Pucara: Fortress of the Pampas

摘要

The FMA IA-58 Pucara is one of the best-known aircraft to have emerged from Latin America, gaining lasting fame during the Falklands War in 1982. Today, it remains in service in Araentina and Uruauav. THE BIRTH OF GUERRILLA groups across Latin America during the 1950s and 1960s led the Argentine AF (Fuerza Aerea Argentina) to examine the development of a dedicated counter-insurgency (COIN) aircraft, for local use as well as for export. In 1965 the state-owned aircraft factory, the Fabrica Militar de Aviones (FMA), part of DINFIA (Direction Nacional de Fabricaciones e Investigaciones Aeronauticas - the National Office for Aeronautical Research and Manufacture), was asked to develop the aircraft, and design work began in 1966, led by engineer Hector Ruiz. The first proposal was based on the North American OV-10 Bronco, but this was later revised and a wooden glider was built under the supervision of German engineer Reimar Horten (of WW2 flying wing fame), who was working for the FMA. The glider flew on 27 December 1967 and the first IA-58 prototype took to the air for the first time on 19 August 1969.