The Phoenix

Phoenix (mythology)

The phoenix or phenix is a mythical sacred firebird that can be found in the mythologies of the Arabian, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Chinese, Indian and Phoenicians....

 Squadron was a special unit of the Argentine Air Force

Argentine Air Force

The Argentine Air Force is the national aviation branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic. , it had 14,606 military and 6,854 civilian staff.-History:...

 formed during the 1982 Falklands War

Falklands War

The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...

 (Spanish:

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 Guerra de las Malvinas )

History

The Argentine Air Force reconnaissance force at that time was formed around the Grupo 1 Aerofotográfico (1st Air Photographic Group) part of the 2nd Air Brigade equipped with two Learjet 35As and based at Parana province of Entre Rios.

In April 1982, the unit was deployed to Comodoro Rivadavia

Comodoro Rivadavia

Comodoro Rivadavia is a city in the Patagonian province of Chubut in southern Argentina, located on the San Jorge Gulf, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, at the foot of the Chenque Hill. Comodoro Rivadavia is the most important city of the San Jorge Basin....

 and was reinforced with several civilian planes and their civilian pilots who volunteered to fly them.

During the war, the Learjets performed 52 missions including search and reconnaissance flights, communications retransmission flights, and pathfinder flights to guide combat jets with the Learjets’ superior navigation systems.

The unit's most difficult missions were 126 sorties in which the Learjets acted as decoys, flying day and night to simulate strike aircraft preparing to attack the fleet. Many believe that most of the Argentine A-4 Skyhawk

A-4 Skyhawk

The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a carrier-capable ground-attack aircraft designed for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. The delta winged, single-engined Skyhawk was designed and produced by Douglas Aircraft Company, and later McDonnell Douglas. It was originally designated the A4D...

s and Dagger

IAI Nesher

The Israel Aircraft Industries Nesher is the Israeli version of the Dassault Mirage 5 multi-role fighter aircraft...

s successes were achieved because the British Sea Harriers had been drawn away from more important targets :
On one of these flights, on June 7, an Air Force Learjet was shot down over Pebble Island

Pebble Island

Pebble Island is one of the Falkland Islands, lying north of West Falkland.The island stretches about 19 miles from east to west and is about 4.3 miles at its widest point, with a total area of  square miles .It has three high points: First Mountain , Middle Mountain and...

 by a surface-to-air Sea Dart missile

Sea Dart missile

Sea Dart or Guided Weapon System 30 is a British surface-to-air missile system designed by Hawker Siddeley Dynamics and built by British Aerospace from 1977...

 fired by HMS Exeter

HMS Exeter (D89)

HMS Exeter was a Type 42 destroyer, the fifth ship of the Royal Navy to be named Exeter, after the city of Exeter in Devon.Exeter was the first of the slightly modified 'Batch 2' Type 42 destroyers. This was a mid-build consideration with her later sister ship, HMS Southampton sporting a similar...

, killing the squadron commander, Vice Commodore Rodolfo De La Colina, and the other four members of the crew. De La Colina became the highest ranking Argentine officer to die in the War.

Civilian helicopters were also added to the unit for use in the search and rescue

Search and rescue

Search and rescue is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger.The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, mostly based upon terrain considerations...

 role in the continent. Most notably, Sikorsky S-61N

Sikorsky S-61

The Sikorsky S-61L and S-61N are civil variants of the successful SH-3 Sea King helicopter. They are two of the most widely used airliner and oil rig support helicopters built.-Design and development:...

 LV-OCN and Sikorsky S-58T LV-OCM .

Casualties

Argentine Air Force Learjet 35 T-24 crew:

• Vice Commodore Rodolfo De La Colina (pilot)
• Major Juan Falconier (co-pilot)
• Captain Marcelo Lotufo (photographer)
• Staff Sub-Officer Francisco Luna (mechanic)
• Assistant Sub-Officer Guido Marizza (mechanic).

External links

• Escuadron Fenix (Spanish
  Spanish language
  Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
  
  )