closed. There's not much to see anyway. The white is Tamiya Pure White from a rattle can, the blue is a mix of Vallejo Signal Blue and Deep Sky mixed to match the roundel blue as close as I could eyeball it. Topcoat finish is Tamiya Semi-Gloss clear. Wing and tail anti-ice areas and the windshield frame are bare metal foil, nacelle anti-ice lips were done with a Molotov chrome pen. Virtually no weathering other than a light wash on the landing gear since she would be kept nice and clean for the Top Brass.
Royal Navy Learjet CC.1 "Evita" c.1990
