The risky secret missions of the Hercules planes to Malvinas, the classified archives and a decoration for the heroes who took 37 years

For anyone, "Tiger" ,"Crazy", "Picho" o "Chalk" they can have different meanings. But for the pilots of the plane Hercules who fought during the Falklands war, his only mention gives goose bumps.

These code names refer to very risky missions, recently declbadified. 37 years after the war, the courage and the courage shown motivated its members to be awarded on March 27, at 11:00 in the Senate of Nations, the medal "The Argentine nation with combat value".

During the Malvinas war, the Hercules C 130 made two missions: detection of naval targets and air interdiction.

In the location missions of enemy ships, He was flying low over the sea, at a speed of 590 km / hour, and with his radar off, so as not to be detected by the enemy. When he reaches a predetermined point, he accelerated to the bottom, he raised the nose of the aircraft 30 degrees to reach 10000 feet. In times when the plane has reached the highest altitude with its maximum power, their radars were lit to detect the presence of enemy ships. In case of identification of a target, the coordinates were sent to the command to direct an attack. When the plane began to fall, the radar went out.

Of course, the most difficult thing remained, which was escape And the easiest way was to launch in free fall towards the sea, to avoid again English radars. And make a course change of 45 degrees. To start again. Because each of these maneuvers was done every 20 or 30 minutes. In the slang of airmen, they know her as "dog's tooth", since the maneuvers simulate a "W".

The only support for the Hercules was the Falkland Islands aerial surveillance radar, which could warn them of the presence of enemy planes. Keep in mind that, at the time these missions were developed, the English had already regrouped in San Carlos.

These missions took place on May 27 under the code name "Picho"; On May 28 and 29, it was "Loco"; May 30 "Polo" and the last May 31 and June 1 "Tiza". To all members of the crew have called them "the fool". English targets have been located on most flights.

On June 1, the The Hercules TC 63 has been ordered to perform one of these missions, with the code "Chalk". He had to explore and recognize the northern maritime zone of the Malvinas. At 0630, he took off from Comodoro Rivadavia, but had to return because of technical problems. Finally I would do it at 8:53.

The captain was in charge Rubén Martel, seconded by Captain Víctor Krause; the navigator was Deputy Mayor Hugo Meisner. The endowment was completed by CP Miguel Cardone, Carlos Cantezano, Julio Lastra and Manuel Albelos. Moments before another Hercules, the TC 66 had landed in Puerto Argentino, the English were put on alert.

At 10:25, Hercules, after completing the first part of his journey, He approached the Straits of San Carlos. It was at this point that the radar of the English ship Minerva detected it and warned the Sea Harrier. Two of them, driven by the lieutenants Niguel Ward and Steve Thomas they went to the target. They detected the Hercules 10 km flying in a westerly direction flush with the waves. Ward went down while Thomas remained on the thick blanket of clouds, in case Hercules decided to go up.

From Hercules, he was captured: "IFF on, we are in an emergency".

It was the last communication.

The first missile launched by Ward was out of range and fell into the water, but the second hit both engines to the right, which caused fire on the ship. Even like that, the English saw how Hercules was serviced, then Ward fired it with his 30mm cannons.

The 245 shots that he drew they caused the precipitation and disintegration of the aircraft when it touched the water.

The first Hercules who landed at Malvinas was the TC 68. But he has another record that makes him unique in the history of air warfare. Just as the missions described above were aimed at locating naval targets, TC 68 was responsible for the air interdiction which, in plain language, means disrupting and hindering the supply lines of the English fleet.

6 volunteers were selected for such a mission, which was led by the retired Commodore today Roberto Cerruti.

Al Hércules, nicknamed "Tiger" – doubled its flight range and was adapted to 12 bombs of 250 kilos, arranged under each plane.

Cerruti explained to Infobae What "Beyond each mission had its specific name, we knew it as" the fool "because it was crazy to fly without air superiority; We had no parachute because we were flying very low. There was nothing like it in the world. Our only defense was to escape. "

What makes his crew easily identifiable are the scarves they wore, which the commander's wife had woven expressly.

Cerruti denies having conducted suicide missions. He recalled that "when the war ended, in one of the interviews given by our commander, he stated that "We were happy to do risky missions."

He was badigned a search zone that lasted between five and six hours. Although the first day they did not find any targets, in the second damaged an English tanker. It was May 29th. It is this attack that allowed the English High Command to arrange for the fleet to go further east.

Two days later, they found another ship, but as they could not determine the origin and why he had sailed in these waters, they did not attack it. Later, they had to escape when they realized that what they had identified was an English frigate.

Why was the information clbadified?

The last attack TC 68 went to a supertanker, 250 meters long which, paradoxically, was called "Hercules".

The ship managed to set sail on the English fleet at full speed, but was hit by two bombs, one launched from TC 68 and another from Canberra, but it did not explode.

At the end of the war, the ship docked in Rio de Janeiro and, as it had been decided that the bombs could not be disarmed, it had sunk in the middle of the Atlantic. The company owning the ship brought lawsuits against Argentina in a New York court, but they did not prosper. When the trial started, the Argentine government has decreed the secret, for this reason, these documents have recently been declbadified and we can learn more about this story. For this reason also, the heroes will now receive the decoration for their courage and dedication to the defense of the homeland. They had to wait 37 years and the missions so that the secret of their mission is no longer secret, in order to receive this deserved recognition.

The TC 68 was about to be abandoned, another victim of the disinvestment policy of the armed forces. It is in El Palomar Air Base and everything indicates that it will be prepared for display in a museum. Because at the end of the day, he is another hero of the Malvinas.