Service history

1940

At the beginning of 1940, the Tiger Moth fleet was composed of 14 aeroplanes, of which nine were assigned to the EMAer (2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13 and 14); two to the A.B.No 1 (4 and 15); two to the A.B.No 2 (16 and 17), whilst No 3 continued in the Service Division. With the exception of the already noted No 14, all the rest were in flying order.

On February 25, during the course of an air festival in Melilla, there was an incident which could have had far more serious consequences. Flying over the event, Tiger Moth 16, piloted by Lieut. Col. Farias, suffered engine failure and in the subsequent forced landing could not avoid contact with some of the spectators.

The end result was more than fortunate: the pilot was unharmed and various spectators suffered only slight injuries but the aeroplane was out of action for two months.

DH82A 15 (c/n 3617) of the Aeronautical Base No1, December 1940.  -  FAU Archive 2323.

In July, effective possession was finally taken of Durazno Airfield with the transfer of the first contingent of personnel and equipment, establishing Aeronautical Base No 2 there. Its aircraft equipment at that time consisted of the Ro.37 bis 1 and 5, the Potez 25 1 and 10 and DH82As 16, 17 and 2, this last having come from the EMAer, reassigned to this Base.
The air display on July 25th included a formation of 9 Tiger Moths under command of Lieut. Col. Farias, flying No 9.

Apart from the regular courses for qualifying pilots of the Military Aeronautics, the three Marine Guards, who had begun their training the previous year, continued to fly in the DH82A for the whole year. Then in September three more pupils from the Navy were integrated; the Marine Guards Gastón Larrañaga, Jorge Canfield and Carlos Mari, who would all complete their First Solo Flights in a Tiger Moth towards the end of November.

Sadly, on October 28, another fatal accident occurred at the EMAer.

During a training flight in No 11, Junior Lieutenants Omar Soto and Walter Altesor did not recover from a spin started at a low altitude and both died in the impact. The aircraft wreckage was salvaged, rebuilt and after a year flew again.

At the end of November there was an incident involving Col. Cesáreo Berisso, then Inspector of Aeronautical Arms.

On 29th November, returning from a navigation exercise B. Lanza to Santa Teresa to B. Lanza and carrying as passenger, Lieut. Col. Julio Botta (a member of the military staff from outside the Arms Inspectorate), had to make a forced landing in the proximity of San Carlos when the aircraft ran out of fuel. Both occupants of the aircraft were unharmed and aeroplane 16, which suffered minor damage, would be repaired by the end of February 1941. We note this happening because Colonel Berisso was not accustomed to flying the Tiger Moth, this being one of the few flights he made in the aircraft.

At the end of the year, the total time flown by the DH82A fleet registered a slight increase of 23 hours over that of the year before, reaching 2,932.

Pupils of the Pilot´s Course for Officers of 1940,

Lieuts. Jr. Jose Perez Caldas and Luis Alfaro posing in the Capt .Boiso Lanza Military Aerodrome opposite No 16 of Aeronautical Base No 2 equipped with bomb-racks. Note that the serial lacks the prefix AU B2 which should be exhibited.

Archives FAU 2292 and 2293.