WesWorld

Noticias Argentinas

4 January
The eighth Mendoza Class destroyer, which had been completed as an anti-aircraft destroyer, has been reprieved from the scrap merchant and has been re-commissioned and assigned to Carrier Squadron at Bahia Blanca. She will serve alongside the former destroyer leader ARA Sarandi as a close escort and plane guard for the three aircraft carriers.

In other naval news, the five Project 414 Class torpedo destroyers are receiving modest refits with German 55mm AA guns to improve their self-defence capabilities and to offer more anti-MTB firepower in coastal waters. The training cruiser ARA General San Martin is also undergoing a modest refit and modernisation.

5 January
At the Peruvian Callao naval base a crew formally took over the former Peruvian aircraft carrier Lima which was recently purchased by the Argentine Navy. The nucleus crew will sail her to Bahia Blanca for a work up period and trials before she is formally commissioned into service.

20 January
The first six T-6M41 'Nahuel’ (Tiger) heavy tanks have arrived at the Arsenal Esteban de Luca for refitting. During the year the entire fleet of 48 Nahuel tanks will be refitted with a new 520hp V-12 diesel engine developed by HAFDASA and new radio sets.

22 January
The Army has issued its 1949 TOE for a standard infantry division. The only major change is that the Reconnaissance Battalion will lose one Motorised Reconnaissance Company but the other will be issued with nine CA-6M45 Armicustos armoured carriers for improved mobility.

30 January
Today saw the first of three Argentine Grand Prix races being held on the Palermo street circuit in Cordoba. The event was marred by the death of popular French driver Jean-Pierre Wimille. He was driving his first flying lap during practice when his car swerved to avoid children crossing the track and crashed into a tree. He was killed instantly due to serious head injuries. During the race, local driver Pablo Pessatti was also killed when he was thrown out as his car overturned.
The race was won by Italian Alberto Ascari driving a Maserati 4CLT, as was the runner-up, Italian Villoresi. Third place went to Argentine driver Óscar Alfredo Gálvez in his Alfa Romeo 308.

6 February
Today saw the second of three Argentine Grand Prix races being held on the Palermo street circuit in Cordoba, the race was curtailed at 30 laps due to heavy rain.
The race was won by Óscar Alfredo Gálvez in his Alfa Romeo 308 with Juan Manuel Fangio in his Maserati 4CLT in second place and the Uruguayan Eitel Cantoni driving a Maserati 4CL in third place.

Quoted

During the race, local driver Pablo Pessatti was also killed when he was thrown out as his car overturned.

Yes... the era of not wearing seat belts. Probably better than the alternative.

14 March
At a formal pier side ceremony attended by the Peruvian naval attaché, the Defence Minister Vice Almirante (ret). Juan Perez Benedicto Hood and Vice Almirante Torrez-Bucholz, the commander of the Carrier Squadron, the ex-Peruvian carrier was commissioned as ARA Almirante Brown. The vessel will join the Carrier Squadron as the main training carrier. It is believed the current training carrier, ARA Avispón, will be converted wholly to the amphibious transport role.
The Lima was built as the Giovanni Caboto and served in the Italian Navy from her completion in 1931 until her sale to Peru in 1941.

18 March
Techint has been awarded a contract to build a gas pipeline from Comodoro Rivadavia to Cordoba with completion due in 1952. Techint is an Argentine-Italian industrial company founded by Italian industrialist Agostino Rocca and headquartered in Milan, Italy and Cordoba.

20 March
Five new Type 9A Motor Torpedo Boats were commissioned into service today. The ARA M35, M36, M37, M38 and M39 have joined the 2nd MTB Squadron at Viedma, replacing five older craft.

22 March
The second prototype Gloster AXP-1001 jet-fighter has flown at Hucclecote, Gloucestershire, England. The third prototype is now undergoing final construction and will be shipped to FMA for completion and its test flight. Last month the manufacturing rights were acquired by FMA and tooling at their main factory in Cordoba has now begun in readiness for full production of 160 aircraft as the I-03 Pulqui III.

1 April
The Navy has long seen the Motor Torpedo Boat as a potent coastal defence asset along the isolated coast, but extended support away from base has always been a problem. Today the Navy has laid down two specialist vessels to solve that problem. The two Project 723 tenders on their completion next year will support a flotilla each, supplying them with torpedoes and fuel and equipped with modern workshops to effect repairs. The two vessels are being built by AFNE Bahia Blanca and Tandanor at Comodoro Rividavia.

11 April
Today a new radio station has opened on the airwaves. The Servicio Internacional de la República Argentina (SIRA) (International Service of the Republic of Argentina) is a state-broadcaster for external broadcasts across South America. SIRA will broadcast 24 hours a day in seven languages. The broadcasts focus on Argentine news, culture, geography, history, music and other local topics. Music varies from Argentine folkloric (usually gaucho and indigenous fare) and tango music to Argentine dance music.

20 April
Posta Argentina S.A. has taken delivery of six EMBRAER CT-1 Potro aircraft to expand its rural air mail services. Aeroposta services over the Andes to Chile and further afield to Brazil, Paraguay and Grand Uruguay are handled by their fleet of nine Curtiss CW-20 aircraft.

27 April
The third prototype Gloster AXP-1001 jet-fighter has arrived at Bahia Blanca aboard the SS Mersey Traveller having been shipped from Britain. The airframe was taken by road to Air Base Bahia Blanca for inspection before it is shipped by rail to the FMA factory in Cordoba to be fully reassembled and test flown.

28 April
Nobody from the Ministries of Transport or Defence were available to comment on rumours circulating that there are plans to reinstate the 'Talons over Cordoba' international fighter meet this summer. Rumours have been circulating for several weeks and have been picked up by aeronautical journals across the world.

1 May
The Ministry of Defence has issued the 1949 TOE for a revised Infantería de Marina Brigada organisation. The aim is to make the unit more compact, saving manpower and transport bulk.
The Staff unit has lost its Mapping Platoon as exercises have shown that its largely redundant with greater reconnaissance and planning carried out at the Marina headquarters before a landing operation takes place.

The Artillería de Campaña Regiment has been renamed a Bandera and is now comprised of:
Artillería de Campaña Bandera
1 Bandera Staff Battery (2 LMG)
1 Mapping Platoon (1 LMG)
1 Signal Platoon (1 LMG)
1 Artillería de Campaña Tabor
1 Staff Battery (1 LMG)
2 batteries (four 75mm guns each)
1 battery (four 150mm M-42 rocket-launchers)
1 Observation Platoon (1 LMG)
1 Ammunition Column
1 Artillería de Campaña Tabor
1 Staff Battery (1 LMG)
2 batteries (four 80mm M-39 rocket-launchers each)
1 battery (four 150mm M-42 rocket-launchers)
1 Observation Platoon (1 LMG)
1 Ammunition Column
1 Antiaerea Artillería de Campaña Tabor
1 Staff Battery (1 LMG)
3 batteries (four 37mm guns each)
1 Ammunition Column

The Pioneer Bandera has also been remodelled into two Tabor, effectively four companies in strength split equally into light and heavy pioneer units. The light pioneer Tabor will concentrate on assault engineering duties while the heavy unit would be used for tasks like base building and pontoon construction. The boat and bridging columns remain unchanged. All quartermaster units have been combined into a Support Bandera for a more compact unit which is designed to handle the distribution of supplies from ship to shore and tend casualties before they are transferred back to ships for evacuation.

16 June
After being carefully assembled under the watchful eyes of engineers seconded by Gloster and Rolls-Royce the third prototype Gloster AXP-1001 jet-fighter began taxi tests last week. Fitted with a more powerful Nene III turbojet the prototype is of production standard and today FMA Chief Test Pilot Captain de Aero Edmundo Osvaldo Weiss took the aircraft aloft at 10:15am this morning. On landing he reported it flew beautifully and was just as good as the prototype he had flown in Britain two months ago. Work has already begun on manufacturing the first batch of I-03 Pulqui III fighters.

24 June
Five new Type 9A Motor Torpedo Boats were commissioned into service today with the 3rd MTB Squadron at Viedma, replacing five older craft. In other naval news, the AFNE Paraguay yard has begun a comprehensive rebuild of the gunboat ARA Humaita. Her sistership will follow later this year. This work has brought welcome employment to the men of the yard.

The rugby, the Cordoba Province Championship was won by Jockey Club Córdoba and the winners of the North-East Championship are Natación y Gimnasia.

30 June
The capabilities of the Navy’s Fleet Support Command took another step forward today as the supply ship ARA Proveedor commissioned with the 1st Support Squadron at Bahia Blanca. This vessel will keep the fleet supplied at sea with fresh food, supplies and spare parts. Such vessels are the sign of a modern and progressive Navy, equipped to serve extended periods at sea and project their sea power ever further from shore.

1 July
The Finance Ministry rejected plans earlier this year by the Navy to build two large tankers. Instead approval has been given for two smaller tankers, though still larger than the coastal tankers that ply their trade along the coast, keeping the fuel bunkers at the various naval bases topped up. The San Luis was laid down today at AFNE Bahia Blanca and the Mercedes at Tandanor at Comodoro Rividavia.
Astillero Nav. at Puerto Belgrano began work on a more advanced project today, the first Argentine-designed submarine. Engineers have heavily based the design of the Project 724 submarine, intended for training, on the German submarines currently used in the training role, but modernised and lengthened slightly. It is hoped the single submarine will complete next year.

9 July
The Navy has disbanded one of its Marine Brigades in an effort to reduce manpower and costs given the relative over-provision of Marines given the small transport fleet available. The unit which formally stood down today is the Infantería de Marina Brigada Mercedes.

1 August
The two new Landing Ships ARA Punta Medanos and ARA Punta Delgado have commissioned with the 1st Transport Squadron at Comodoro Rivadavia today, providing the Navy for the first time with a direct ship-to-beach landing ship able to deliver vehicles and tanks directly onto the beach in an assault.

19 August
The Navy recently added four MZ1 Class landing craft to its 1949 Naval Programme and today the first two craft commissioned with the 1st Landing Craft Flotilla at Comodoro Rivadavia. This design is a 1930s Italian design but is still an important vessel and the four new vessels will increase the overall number of such craft to sixteen.

20 August
The first AAM-6 ‘Platinum’ rocket lifted off from the Maquichao Research Station this afternoon. It flew for one minute and 20 seconds before suffering an engine failure and falling into the sea.
The AAM-6 is an improved AAM-5 design with a new RL-AO-206 ‘Orchestra’ rocket motor allowing larger dimensions and improved performance. Design work began in April 1945, but the design was delayed in completion until testing of the engine had been completed. No less than twenty RL-AO-206 engines have been tested in the engine stands at Maquichao. Support equipment production began in June 1945 and work on the first bodies began two months later.

The AAM-6 is 21.1 m tall with a diameter of 1.8m. It weighs (at ignition) 27,763 kg and has a payload capacity of 2,860 kg. The ‘Orchestra’ rocket motor has a thrust of 78,000 pounds-force at sea level for 121 seconds.

21 August
The El Tribunoo is a new newspaper which has hit newsstands today. It is printed in Salta and is printed by the same publisher as La Provincia, the leading daily in Salta. El Tribuno is more socialist in its outlook and does not shy away from criticising the government. A Jujuy Province edition is also planned.

26 August
FMA Chief Test Pilot Captain de Aero Edmundo Osvaldo Weiss took the first production I-03 Pulqui III jet-fighter aircraft aloft at 10:35am this morning. 160 are on order and its planned the type will become operational in January 1950. Shortly several service pilots will begin conversion training to become instructors with their units.

28 August
The French rugby union tour of Argentina began earlier this month. Today saw the first Test Match against the Argentine national team. Unfortunately for the large home crowd the French won 5-0 with L. Caron scoring a try which was converted by Jean Prat.

At FMA’s airfield near Cordoba a new jet-powered aircraft took the skies for its maiden flight. The I.Ae.29 single-seat advanced jet-powered conversion trainer began development last year using experience gained in helping Gloster develop the I-05 Pulqui III. The design is aerodynamically sleek with two lateral intakes for the single turbojet engine and a conventional straight wing for good controllability. It is powered by a 3,500lb thrust Rolls-Royce Derwent V turbojet and its designers hope it will achieve a maximum speed of 800km/h. It will be capable of being armed for use as a fighter trainer and ground attack aircraft. The Air Force has strong interest in the type.

Quoted from "Hood"

At FMA’s airfield near Cordoba a new jet-powered aircraft took the skies for its maiden flight. The I.Ae.29 single-seat advanced jet-powered conversion trainer began development last year using experience gained in helping Gloster develop the I-05 Pulqui III. The design is aerodynamically sleek with two lateral intakes for the single turbojet engine and a conventional straight wing for good controllability. It is powered by a 3,500lb thrust Rolls-Royce Derwent V turbojet and its designers hope it will achieve a maximum speed of 800km/h. It will be capable of being armed for use as a fighter trainer and ground attack aircraft. The Air Force has strong interest in the type.

Interesting. Might there be an image of this? Sounds like a rival to the Morane-Saulnier Aquilon...

Quoted from "Brockpaine"

Quoted from "Hood"

At FMA’s airfield near Cordoba a new jet-powered aircraft took the skies for its maiden flight. The I.Ae.29 single-seat advanced jet-powered conversion trainer began development last year using experience gained in helping Gloster develop the I-05 Pulqui III. The design is aerodynamically sleek with two lateral intakes for the single turbojet engine and a conventional straight wing for good controllability. It is powered by a 3,500lb thrust Rolls-Royce Derwent V turbojet and its designers hope it will achieve a maximum speed of 800km/h. It will be capable of being armed for use as a fighter trainer and ground attack aircraft. The Air Force has strong interest in the type.

Interesting. Might there be an image of this? Sounds like a rival to the Morane-Saulnier Aquilon...

I will speculate that it looks rather like the OTL Fiat G.80, but I rather hope I am proven wrong.

It is a real never-were project, historically designed by Kurt Tank but of course in WW that's not possible so is home grown.
Below is the plan of the aircraft, a good looking design. FMA hopes it might spark some export interest like the I-100 and I-02 did back in the 1930s.

Thanks! Looks very neat and trim.

:thumbsup:

Huh, does look like a dapper little jet.

The Chilean Air Force will probably take a close look at it, although they're generally quite well-set in the trainer market.

Colombia would as well despite having access to Atlantean designs, its always good to diversify!

Well glossy brochures can be picked up anytime and the sales department are happy to meet reps anytime. Specs can now be found here.

I think it could make a nice little fighter too, nothing flashy but a good platform.