Rise of the Argentine Empire

After the war, the British compensated Argentina with more than 150 advanced fighter jets to offset debts. In addition, Argentina bought many planes from the Americans, greatly strengthening the Argentine Air Force.

Among these aircraft were 15 Avro "Lancaster" bombers and 30 improved "Lincoln" bombers.

Of these 30 "Lincolns," 18 were newly manufactured and 12 were used by the British, assigned to the 1st Group of the 5th Air Brigade. Some are still in service today.

In addition, the Argentine Air Force had as many as 100 Gloster "Meteor" F.4s, half of which were second-hand and half new.

Now, Argentina not only possesses the largest navy in South America but also the most powerful air force.

Besides José, who was familiar with the Cordoba army, some factions within the navy and air force also planned to launch rebellions and coups.

Since the small-scale military rebellion a few months ago was suppressed, the military had quieted down at the time. However, now that the suppression of the church is becoming more and more severe, an even larger-scale military unrest has been brewing, and Perón's opponents have united again.

This time, the first to take action is a joint rebellion by some of the Argentine navy and air force.

Saint-Hesse also received secret intelligence.

The navy plans to launch an air strike on the capital on Thursday, and he has taken some countermeasures.

He evacuated important executives of his company from the capital in advance.

He notified personnel to protect his father-in-law's home.

Blue Delta should pay attention to protection.

Fortunately, the target of the air strike is only around the presidential palace. Saint-Hesse asked his father-in-law to leave work early at noon, after all, the Ministry of Agriculture is located in the presidential palace.

If something really happened, he wouldn't know how to face his wife.

It's just that the University of Buenos Aires may be affected to some extent.

… …

June 11, Thursday, 11:00 noon,

North of Robenica Town, Indian Cape Bay, Naval Aviation Barracks,

This is an important Argentine naval military base, 165 kilometers from Buenos Aires.

Navy Colonel Punes Rodriguez is confidently arranging tasks. He is wearing a navy uniform and has gathered 19 pilots and related personnel to deploy combat missions.

A large-scale detailed map of the capital was placed on the blackboard, marking the location of the capital's air force and anti-aircraft guns, and the address of the Casa Rosada was highlighted.

He pointed back and forth between the Morón base and the Casa Rosada with a stick, feeling a little nervous, his palms sweating.

"Under the arrangement of the general, we are about to carry out this combat mission. Our target is here, I believe everyone is familiar with it."

He pointed the stick at the small dot with the x on the Casa Rosada, drawing several circles around it, his voice trembling slightly.

"This time, we are conducting a joint air force operation, a decapitation operation jointly planned by the navy and air force. The first goal is to eliminate Perón and bomb the presidential palace, and the second goal is to blow up those radio antennas."

"We will face more advanced fighter jets than us. The navy air force's fighter jets have always been inferior to the air force. I emphasize once again that the first goal of our combat mission this time is to blow up the Casa Rosada presidential palace."

His voice gradually became calm, but the pilots' breathing became heavy, but no one spoke, and the air seemed to freeze.

This operation is almost equivalent to the assassination of the Nazi leader in the later stages of World War II.

They feel that their mission is sacred, which is what the general told them.

It can be said to be quite tragic.

"Today is a foggy day in Buenos Aires, the opportunity is rare. Kill Perón, you should take a closer look at the map. There is only this one chance. Perón will have lunch at the presidential palace today."

Since last month, everyone has engraved the map of the capital, the Casa Rosada, in their minds, which street, which building. Some people have visited it on the spot during their vacations, and have also simulated it on sand tables dozens of times.

They feel that this operation cannot possibly fail.

All kinds of information about the presidential palace cannot be concealed from the military. There are also people in the Ministry of Defense in this rebellion.

"Our goal is not to fight the air force. Today, many pilots at Morón base are on vacation. The reaction time is at least 1 hour. Within 1 hour, we will not face too many enemies. This is a very good opportunity. The general has arranged the best combat timing for us."

The Naval Aviation is the second largest air force in Argentina, second only to the Argentine Air Force, mainly consisting of American-made aircraft, while the Argentine Air Force uses British-made aircraft, which are not as good in performance as the British aircraft.

This operation has been secretly planned for a long time, but when the real combat mission is deployed, most of the pilots are still very excited. These pilots have some hatred for Perón in their families.

"Our main opponents are the aircraft from the capital's air force, belonging to the 7th Air Brigade, mainly the British Meteor F.4, stationed at Morón base in the suburbs of Buenos Aires."

The Gloster Meteor F.4 is 12.49 meters long, has a wingspan of 11.3 meters, a maximum take-off weight of 6597 kg, a top speed of 940km/h, a ceiling of 13563 meters, and is equipped with 4 20mm Hispano cannons, with a total of 780 rounds of ammunition. It is newly manufactured in the UK, and there are still 52 in the air force base, which are also their main opponents.

The pilots of the Naval Aviation both love and hate this aircraft. The combat data of this aircraft is extremely powerful.

The combat record and combat power of this fighter are very strong.

"We will face at least 4 Meteor F4s. The air force pilots of the Seventh Brigade are our opponents, but we also have people at Morón Air Force Base who support the coup and will cover our actions. Our aircraft are not as good as those of the government army. We will fly 4 AT-11s and 15 AT-6A trainers to launch the decapitation operation first. This mission is codenamed, Cape Bay Plan."

The Seventh Air Brigade is the Argentine Air Force's ace, much stronger than the Naval Aviation, and also their source of pressure.

The AT-11 is a fighter developed by Beech Aircraft Company for the U.S. Air Force during World War II,

The AT-6A trainer is a single-engine, tandem two-seat primary trainer designed and manufactured by North American Aviation, used to train the United States Army Air Corps, United States Navy, etc. since World War II.

From 1947 onwards, at least 120 refurbished North American AT-6As served in the Argentine Naval Aviation, classified as attack aircraft.

"Everyone, get ready! Take off at 12:20 sharp, arrive at the bombing location at 12:40. Now go check your aircraft and refuel."

He clapped his hands, and the pilots of the Cape Horn squadron quickly sprang into action.

In fact, the performance of these two aircraft was not as good as the Arrow 2 designed by the Argentine Military Aircraft Factory, and far inferior to the Meteor F4.

The Meteor F4 was a relatively advanced generation of fighter jets, and its combat results during World War II were also very good, with significant effects against the German Air Force.

It was completely different from the Arrow 2 designed by the Argentine Military Aircraft Factory.

Currently, Argentina has two major aircraft manufacturing plants: the military's Cordoba Argentine Military Aircraft Factory and San Martin Aircraft Factory in San Geronimo.

Both aircraft factories are optimizing and improving the Arrow 2 fighter jet, but the Military Aircraft Factory lost 70% of its German aircraft designers in 1952, with 20% leaving Argentina permanently for the United States, Canada, and even India, and another 60% going to the San Martin Aircraft Factory.

This unprecedentedly expanded the research and development capabilities of the San Martin Aircraft Factory.

The flight data of the Arrow 2 fighter jet is very close to that of the MiG-15, with little difference between the two except for the range.

From the overall layout of the two, they are very similar to the MiG-15, except that the wing uses a high-wing configuration.

San Geronimo was not very optimistic about the Arrow 2 fighter jet. At the San Martin Aircraft Factory, this model was named Tank-52. San Geronimo's goal was to develop a second-generation aircraft for Argentina.

It's just that the time required may be more than 10 years. Now it is still the world of first-generation aircraft. The production of stainless steel alloy by the special steel plant is also a breakthrough for the improvement of the Arrow 2.

He was not very sure whether the Arrow 2 had a market. The austenitic 304 stainless steel alloy developed by the special steel plant has been applied to the manufacture of aircraft prototypes.

San Geronimo hoped to develop a more powerful fighter-specific alloy, especially a high-energy alloy.

At the end of last year, he approved the San Martin Aircraft Factory to produce two Arrow 2 prototypes, which will not be able to conduct test flights until the beginning of next year at the earliest. These two Arrow 2s have been optimized many times compared to the original four prototypes manufactured by the Military Aircraft Factory.

The money invested is countless. Developing fighter jets is too expensive, even for San Geronimo, it is quite difficult, and may not even be able to recoup the costs.

This is still based on the fact that the Argentine Military Aircraft Factory is already nearing completion, and then continues to design.

.....

As one aircraft after another took off from Indian Cape Horn Bay, they flew towards Buenos Aires at extremely high speed.

This flight formation was very fast. Without radar in Argentina, Argentinians could only rely on visual detection of these aircraft.

At 12:38, the aircraft formation arrived in the suburbs of the capital.

Suddenly, 19 fighter jets not on aerial patrol appeared over the capital, Buenos Aires.

The two aircraft performing combat patrol missions over the capital immediately discovered this unknown combat formation, but they did not respond. They chose to remain neutral and did not shoot down the aircraft group, simply passing by.

Two minutes later, the Cape Horn squadron bombed the presidential palace, Casa Rosada – believing that Perón was there.

They densely dropped bombs on the presidential palace, and the Casa Rosada instantly turned into a sea of fire.

The bombing operation was unusually smooth.

The vehicles in front of the presidential palace were also destroyed.

The pilots of the Cape Horn squadron couldn't help but cheer.

But Perón was not harmed in any way. He had left the Casa Rosada 10 minutes before the bombing and fled to an air-raid shelter.

The faction of the Air Force Command loyal to Perón, that is, the government forces, immediately determined that the coup plotters came from Indian Cape Horn Bay, 165 kilometers southeast.

With a loud noise, an air raid alarm was sounded a minute later, resounding throughout the city, and the citizens of Buenos Aires were dumbfounded.

After a while, some people reacted and quickly hid, but there was nowhere to hide, so they had to stay at home.

"The enemy has reached the capital."

Almost all citizens felt collapsed.

Their hearts were greatly shaken.

Some busybodies ran to the roof, and thick smoke rose from the direction of the Casa Rosada.

Air Force Commander Tomas Nikk immediately issued an order to the Morón Air Base,

directly ordering Morón to assemble four Meteors to "intercept any aircraft over the capital, and if necessary, shoot down any malicious aircraft."

Although this order was extremely conservative.

He was afraid of accidentally injuring his own people, so he had to issue an ambiguous order.

This was also a mistake by the Cape Horn squadron. The Air Force radio station was intact, and they were about to face the Argentine ace air force - the Seventh Group.

The four aircraft were led by Lieutenant Juan García, with Lieutenant Mario Oressa, Lieutenant Osvaldo Rossito, and Second Lieutenant Ernesto Adelardas.

The Morón Air Base, stationed in the suburbs of the capital Buenos Aires, immediately received the news, and within 10 minutes, four Meteor F4 fighter jets from the Air Force Department took off.

Unfortunately, two of these four aircraft were sympathetic to the coup, so they, like the original two on patrol, chose to remain unmoved, loafing and slacking off.

The Cape Horn squadron had already left Plaza de Mayo.

Several minutes later, Captain Jorge Ruiz, returning from an outing, led two Meteors to take off from Morón Air Base.

But they were also sympathizers of the coup and took over the combat patrol mission over the capital without attacking.

Immediately afterwards, Lieutenant Juan Caprio's two-plane team also took off to support the coup plotters.

At this time, there were already 27 aircraft over Buenos Aires.

After bombing the Casa Rosada, the naval aircraft landed at Ezeiza Airport southwest of the capital, preparing to continue fighting.

An aerial battle was imminent.

Anti-aircraft guns had also been aimed at these naval aviators.

… …

In San Geronimo's view, this was a small military coup, small in scale and with a very low probability of success.

The anti-Perón faction within the Argentine military, including the naval aviation and part of the air force, launched a military coup, attempting to overthrow Perón and physically eliminate him.

Since ancient times, there has hardly been a successful military coup without the participation of the army.

To play big, you still have to look at Cordoba.

While they were busy bombing the presidential palace, San Geronimo, Dr. Tank, and the naval aviation pilots from Puerto Belgrano were together, studying the manufacturing and improvement of the two new Arrow 2 aircraft.

Fortunately, there was nothing he could do, and Puerto Belgrano did not intend to participate in the coup this time.

Puerto Belgrano is too far from the capital. These backward training aircraft cannot make long-distance raids. Only 2nd generation supersonic aircraft can do that.

Since moving the aircraft design institute to Bahía Blanca, the manufacturing plants for the two prototype aircraft have also moved here.