Although much has been published on the British experience in the Falklands war, there has been a real lack of books available in English on the Argentine experience in that conflict. In my opinion Santiago Rivas's Wings of the Malvinas is the definitive book in English on the air war by the Argentines in the Falklands/Malvinas conflict.
The book covers all of the Argentine air services that were involved in the war. This includes the Fuerza Aerea Argintina (Air Force), Comando de Aviacion Naval (Navy), Comando de Aviacion de Ejercito (Army), Servicio de Aviacion de la Prefectura Naval (Coast Guard), and civilian aircraft (private, business, and airline). The format of the book, is that within each service, the day by day activities of each sub unit are described and each mission in detail including times, results, aircraft serials, and crew names and rank. Included are lots of personal comments and descriptions by both Argentine and British participants. The author in the descriptions gives both the Argentine and the British geographic names for locations which makes comparisons to other literature on the subject easy.
Although I have read many previous publications on the Falklands campaign, I found much new material in this book. I was surprised to learn that the Argentines had only five AM39 Exocets and they used those in combat before the French had cleared the Exocet for use on aircraft! The majority of the Argentine aircraft were based on the mainland and most required air refueling on combat missions to the Malvinas. This enormous amount of air-to air refueling was accomplished with only two KC-130H Hercules tankers. Also a C-130H Hercules transport was modified with multiple bomb racks from an A-4 Skyhawk and carried 24 550 pound bombs on anti-shipping attacks. The Argentines were plagued with bomb fuse failures during attack after attack against British warships with bombs penetrating hulls, but not exploding. It reminded me of the US submarine and PT boat experiences with non exploding torpedoes at the beginning of World War Two. I am a retired aeronautical engineer and I learned in detail the roles played in this conflict by four of the aircraft (Beech B80 Queen Air, Beech B200 Super King Air, Beech T-34C Turbo Mentor, and Piper Aerostar) I had worked on.
The reader will find detailed descriptions of the hardships and bravery of the Argentine airmen in this short war that was fought 30 years ago. And not just the attack, bombers, and fighters, but also the transports, helicopters, armed trainers, and conscripted civil aircraft. There are lots of photographs that have not been seen by US readers before. Modelers will find many excellent color profiles of Argentine aircraft by artist Richard Caruana. Too help make Wing of the Malvinas the definitive book in English on the Malvinas/Falklands air war are eleven Appendices which contain aircraft specifications, individual aircraft histories, Argentine and British naval units and ships, Argentine aerial weapons, and many other subjects.
