Air University Review, July-August 1986
Comodoro José C. D’Odorico, FAA(Ret)
Oddly enough, the Fuerza Aérea Argentina (FAA)––Argentina’s Air Force––is a military institution of essentially civilian origins, since the inception of the Escuela Militar de Aviación (Air Military School), which took place on 10 August 1912, was mainly the result of steps taken by a group of Argentine gentlemen who were fond of traveling by air. With the enthusiastic encouragement of the engineer Jorge Alejandro Newbery (who was the son of a U.S. citizen) and the Baron Aarón de Achorena, the Argentine Air Military School began to train pilots at a time when flying was still quite an adventure.
At that time, military aviation became a part of the Ejército Argentino (Argentine Army) as one of its organic elements and remained so until 4 January 1945, when a presidential order (during the administration of General Edelmiro J. Farrell, whose Minister of Defense was General Juan D. Perón) instituted the FAA as an autonomous armed service like the Army and the Navy.
The FAA enjoyed times of great expansion, such as during the late 1940s when it had 100 Gloster Meteor Mk-4s; forty-five four-engined Avro Lincoln and Lancaster bombers; more than a hundred DL-22s training aircraft with wooden fuselages, based on an Argentine design and engine; seventeen DC-3 and six DC-4 cargo transports; thirteen Vickers Vikings; and other planes of foreign origin. The firepower that the FAA had available at that time was quite unusual in South America, and the FAA’s aircraft were some of the most modern that existed in the Western world. Later on, in the early 1950s, approximately one hundred Calquin IA-24s were added to the inventory. These two-engined attack aircraft were indigenously designed along lines similar to the British de Havilland 98 Mosquito but with radial engines.
On 9 August 1947, an Argentine jet prototype known as IA-27 Pulqui I flew for the first time––the fruit of an idea developed by a French-Argentine group headed by the engineer Emile Dewoitine and assisted by Argentine engineers Ignacio San Martin and Norberto Morcchio, who were working at the Fábrica Militar de Aviones (FMA) located in Córdoba. (The FMA is a manufacturing center belonging to the FAA.) Later on, on 27 June 1950, the IA-33 Pulqui II, a second Argentine jet prototype, made its maiden flight. This aircraft was the product of similar engineering teamwork, in this case led by the German engineer Kurt Tank. The Pulqui II was a completely metallic aircraft, powered by a Rolls-Royce Nene II with 2315 kg (5100 pounds) of thrust. Its wings had a 40º swept angle, and it was able to reach a maximum speed of 652 miles per hour. However, neither of these two models was ever manufactured in mass production. This omission frustrated a great hope to make the country reach a higher technological level.
Up to 1 May 1982, the FAA had carried out nothing but routine activities. It had never participated in any war against any foreign country. However, events cannot always be entirely controlled by men. Without even imagining that it would have to encounter one of the strongest military powers in the world, the FAA began, on that memorable date, its baptism of fire in defending the sacred interests of Argentina.
The Malvinas War
On 2 April 1982, Malvinas Islands were occupied by units from the three armed services of Argentina through an operation that was bloodless for the British side. The purpose of the occupation was to recover the Archipelago, seized in 1833 by the troops of a British navy ship. Throughout forty-four days of tenacious combat, the FAA carried out air operations in a manner that amazed its peers from other countries, including air forces very experienced in the art of defense.
When the decision to retake Malvinas, Georgias, and Sandwich del Sur islands was made, the FAA was organized with a Commander in Chief who headed a General Staff and five major commands: Training Command, Air Regions Command, Material Command, Air Defense Command, and Air Operations Command. The last two commands included all of the flying units and the support units in Argentina that would participate in the combat that was to take place from 1 May through 13 June 1982.
Within the Air Defense Command were the VIII Air Wing, based at Mariano Mareno and whose Interceptor Air Group 8 had Mirage IIIEAs and IIIEBs; Air Control and Surveillance Groups 1 and 2, lodged in Merlo, equipped with mobile tridimensional radars; and the Mar del Plata Military Air Base, home of the AAA (antiaircraft artillery) School Group 1, equipped with batteries of advanced 20- and 35-mm cannons.
The Air Operations Command had the remaining air units:
After the Malvinas War
After the war came to an end on 14 June 1982, a thorough analysis of the air units’ performance was made. Some of the lost aircraft were replaced, and an initial internal rearrangement was carried out in order to achieve as much advantage as possible from the remaining aeronautical assets.
Presently, the Transport Air Group 1 (El Palomar) retains the same inventory that it had before the war. The Bombing Air Group 2 (Paraná) has been reduced because the two Canberras shot down during the conflict were not replaced, and the Photo Reconnaissance Air Group 1 (Paraná) now has one Learjet 35A less for the same reason. In spite of a heavy attrition during wartime, the Air Strike Group 3 still flies the Pucará, although some aircraft were replaced by a new batch of the FMA-built planes. The Fighter-Bomber Air Group 4 (Mendoza) is flying Mirage 111Cs, F-86Fs, and MS-760s. In the Fighter-Bomber Air Group 5 (V. Reynolds), the remaining Skyhawks (A-4Bs and Cs) have been regrouped. The Fighter-Bomber Air Group 6 (Tandil) continues with its Daggers, plus some Mirage-VPs. Air Groups 7 (Morón) and 8 (Mariano Moreno) and the Transport Air Squadron 9 (Comodoro Rivadavia) have the same aircraft as they had before the war, but the Ninth Wing has been reinforced with a strike air squadron equipped with IA-58As. After 1982, the Tenth Air Wing, located in Rio Gallegos, was created. This unit presently has Fighter-Bomber Air Squadron 10, equipped with Mirage 111Cs.
Although the FAA’s old aircraft clearly need replacement, the economic state of the country has forced postponement. Recently, manufacture of the first series of sixty Argentine-designed basic-advanced trainer IA-63 Pampas has begun. Unfortunately, the many difficulties encountered to finance the effort delayed the program schedule for more than a year. Budgetary limitations also have caused a considerable reduction in the overall number of hours flown in the FAA. However, by locally carrying out both major overhauls and launchable weaponry manufacturing, not only is a great amount of money being saved, but new jobs have been generated.
Since the end of 1984, the FAA’s Office of the Commander in Chief was restructured as the Air Force General Staff (the President of Argentina is the Commander in Chief of all of the nation’s armed forces). On 1 December 1985, a wide program including organic changes was initiated. This reorganization is expected to be completed by 1988. During 1986, the Air Operations Command will be deactivated, but simultaneously the Northern Operations Command will be created. The new command will have the ten air wings on duty now, plus four military air bases and three complementary groups. The Defense Air Command, decommissioned in 1984, will become operational again before 1988. Meanwhile, the Southern Air Operations Command will be created, plus four general directorates (Personnel, Logistics, Training, and Aeronautical Affairs) that will absorb the present Training, Material, and Air Regions commands, as well as other smaller organisms. With this new structure, the FAA expects to make its leadership more flexible and better coordinated while also making the service function more economically.
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Contributor
Comodoro José C. D’Odorico, Argentine Air Force (Ret) is Director of Aeroespacio, Argentine national journal of aeronautics and space, and Professor Advisor in the Argentine Air War College. He has served as Director, Argentine Air War College, and has written numerous articles and two books on revolutionary war. Comodoro D’Odorico attended the Inter-American Defense College, Washington, D.C., in the class of 1970.
Disclaimer
The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University.
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