Page 49 - AirForces - Monthly (February 2020)

Andes
Above: Single-seat Mirage 2000P serial 062 (c/n 126) pulls into the
top of a loop for the camera. Delivered from 1986 and not significantly
upgraded, the dozen Mirage 2000s (including a pair of two-seat
2000DP models) remain in service at La Joya with Escuadrón Aéreo 412,
under Grupo Aéreo No 4. All photos Katsuhiko Tokunaga/DACT unless stated the new home of the Military
www.Key.Aero
48-55 PeruAF AFM Feb2020.indd
48-55 PeruAF AFM Feb2020.indd
airforcesintel.com
T he Fuerza Aérea del Aviation School, as well as the
Perú (FAP, Peruvian Air
construction of additional facilities
Force) enters its second
centenary facing the challenges for the Seaplane School at Ancón
and the launching of the first
imposed by fielding a force capable long-distance training flights
of dealing with modern air combat to the interior of the country.
requirements while also trying to
achieve an efficient allocation of Consolidation
the limited resources available. The remarkable development of
Peruvian military aviation was aviation across the world during
born on January 28, 1919, with the late 1920s, as well as growing
the creation of the Servicio acceptance of its use for military
de Aviación Militar (Military purposes by the High Command
Aviation Service), a branch of of Peru’s armed forces, led to
the Ejército del Perú (Peruvian the creation, on May 20, 1929, of
Army), at Maranga, followed in the Cuerpo de Aviación del Perú
1920 by the establishment of (CAP, Peruvian Aviation Corps)
the Cuerpo de Aviación Naval in a merger of the Naval Aviation
(Naval Aviation Corps), part of Corps and the Military Aviation
the Marina de Guerra del Perú Service. The new single entity was
(Peruvian Navy), at Ancón. formed to maximise the use of
As in many other countries at the available aviation resources,
the time, aviation was contained simplify logistics and provide
within the structure of the army a unified command structure.
and navy, neither force seeing The process was finalised on
any merit in the establishment July 3, 1932, when the CAP was
of an independent air arm. officially mandated as Peru’s third
It was with these two parallel, independent armed institution.
albeit strongly integrated, forces The CAP experienced its baptism
that Peruvian military flying of fire on February 12, 1933, when
continued its development into 2nd Lt Secada, flying a Vought
the early 1920s, which resulted Corsair biplane, engaged in combat
in the progressive consolidation with a trio of Colombian Curtiss
of aviation as a primary weapon Model 35A Hawk II fighters. The
for the country’s defence, as well Corsair pilot was trying to cover the
as a means for its technological retreat of a flight of Peruvian attack
development. From 1923 Peru aircraft over Peru’s Tarapacá region
began a modest but significant during the Putumayo Conflict, the
expansion of its military aviation undeclared border war between
capability, with the opening of Colombia and Peru over the
Las Palmas air base in Lima as disputed territories located between
the Putumayo and Caquetá rivers.
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