Aviation specialist Santiago Rivas tells the story of how these unique planes succeeded against superior enemy equipment during the Guerra de las Malvinas, or the Falklands War. In the 1960's guerrillas were operating in almost all Latin American countries, as well as in Africa and Asia, and the need of specialized weapons to fight them arose. The Argentine Air Force, seeing this threat grow, asked the FMA factory to produce a counterinsurgency airplane to equip the force, but also to offer on the international market. After several proposals were analysed, a final product emerged, called the IA-58 Pucará, a robust twin turboprop aircraft with heavy internal weapons, planned to operate from unprepared airstrips on very hard conditions. The plane entered service with the Argentine Air Force in 1975 and more than 100 were produced over the years, with several versions being developed or proposed. It was purchased by Uruguay, Colombia and Sri Lanka, the type gained world notoriety when they took part on the 1982 South Atlantic war, but also had combat experience in Colombia and Sri Lanka, and was tested by the Royal Air Force. AUTHOR: Born in 1977 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, started his career as aviation and defence journalism and photographer in 1997 and in 2002 he received the title of journalist in the Argentine Catholic University. Since then he has published his material in more than 70 different media around the world in all five continents, being correspondent on fourteen magazines. Currently he is specialized in Latin American aviation and defence matters, both historic and recent and manages one of the main defence and aviation archives in Argentina providing material for more than 40 magazines around the world. He has published 24 books in six countries and took part in many others. Also, he is director of Pucará Defensa website (www.pucara.org) and Pucará military aviation magazine. To fulfil his work, he has travelled to most Latin American countries and to Europe, working with most of the Latin American Armed Forces.
