Río Gallegos Air Base is a main military airfield in
Santa Cruz Province, Argentina
Santa Cruz Province ( es, Provincia de Santa Cruz, , 'Holy Cross') is a province of Argentina, located in the southern part of the country, in Patagonia. It borders Chubut Province to the north, and Chile to the west and south, with an Atlantic c ...
in the far south of the nation.
It was the nearest air base to the Falklands Islands in the
1982 war.
History
It opened in June 1952.
Falklands War
Ernesto Horacio Crespo
Ernesto Horacio Crespo (8 December 1929 – 6 March 2019) was an Argentine Brigadier General (Lieutenant General) and former Chief of Staff of the Argentine Air Force.
Early life
In 1982, Crespo, who was the commander of the Fourth Air Force ...
, the head of the
F.A.S, coordinated attacks on the islands from the base, which was 380 miles to the west of the
Falklands Islands
The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...
.
[''Times'' Monday May 24 1982, page 1]
References
{{reflist
External links
Airfield history
1952 establishments in Argentina
Argentine Air Force bases
Argentine Air Force units and formations in the Falklands War
Buildings and structures in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina
Military airbases established in 1952
es:Guarnición de Ejército Río Gallegos