David Morgan
New pencil drawing completed.
He’is David Morgan. I hope you like my work.
David Henry Spencer Morgan (born 29 December 1947) is a former British Navy and RAF pilot who flew on attachment to the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy during the Falklands War in 1982 where he became the most successful British fighter pilot of the conflict.
On 8 June, during what was supposed to be a training flight, Morgan was approaching Bluff Cove when he saw two British landing ships, Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram, on fire following an air attack by Argentinian Douglas A-4 Skyhawks. These vessels and others in the area were ferrying elements of the Welsh Guards and Royal Marines to shore. Morgan and his wingman, Lt David Smith (RN), kept a protective flying patrol over the scene for 40 minutes, until they saw a landing craft under attack by four A-4B Skyhawk fighter-bombers of the Argentinian Navy.
Morgan had only enough fuel to engage for two minutes, before returning to his ship; despite this, he fired an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile at the first Skyhawk, flown by Danilo Bolzán and destroyed it, killing Bolzán. A second aircraft, flown by Alfredo Vázquez was hit by cannon fire from Morgan and destroyed. While Vázquez appeared to eject safely, he too was killed. A third Skyhawk, flown by Juan Arrarás, was shot down by Smith. In the meantime, the surviving Argentinian pilot, Héctor Sánchez had managed to line up Morgan’s Harrier in his gunsight; when Sánchez attempted to fire, however, his cannon jammed.
While Morgan was no longer at risk of being shot down, his Harrier was badly damaged and, reportedly, losing fuel. For part of the return leg to Hermes, Morgan glided to conserve fuel; after he had landed safely it was found that only enough fuel for about 90 seconds of flight remained in his Harrier. Morgan’s tally of aircraft destroyed – two fighters, one helicopter and one helicopter shared – made Morgan the British fighter pilot most successful in air combat during the conflict. In 2007 Morgan published a book entitled Hostile Skies: My Falklands Air War, and has also written poetry about his experiences.
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