Rise of the Argentine Empire

The four government Meteor jets flew over the smoke-filled Presidential Palace, continuing to patrol the capital, trying to locate the rebels.

In their first aerial combat, the Naval Aviation achieved brilliant results, not only bombing the Rose Palace but also damaging one Scandinavian Airlines and one Aerolíneas Argentinas passenger plane, as well as an AT-11.

Today, the naval rebels had indeed found a good opportunity; it was already past noon, but visibility was still very low, with thick fog everywhere.

They could only see that the Presidential Palace was already a sea of fire, and the people at the Presidential Palace hurriedly called the fire brigade to put out the raging fire.

Poor weather conditions leading to low visibility made it difficult for the government forces to search for the coup plotters' planes.

General Thompson from the Ministry of Defense calmly directed operations remotely from the Defense Building. He immediately ordered personnel to arrange rows of anti-aircraft machine guns, sensing that they would come to bomb the Rose Palace again.

At the same time, he had already telegraphed the Buenos Aires garrison to take over the city's defense.

The police force's firepower was insufficient to deal with these jet fighters.

And now, his duty remained to protect the nation's president; he had not participated in this coup assassination attempt.

Under any circumstances, assassinating a legitimately elected leader is a betrayal of the country.

At least, it's a betrayal of the Argentine people.

Thompson absolutely could not tolerate such behavior.

At least, it shouldn't happen in a modern civilized country.

Elite members of the Blue Delta Force also closely protected him, while providing him with intelligence support.

Thompson was currently the highest-ranking official at the Ministry of Defense; although other generals did not support the coup, some were not at the Ministry of Defense, and others were neutral.

He ordered the Air Force personnel to fully engage these rebels.

The Meteor squadron, flying four planes, continued to patrol.

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Garcia, piloting a Meteor F4, spotted naval aircraft about 5 kilometers away.

Lieutenant Garcia was a staunch supporter of Perón. He saw two Naval Aviation AT-6s flying over the October 17th Airport.

He hurriedly ordered his three wingmen to follow, waiting for an opportunity to shoot down these planes.

The four jets approached the slow-moving Naval Aviation AT-6s in a trapezoidal formation.

Warrant Officer Máximo Kelly and Officer Candidate Armando Román of the rebel forces were preparing to land at the airport to refuel, and they were very excited about the successful air raid.

Since they had received instructions during the operation, they naturally assumed that most of the pilots of the 7th Air Brigade had previously agreed to support the coup.

A minute later, Garcia approached Warrant Officer Kelly's plane.

He opened fire with his machine guns, but missed.

Kelly was shocked, and alarm bells rang in his heart. He hurriedly called Armando beside him.

"Armando, they are government forces, take evasive action."

Kelly dived at a steep angle, pulling up a few meters above the Tigre railway station, and with superb flying skills, instantly pulled into the clouds over the San Isidro district.

The flying skills that Kelly had trained in peacetime came in handy.

He successfully flew back to the alternate airport in Ezeiza.

This airport was also controlled by the rebels.

At the same time, the other three government planes were also ordered to attack Armando's plane.

The situation was very dangerous, and the unfortunate Armando closed his eyes in despair.

"I'm about to meet you, God."

Armando prepared his last words.

But Oressa and Rossito, also on the side of the coup, deliberately shot wide, missing.

The outcome of the first engagement was zero.

But Adradas, in the third plane, had a very firm stance, and he carefully aimed at the enemy.

The four 20mm machine guns on the plane fired a salvo, spitting out flames and hitting Armando's right side, instantly igniting the main wing and tearing it apart.

But it didn't hit the enemy plane's fuel tank.

Armando came back to his senses from his prayer, saw the right wing being torn apart, and the plane was still flying north. He hurriedly opened the cockpit and, in one go, successfully parachuted out before the plane crashed.

Watching the plane crash into the river, he also fell into the Río de la Plata. Fortunately, most Navy personnel were good swimmers. He calmed down and hurriedly swam towards the nearest boat.

He only hoped to escape to Uruguay.

Ten minutes later, he was fished out.

Unfortunately, it was the Coast Guard patrol.

The people in the capital's police department were still staunch Peronists.

Armando was shivering all over. The water temperature of the Río de la Plata in winter was very low, and he was already close to death in his military uniform.

This was the first jet-age aerial victory in Latin America.

A few minutes later, Lieutenant Colonel Carlos Císter, commander of the First Squadron of the Seventh Air Brigade, arrived at the airbase.

He took off in Meteor aircraft number 52. Under orders, he prepared to attack the Navy aircraft stationed at Ezeiza Airport.

Císter received a warning on the Air Force radio that there were anti-aircraft guns at the airport. He skillfully flew over the buildings at low altitude and high speed.

Fortunately, the buildings in Buenos Aires were not very tall at this time.

The pilots of the two AT-6s stationed at the airport, Naval Aviation, mistakenly believed that Císter was also on the side of the coup until the "Meteor" began firing at the planes on the tarmac.

On Císter's first pass, Ribero Kelly's plane arrived just in time, and he immediately launched an attack.

Four machine guns swept across the airport ground.

But they didn't hit the AT-6.

Then he attacked an AT-11 and a PBY, the latter retaliating with its defensive machine guns.

The PBY's fuel tank detonated, exploding instantly, and two Navy pilots who didn't have time to take off were forcibly cremated.

The machine gun attack from the opposite side was evaded by his high-speed and flexible maneuvers. He flew out several kilometers and then turned around.

His plane was intact.

When he entered for the third time to attack the remaining two planes, the machine guns on his aircraft number 52 jammed.

Císter had no choice but to dejectedly fly the plane back to Morón Air Base.

"Garbage British goods!"

Císter cursed.

Then he hurriedly went to have the plane repaired.

He could only wait anxiously.

Just then, another team of coup pilots took off in Meteor F4s from Morón Air Base as well.

One of the main tasks of these jets was also to attack local radio antennas and the Rose Palace, in support of the Navy's operations.

Second Lieutenant Juan Berral took off first with the mission to destroy the antennas, and he completed the task perfectly.

But the government forces' backup antennas were quickly activated, and General Thompson calmly continued to arrange the encirclement. The Ministry of Defense had resumed command operations.

With Thompson's arrangements, a large number of officers were summoned.

Learning that Perón was safe, the morale of the troops had been restored.

And today, the workers did not march or demonstrate; they even organized themselves to maintain order.

Perón delivered a speech from a safe house, calling on the citizens of Buenos Aires to protect themselves.

"This is a military rebellion. We are prepared, and we will put down the rebellion as soon as possible. Please rest assured, citizens..."

Perón contacted the Ministry of Defense, and some officials were quickly arranged to carry out security maintenance work.

Time quickly came to the afternoon.

At 14:58, the rebel forces issued another order to prepare for a joint operation with the Navy to bomb the Rose Palace.

And a group of Navy aircraft took off at 15:51 for a joint operation.

Air Force rebels and Naval Aviation conducted a joint combat operation.

The second battle began.

The Navy's AT-6, AT-11, and PBY aircraft, these jets flew low along Rivadavia Avenue, which connects the base and the Presidential Palace.

As they approached the Congress building, not far west of the Presidential Palace, they descended to rooftop level, flying between the rows of buildings on Avenida de Mayo, and seconds later arrived over Plaza de Mayo, firing machine guns at the Casa Rosada, suppressing the anti-aircraft fire deployed after the initial air raid.

Lieutenant Guillermo Palacio of the rebel air force, piloting a Meteor F4, dropped his belly fuel tank as a makeshift incendiary bomb, but it only destroyed a few cars parked near the Presidential Palace and did not hit the Casa Rosada.

Such air raids continued throughout the afternoon, with planes flying back and forth between Morón and Plaza de Mayo.

The capital's radio antennas were attacked again, and at this time, the 3rd Motorized Infantry Regiment of the Capital Garrison began to march towards Ezeiza Airport.

General Thompson of the Ministry of Defense personally took charge of this infantry regiment, commanding the attack plan, intending to take over the coup airport and clear out the rebels.

The cars in front of Plaza de Mayo, destroyed by Palacio's "gasoline bomb," were burned to skeletons.

Anti-aircraft machine guns were destroyed by the rebel air force, and one of the Navy's AT-6s was hit by machine gun fire and exploded into sparks in the air.

The fierce fighting in the capital reached late afternoon, and the situation became increasingly clear.

Without the support of the army and most of the air force, this coup had reached its countdown to failure.

The coup's six "Meteors" had no choice but to defect to neighboring Uruguay.

This was the contingency plan.

Behind them was a large fleet—1 Fiat G.55, two C-54s from the Naval Aviation, 7 C-47s, 3 PBYs, 4 AT-11s, and 10 AT-6s.

During the escape, 3 Meteor F4s also used anti-aircraft guns to attack the Buenos Aires Central Police Headquarters and the Casa Rosada.

The fire that had just been extinguished reignited, and a dozen firefighters who were sitting in a fire truck preparing to evacuate were hit by shrapnel and unfortunately sacrificed.

Several police officers who were maintaining order also unfortunately passed away.

Of the 6 Meteors that fled to Uruguay, Yano's Meteor F4 number 64 ran out of fuel and crash-landed on the Río de la Plata.

Meteor F4 number 29 crash-landed in the suburbs of Buenos Aires with its landing gear retracted.

The remaining 4 aircraft safely arrived at the military airport in Montevideo, Uruguay.

These Uruguayan air force personnel curiously inspected these Meteor aircraft, their most advanced fighter before this was the P-51D "Mustang," and many had never seen a jet aircraft before.

The Uruguayan president ordered the military to protect these aircraft, but did not react to the whereabouts of these Argentine pilots.

At 6 p.m., the rebel army fell into failure.

The other two infantry regiments of the Ministry of Defense also entered the capital, took over the three airports, and controlled the traffic arteries outside the city.

Perón declared a state of siege in the capital and implemented military administration.

Morón Air Force Base was placed under martial law.

The news of this joint naval and air force raid on the capital spread throughout the country through various channels.

The result of this coup frightened many people in the country, including people in the military.

The prestige of the Presidential Palace was actually not low, and Perón easily suppressed these people's rebellion.

Many people from the National Intelligence Agency were arrested.

Many people from the Navy and Air Force were also imprisoned.

The Córdoba army continued to remain silent.

The people of the church said a few words that were neither painful nor itchy.

......

June 11, 10:30 a.m., Puerto Belgrano,

The discussion of the Arrow 2 new aircraft at the meeting has reached the second half. Dr. Tank adjusted his glasses.

"Mr. Mayor, we hope that the special steel plant can develop more useful aircraft materials. Although this steel called 304 stainless steel is not bad, many problems have also been found in the experiment."

San José proposed the development project of the next-generation aircraft, that is, the 2nd generation supersonic aircraft, which requires more advanced high-energy alloys, and 304 stainless steel is simply not enough.

"If we want to produce the next generation Arrow 3 according to your wishes, it will definitely not be enough. 304 stainless steel cannot meet the needs of supersonic speed at all."

Dr. Tank is still very satisfied with the current situation of the aircraft design institute.

With Argentina's weak industrial base, it actually invented an excellent high-energy alloy.

"The special steel plant is experimenting nervously, but it still takes time."

San José's tone was a little helpless. Argentina has no problem smelting steel, but the smelting of some alloys is a problem.

It cannot be imported from abroad, so it can only be done by itself, but the extraction of rare metals such as manganese, lithium, molybdenum, titanium, tungsten, nickel, and chromium is indeed very troublesome.

For Argentines now, this is simply an impossible task.

Being able to produce 304 stainless steel is almost the current limit, and only more than ten tons of 304 stainless steel have been produced so far.

This is still the reason for purchasing imported materials.

A lot of capital investment is also needed, and some minerals are difficult to mine. The exploration speed of Lightning Mining is very touching.

"I'll think of a way, the production of these metals takes time."

Argentina does not lack these metal mines, but whether it is extraction or mass production, it takes a lot of time from mining to experimentation.

It is already very good to be able to use 304 stainless steel at present.

"It is best to use steel alloy for the shell material. Steel alloy is a must-have method. In fact, aluminum alloy is a very good material."

Dr. Tank could only remind again.

"Are we really going to build an aluminum alloy factory?"

San José thought helplessly. He wanted to use 304 just because Argentina can't make aluminum alloy at present.

Even ordinary aluminum alloy, the scale of investment is too large, and Argentina does not have bauxite resources at present. Small-scale is not his style.

Not to mention aviation aluminum alloy, it also requires a lot of metals to be smelted together.

In his opinion, the difficulty of producing 100,000 tons of aluminum alloy is more difficult than building a 2 million-ton steel plant.

He doesn't really want to invest in aluminum alloy, at least not now, or rather, he is too poor.

The fertilizer plant and the oil refinery are already big investments that he can bear, and they will almost use up more than half of the foreign exchange of Balen Bank.

Foreign exchange, especially US dollars, is really too precious when you don't have it, especially since Argentina has too many things to import.

The minibus production line he has been thinking about has not yet been settled.

As the saying goes, don't bite off more than you can chew.

At 1 p.m., San José, who received the official news, stood up slowly.

He discussed it with General José. To be honest, José did not receive the news, but he also had a bad premonition.

Dr. Tank tactfully left the discussion and called away the other designers.

He did not express concern about these matters.

As a technical worker.

He learned his lesson in Germany.

Don't easily get involved in politics, otherwise it is easy to be killed. He remembered those designer friends who were tried.

And San José sighed again, the Navy in Bahía de los Indios had too much courage, and this time the Air Force also participated.

To be honest, this assassination attempt also showed that it was very hasty.

He estimated that the biggest scapegoats would be a few colonels, and none of the generals were moved.

"Cohen, these people are too brave."