A former Argentine soldier has become friends with a British pilot whom he shot down during the Falklands War. Sergio Fernández, 74, was in the army for 37 years and retired as a Major General. In 1982, he was a lieutenant in the 601 Commando Company, which was primarily deployed to West Falkland and based at Port Howard to reinforce and conduct reconnaissance. Its soldiers also operated near Port San Carlos and Fanning Head in May, engaging with British forces at Many Branch Point in June.

Fernández shot down Squadron Leader Jeff Glover on May 21. After ejecting, he suffered a broken left arm, shoulder blade and collarbone, and lost consciousness, before being dragged from the sea at gunpoint. Glover was held for several weeks before being released on July 8 and handed over to the British Consul in Montevideo. The serviceman received the Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Services in the Air, later flew for the Red Arrows, and retired from the RAF in 1996.

The man who downed him told the Express in Buenos Aires that he was “very fortunate” to have done so in Port Howard. “I was, in those days, the best aimer of the Argentine army,” Fernández, who heard the aircraft approaching from the south, added. “I had developed a lot of training in 1979, and after that, in 1980 and ‘81, I was the chief of the blowpipe system course.”

“When you aim to the plane that was approaching, for us, it was very clear it was a Harrier. Just from the colour. A very good target. And the first intention was to reach the plane, about three kilometres – that is the long range that you can expect to guide the missile.

“But when we fire, the plane moves sharply to the right, because he wants to have a good sight for the camera.

“He was taking pictures.

“And the missile ended with the rocks.

“The plane went to the north, north to the west, and after a while, it came back again.

“All that everybody in the air force said not to do, they did.

“Never one plane alone, never… he never passed twice over and alerted the target.

“And the second time, I retained the shot to the last moment, even though the plane was over my head – it doesn’t matter.

“I need to be sure that the plane will be hit.”

The former commander believes he hit Glover with a radio-guided projectile from about 450 metres away.

An infrared sensor helps put the missile in the middle of the scope for 400 metres, and after that, a small joystick is used.

He is not sure where he hit the aircraft, as the whole thing happened so quickly.

This was the closest combat he and his colleagues saw before returning to Port Stanley, which he and his compatriots call Port Argentina.

Later, Fernández was left to lead 20 commandos, who, he said, accomplished “a lot of missions”, such as fighting against the SAS and killing Captain Hamilton near Port Howard on May 15 when he was in an observation party.

His signaller, Corporal Roy Fonseca, was captured.

“It was four men against two, and it was a short skirmish with death consequences,” Fernández said.

Glover returned to Buenos Aires in April 2016, and a photograph was taken of the two men smiling together to mark the occasion.

Despite this reconciliation, Fernández, who is the President of the Malvinas Veterans’ Association, has not lost his zeal for an Argentine takeover of the islands.

He, like others interviewed, insisted that those who identify as British in the archipelago can remain so, but on Argentine soil, if a deal is reached to hand over the territory.

“I think that the British people should accept the realities of the 21st century,” Fernández said.

He then denounced the UK’s “colonial approach” to the islands, and emphasised, when asked about Sir Keir Starmer’s attempt to cede the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, that the Falklands need to be discussed on their own in order to reach a “good deal”.

When it was put to the former commander that only three people voted against remaining a British territory in a referendum in 2013, he replied: “They are put there for the British Government 200 years ago.

“They want to be British.

“I know them. I know a lot of people there. Even I have friends there.”

The Argentine has not returned to the Falklands since 1982.

“Because I know the islands under the Argentine flag.

“I don’t want to be there again with the British flag, and with the British police telling me what to do and what not to do.”

However, the veteran would return for a “mission” that his association has to find four Argentine men “killed on the ground at the last stage of the war”.

“I never found them,” Fernández said.

“We have some information.

“We have some speculations, and personally, I am convinced that we are close to finding them.”

He added that he is working to establish a deal between the British and Argentine governments by communicating with his country’s foreign ministry.

The next step would be to speak with the UK’s ambassador in Buenos Aires, David Cairns, who, he says, told him that they will meet after the summer.

“I am in very close contact with the British embassy,” Fernández said, “and we have a lot of good actions just now.

“This could be the best opportunity for both to show the rest of the world that we are honourable people, and we have a solution for a humanitarian cause.

“There are four families that never know nothing about the bodies of their father [or] son.”

When asked if he thinks the British embassy is open to a sovereignty deal, the ex-soldier replied that he does not know.

“But the good news is that we are in contact,” Fernández said.

“We talk a lot about this,” he added.

“In the close future, they call.”

It is understood that Flt. Lt. Glover does not want to be contacted.

He became a commercial pilot and, while working for the Qatari Royal Family, found himself in Buenos Aires for 12 days.

The former flying ace decided to look up Fernández.

Glover told AIRMail magazine in April 2022: “We went out for dinner, and it was only then that he told me that I had been in the sea, after being shot down, for forty minutes, when I had always thought it was for about five minutes.

“We had a great evening. He speaks good English, and he was, and is, a smashing chap.”

The Express was told by ex-combatants in Argentina that individuals endured physical violence as punishment during the war.

General Fernández said he did not see this happening.

He added: “I know there are a lot of conversations, but many of them felt that a lot of years after the war.

“Sometimes, because they are people with political interests in destroying the army forces.

“Or because they are trying to find any way of getting money.

“There are a lot of ideological reasons.”

Although it may have happened, the former commander seemed to concede, as “human beings are difficult in all places”.

“But it was not the normal approach to our soldiers,” he added.

General Fernández went on to describe how soldiers had just one meal in 15 days, which was “only lamb with hot water”.

“It was part of war,” he said.

“We are not going to Wimbledon; we’re not going to a match.”