Every war and armed action of the Argentine Air Force
The Air Force’s first fighting was in Argentina’s own coups: on 16 June 1955 rebel Meteors joined naval aircraft in bombing the Plaza de Mayo, where a police report of 22 June 1955 counted 136 dead and the Archivo Nacional de la Memoria counted 308 in 2010. Britain calls the islands of the 1982 war the Falkland Islands and Argentina the Islas Malvinas; kill and loss claims are each side’s unless independently confirmed, and the sovereignty dispute remains unresolved. Where a consolidated sortie or loss figure exists in the official record it is given here; where accounts disagree, the range is shown and the disagreement named. Blank cells are blank because no figure could be verified, not because the fighting was small.
From the bombing of the Plaza de Mayo in 1955 to the war over the Falklands (Malvinas) in 1982.
| Conflito | Anos | Contra | Aeronave principal | Missões | Aeronave perdida | |
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| The 1951 and 1955 coup attempts and the bombing of the Plaza de MayoRevolución LibertadoraArgentine Air Force (loyal and rebel units) | 1951–1955 | Rebel factions of the Argentine Navy and Air Force | Gloster Meteor F.4, Avro Lincoln | |||
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Rebel Air Force aircraft joined Naval Aviation in bombing the Plaza de Mayo on 16 June 1955; loyal Meteors fought them. Lincolns and Meteors flew on both sides in the September 1955 coup. On 16 June 1955 thirty Naval Aviation aircraft (22 AT-6s, five AT-11s and three Catalinas) and rebel Air Force Meteors from the VII Air Brigade at Morón bombed and strafed the Plaza de Mayo and the Casa Rosada in an attempt to kill President Juan Perón. Four loyal Meteors also flew, and Lieutenant Ernesto Adradas shot down a rebel naval AT-6, the Air Force’s first aerial victory according to Spanish Wikipedia. Casualty counts differ widely: a police report of 22 June 1955 listed 136 dead, while an investigation published by the Archivo Nacional de la Memoria in 2010 counted 308, plus unidentified victims. In 2008 a federal appeals chamber classed the bombing as a crime against humanity; a later ruling by Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral reclassified it. Lincolns had already been used in the coup attempt of September 1951, and both Lincolns and Meteors flew on each side in the coup of September 1955. Resultado The June attack failed; the September 1955 coup removed President Perón. Casualty figures range from 136 to 308 dead depending on the source; the 308 figure is the Archivo Nacional de la Memoria’s, the 136 a contemporary police count.
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| Azules and Colorados and the 1963 naval revolt1962–1963 military clashesArgentine Air Force | 1962–1963 | Rebel factions of the Argentine Navy and Army | F-86F Sabre, Gloster Meteor, MS.760 Paris | |||
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Loyal aircraft attacked rebel positions in September 1962 and struck the naval revolt in April 1963. Meteors attacked rebels during the Army’s internal clashes of September 1962. In April 1963 part of the Navy rose against the government; only 13 active Air Force officers joined it, and their bases quickly returned to loyalist control. Loyal MS.760s bombed the rebel radio station in Buenos Aires, and on 3 April F-86s, Meteors and MS.760s struck naval air bases, destroying five aircraft on the ground, according to English Wikipedia. Resultado The 1963 revolt was put down within days. The sources checked do not give casualty figures for the air strikes.
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| Operativo IndependenciaTucumán, 1975Argentine Air Force | 1975 | Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo (ERP) | FMA IA-58 Pucará | |||
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Pucarás flew counter-insurgency strikes from Córdoba against the ERP guerrillas. Operativo Independencia was the army-led campaign against the ERP in Tucumán in 1975. English Wikipedia records that newly delivered Pucarás flew strikes from Córdoba in late 1975, the type’s first operational use. Resultado Part of the army-led campaign in Tucumán that preceded the March 1976 coup. Only the Pucará article was checked for the Air Force’s part; the wider campaign and its human-rights findings are outside this entry.
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| Falklands War (Guerra de Malvinas)the 1982 South Atlantic conflictArgentine Air Force | 1982 | Reino Unido | A-4B and A-4C Skyhawk, IAI Dagger, Mirage IIIEAe mais 5 | 505 | 62 | |
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Attacked the British fleet and landing forces from mainland bases and the islands; flew transport, tanker and reconnaissance missions. Argentina landed on 2 April 1982; Britain’s task force arrived at the end of April. The Air Force’s first combat came on 1 May, the day of the first Vulcan raid on Stanley. Its jets flew from Río Gallegos, San Julián, Comodoro Rivadavia and Río Grande at the limit of their range, while Pucarás operated from Stanley (Puerto Argentino), Goose Green (Cóndor) and Pebble Island (Calderón). Only two KC-130H tankers served all the Argentine air arms. According to English Wikipedia, Air Force A-4Bs sank HMS Coventry on 25 May and left unexploded bombs in HMS Antelope, which blew up during defusing; Daggers and Navy A-4Qs hit HMS Ardent, which sank on 22 May; and five A-4Bs of Grupo 5 hit Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram at Fitzroy on 8 June, where 48 died on Sir Galahad and 56 British servicemen in all that day. Argonaut, Broadsword, Plymouth and Sir Lancelot were hit by bombs that did not explode, and a C-130 bombed the tanker British Wye. The heaviest losses came over San Carlos Water, where Sea Harriers and ship and ground missiles shot down attackers: the British operational research branch’s report, declassified in 2013, nevertheless judged that the Argentine air arms had not been beaten. Resultado Argentine forces on the islands surrendered on 14 June 1982. The sovereignty dispute remains unresolved. Kill and loss claims are each side’s unless independently confirmed; early British claims of missile kills were revised down afterwards. Britain calls the territory the Falkland Islands and Argentina the Islas Malvinas; the UN uses Falkland Islands (Malvinas). Navy aviation (Super Étendard and Exocet attacks on HMS Sheffield and Atlantic Conveyor) is not counted here.
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| Operações de manutenção da paz das Nações UnidasCyprus and HaitiArgentine Air Force | 1994– | Sino 212 | ||||
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Provided personnel to the UN force in Cyprus from 1994 and Bell 212 helicopters in Haiti from 2005. English Wikipedia records an Air Force contingent sent to Cyprus in 1994 and Bell 212 helicopters deployed to Haiti in 2005. Neither was a combat operation for the Air Force. Resultado Haiti deployment concluded; continuing status in Cyprus not confirmed. Thinly sourced: only the Wikipedia article on the service was checked; dates of withdrawal were not confirmed.
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Nada corresponde a essa pesquisa.
Cada número, verificado
- Fuerza Aérea Argentina: Nuestra historiaOfficial history: 10 August 1912 decree creating the Escuela de Aviación Militar at El Palomar; 1927 Dirección General de Aeronáutica and Fábrica Militar de Aviones; 11 February 1944 Comando en Jefe de Aeronáutica; 4 January 1945 independence; 1952 Lincoln Antarctic flight under Vice-Commodore Gustavo A. Marambio; 1961 Base Aérea Teniente Benjamín Matienzo; 3 November 1965 flight to McMurdo; Marambio built 30 August to 25 September 1969, inaugurated 29 October 1969; 1982: 2 April, 1 May baptism of fire, 14 June end, 55 Air Force men killed.
Dados verificados em 01/10/2026. Back to the Argentine Air Force.