Argentine jets bomb British troop ships at Fitzroy; Sir Galahad burns, 48 dead

By the first week of June 1982, British forces were close enough to Port Stanley to begin planning a final assault — but they still needed to move the Welsh Guards forward along the southern approach. On June 8, RFA Sir Galahad and RFA Sir Tristram sat anchored 1,200 feet apart in Port Pleasant, off Fitzroy, still almost fully laden with troops and equipment, when nine Argentine A-4 Skyhawks from the 5th Air Brigade swept in from seaward in two waves. Sir Galahad took three bombs and erupted in fire; 48 men died aboard her, 32 of them Welsh Guards. BBC television cameras captured the images of Royal Navy helicopters hovering in black smoke to winch survivors from the burning ship — footage seen around the world that afternoon…