AP 118 · No. 10 Section II · Aircraft Plate 123 / 129

Plate 123 of 129 · Cold War · Counter-insurgency attack aircraft

FMA IA 58 Pucará

IA 58A Pucará, painted as A-549 of the Fuerza Aérea Argentina's Grupo 3 de Ataque, an FMA IA 58A Pucará captured on the Falkland Islands in June 1982: the Argentine twin-turboprop counter-insurgency aircraft with two Turbomeca Astazou XVIG engines in long underwing nacelles, a slim tandem two-seat fuselage under a single long canopy, a low straight wing with dihedral on the outer panels and a T-tail; painted as it is displayed at IWM Duxford: faded sand and pale grey-green Falklands camouflage over light grey undersides, a bare-metal rudder and elevators, ‘FUERZA AEREA ARGENTINA’ low on the nose, celeste and white roundels with the black serial on the rear fuselage and the Argentine flag on the fin, with the upper nose access panel removed as it has been for many years; the camouflage blotches follow the photographed colours and proportions rather than a trace of the exact pattern, and no wing roundels are painted, which no photograph shows.

3D model

Turn it over

A procedural model built in Blender from published dimensions, drawings and photographs, painted as A-549 of the Fuerza Aérea Argentina's Grupo 3 de Ataque, an FMA IA 58A Pucará captured on the Falkland Islands in June 1982: the Argentine twin-turboprop counter-insurgency aircraft with two Turbomeca Astazou XVIG engines in long underwing nacelles, a slim tandem two-seat fuselage under a single long canopy, a low straight wing with dihedral on the outer panels and a T-tail; painted as it is displayed at IWM Duxford: faded sand and pale grey-green Falklands camouflage over light grey undersides, a bare-metal rudder and elevators, ‘FUERZA AEREA ARGENTINA’ low on the nose, celeste and white roundels with the black serial on the rear fuselage and the Argentine flag on the fin, with the upper nose access panel removed as it has been for many years; the camouflage blotches follow the photographed colours and proportions rather than a trace of the exact pattern, and no wing roundels are painted, which no photograph shows. Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom · download .glb (1002 KB)

Data plate

Specification

First flight, number built and top speed are for the whole family (); engine, crew and dimensions are for the IA 58A Pucará modelled here.

History

The Pucará

In the mid-1960s the Fuerza Aérea Argentina wanted a tough, simple aircraft for fighting guerrillas: one that could fly from short, rough strips, loiter over the battlefield, hit hard with guns and rockets and get its crew home after being shot at. The state aircraft factory at Córdoba, the Fábrica Militar de Aviones, designed it as the AX-2 Delfín. An unpowered aerodynamic glider came first, and the powered prototype, with two Garrett turboprops, flew on 20 August 1969. A second prototype with French Turbomeca Astazou engines followed in September 1970, and the Astazou was chosen for production.

The production IA 58A, named Pucará after the stone hill forts of the Andes, flew in November 1974 and entered service from 1975. It has a slim fuselage with the two crew in tandem on Martin-Baker ejection seats, the rear seat raised so its occupant can see over the pilot, a straight wing with the engines in long nacelles, and a T-tail. Two 20 mm cannon and four 7.62 mm machine guns are built into the nose, and bombs, rockets and fuel tanks hang from three fuselage and wing pylons. About 110 were built, and Uruguay, Colombia and Sri Lanka also flew it.

In April 1982 Pucarás were flown to the Falkland Islands, the only Argentine Air Force combat aircraft based there, and operated from Stanley, from a grass strip at Goose Green and from Pebble Island, where the Special Air Service destroyed six of them in a night raid on 15 May. On 28 May Pucarás shot down a Royal Marines Scout helicopter near Goose Green. Many were lost in the fighting, and the survivors were captured when the Argentine garrison surrendered on 14 June; several were shipped to Britain, and one was flown on trials at Boscombe Down. Argentina still flies upgraded Pucarás today.

This airframe

IA 58A A-549

A-549The airframe modelled

A-549 served with the Fuerza Aérea Argentina’s Grupo 3 de Ataque and was one of the Pucarás captured on the Falkland Islands at the end of the war in June 1982. It was shipped to Britain, allotted the British serial ZD487 for evaluation (never painted on) and joined the other captured Pucarás at Boscombe Down, before coming to the Imperial War Museum at Duxford in 1983. It has been displayed outside, in Hangar 4 and, most recently, in the conservation hangar. The model shows it as photographed there in 2021 and 2025: faded sand and pale grey-green Falklands camouflage over light grey undersides, a bare-metal rudder and elevators, “FUERZA AEREA ARGENTINA” low on the nose, roundels and the serial on the rear fuselage and the Argentine flag on the fin, with the gear down, the flaps partly lowered and the upper nose access panel missing, as it has been for many years. The blotches follow the colours and proportions in the photographs rather than a trace of the exact pattern, and no wing roundels are painted, as none can be seen in any photograph.

See it at IWM Duxford

Where to see one

In the gazetteer

The gazetteer records the Pucará in 5 UK collections. The airframe modelled here is marked.

Every airframe and serial All 129 plates

Profiles and models are procedural interpretations built in Blender from published dimensions, three-view drawings and photographs of each airframe. Treat the museum aircraft as the reference.