Historic Aviation > Warbirds
Argentine pilots break silence over World War Two
tigershark:
I saw this and thought I would post it I never knew Argentina had pilots in WW-II
Argentine pilots break silence over World War Two
Wed Dec 12, 2007 3:45am GMT
By David Ljunggren
OTTAWA (Reuters) - In early October 1942, Flight Lieutenant Donald McLarty was shot down over Libya on his 199th mission of World War Two. Although he was flying for Britain's Royal Air Force, his uniform was emblazoned with an unexpected word: Argentina.
Many foreigners fought for the various Allied air forces, but until now historians have largely focused on pilots from Czechoslovakia, Poland, France and Norway -- all of which were occupied by German forces. Few realize that more than 800 young men from neutral Argentina, some of them schoolboys, rushed to sign up as pilots and then made the long, dangerous trip to Europe by boat.
When McLarty climbed into his Hurricane fighter-bomber for a low-level attack on a German base in Libya, he needed to complete just two more missions to earn a long break from active duty. It was not to be.
Full story
http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKN0232993420071212?rpc=401&
WRCKid:
That's really interesting, I've always assumed it was just the countries that were involved, just goes to show how ignorant we can be sometimes, great article.
Raptor:
They actually flew during the falklands war? That's amazing. How old would they have been by then?
Globetrotter:
I'll get you a pic of a painting by an Argentine that depicts a pilot of our country frliying a brittish Spit ;)
Globetrotter:
This is the site:
http://www.aviationart.com.ar/
but I can't link to images, it won't give me a link let me see if i can upload the pics.
Anyway, you can find the pics in English > Galleries > Military (page 2, Typhoons; page 2, Spit with Me 262; page 2, Hurricane; page 3, Spitfire; page 3, B-24 Liberator; page 4, Spitfire in action; page 5, Spitfire; page 7, Lancaster.) All of this, said to be piloted by Argentines during WW2.
Hope to have summed up something :)
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