The birth and development of military aviation in Brazil

The history of aviation in Brazil goes a long way back. The pioneering phase included balloon flights, manufacturing of experimental aircraft and early involvement of the military. In the early years pilots could not learn to fly in Brazil and the first two officers, from both the navy and army, therefore earned their wings in France. I an effort to boost aviation in Brazil the Aero-Club Brailseiro was formed on 14 October 1911 and aviation was widely promoted. Alberto Santos-Dumont, the world's first pilot of a powered flight, played a pivotal role in this campaign, European pilots were contracted by the Ministry of War to run the flying school, a familiar practice in many other Latino countries. Starting of ion 2 February 1914, the first army and navy officers were trained but it did not last long. The contractors stopped in June of the same year.

The next noteworthy impulse was the creation of a naval aviation school in 1916 and with the arrival of three Curtiss F flying boats this can be seen as the first organised military air arm in Brazil. However, the first true military use of aircraft occurred in 1914 when teniente Kirk performed aerial reconnaissance flights on behalf of the Ministry of War. This marked also the first use of aircraft in a military operation in the whole of South-America. The First World War influenced the growth of military aviation in Brazil. After a period of remaining neutral Brazil was sucked into this war because Germany torpedoed Brazilian ships. A task force was send to North-Africa and army and navy officers were send to naval flying schools in Britain. They were therefore involved in the early flying years of the Royal Air Force. Meanwhile back in Brazil the Escola de Aviação Naval (EAvN) was boosted by the arrival of more aircraft from the United States of America. After the war and with French aid a military aviation structure was created for the Army with the inception of the Escola de Aviação Militar (EAvM) on 29 January 1919. Parallel to this development, some paramilitary and police forces acquired some aircraft of their own.

The twenties saw an interesting development because both the navy and army aviation branches were involved in building up a network of civil air routes. The coastal routes being operated by the navy forming air stations in Galeão and Santos in 1922. The army using Santa Maria and Alegrete airfields activated in August 1921 took up responsibility for the inland routes. The army actually formed dedicated air units for military use which lasted until 1930 when they were amalgamated into the EAvM again. By this time the army gave full status to the aerial branch. In the thirties both the army and naval air arms received more aircraft. The army sticking with US material and the navy gaining German aircraft (mainly from Focke-Wulf) as well. With the Second World War gaining momentum in Europe the need arose to create one command to control all the aerial assets operated at that moment. Although Brazil was not involved in the war at the time, the Ministry of Aeronautics was formed and the Aviação Militar and Aviação Naval were disbanded handing their aircraft to a service originally called Forças Aéreas Nacionais. This was officially renamed the Força Aérea Brasileira on 22 May 1941 marking the official birth of the Air Force and the temporary demise of army and naval aviation.

Source http://www.rudnei.cunha.nom.br/FAB/en/index.html and http://www.fab.mil.br/



Photo: Erwin van Dijkman

Development of he current Força Aérea Brasileira

The Brazilian air force had a flying start on 22 May 1941. Its inception was done on paper and therefore roughly 425 aircraft, albeit a strange and dated mix, were immediately available from army and naval sources. Swiftly Brazil turned to the US for more potent machines in the form of Curtiss P-40 aircraft. This was necessary because of the spreading war in which Brazilian involvement was only a matter of time with the axis countries spreading their world-wide aggression to neutral countries also. This fear became a reality when many Brazilian ships were sunk in the South-Atlantic leading tot the declaration of war on Germany on 22 August 1942.

Apart from defending the South-Atlantic sea routes in close co-operation with America, the FAB send an expeditionary force containing air elements to Europe as well. They saw action in Italy from the beginning of 1944 until the surrender of Germany on 2 May 1945. In the last stages of the war the Brazilian air force received many aircraft both in Italy and Brazil. With these assets, the P-47 Thunderbolt forming the backbone, the post-war FAB took shape. Because of these numbers of aircraft two units could be equipped with the P-47 Thunderbolt. These were 1º/1º and 2°/1° Grupo de Aviação de Caça along with another unit solely equipped with various versions of the P-40 Warhawk 3º and 4º Grupo de Caça of the 3º Regimento de Aviação, later during a large re-organization in 1947 renamed 1°/14° Grupo de Aviação.



Photo: Corné Rodenburg

Although having a large Air Force easily outnumbering most other South-American countries, a step forward was necessary. By the late forties the backbone of the FAB consisted of piston engined aircraft hampering the operational possibilities and development of the air force. A jet fighter was sought. Turning to the United States, a traditional supplier of large quantities of aircraft in the past, was a logical step. But the foreign policy of the United States was aimed at controlling the arms supply to South-American countries thus preventing an arms race or military imbalance in the region. Unable to acquire aircraft from the US, Brazil turned to Europe to fulfil its hard felt need for modern aircraft. Great Britain was willing and able, as founding father of jet aviation, to help. Having already supplied Meteors (F Mk.IV models) to Argentina in the late forties, the Brazilian request was met in with the latest version of the Meteor: the F Mk.8 fighter and T Mk.7 trainer version of which 61 and 10 were delivered respectively. Delivered from 1952 it was the start of military jet aviation in Brazil at last. The Americans finally supplied Brazil with AT-33 and F-80C aircraft in the second halve of the fifties and this was the main fighter aircraft after withdrawal from service of the Meteor in 1966.

Again in need of a thorough modernisation of its fighter, jet trainer and attack aircraft the seventies saw a boost in FAB capabilities. Firstly, the locally assembled version of the MB326 entered service in 1971 enhancing both lead-in fighter training as well as attack training. Secondly, a very capable fighter was finally received in 1972 when the first Mirage IIIEBR arrived, named F-103E in Brazilian service. Again, the US blocked the sale of the F-4 Phantom and European material was obtained. A new base was constructed at Anápolis near Brasilia the political centre of the country. The modernisation of the Air Force also included an air control network used in conjunction with patrolling Mirage aircraft. Thirdly, the FAB acquired F-5E aircraft from the United States.



Photo: Chris Lofting

FAB has been relying on Brazil's own aircraft manufacturing capabilities for its training and light attack aircraft. The Tucano and subsequent Super Tucano can be earmarked as a big hit both in Brazil and abroad. It is used for training, interdiction, close air support and light attack missions throughout the country. Furthermore, after the success of the MB326/EMB326 project, the AMX light jet attack aircraft was developed with Aermacchi of Italy. The transport units recently received the CASA 295 relieving the venerable DHC-5 Buffalo of its duties. The backbone of the transport fleet is the C-130 Hercules, augmented in the liaison and patrol role by large numbers of Embraer 110 Bandeirantes in various versions for which a modernisation program was started in 2010 with the first deliveries in 2011.

The present and future

Although modernised in some aspects, the main fighting force of the FAB still consists of seventies' age fighter aircraft. Its same struggle for modernisation is going on at this moment. President Lula da Silva has shifted priority away from a new fighter aircraft to transport and patrol aircraft (or no aircraft at all) and this same doictrine is continued by the current president Dilma Roussef. The choice for a new fighter was nearly finalised in 2004, shelved and revitalised again in 2008, and shelved once more in 2011. Finally on 18 December 2013, a deal was struck to buy 36 Gripen NG.

Meanwhile the FAB is boosted by the priority on patrol, transport and interdiction tasks. The Sistema de Vigilância da Amazônia (SIVAM) programme became operational on 25 July 2002 and has seen the introduction of airborne radar and signal gathering sensor aircraft. Special surveillance versions of the Embraer model 145 regional jetliner entered service (seeing some export success as well). Moreover, the Embraer 314 Super Tucano, a dedicated development of the other Brazilian success story the Tucano, was acquired in numbers for this programme as well. This ambitious programme integrates several means of land-based and airborne surveillance as well as patrol and attack capabilities Patrol capabilities are greatly enhanced by the advent of the P-3AM, a refurbished and vastly modernised version of the P-3B. Another exciting programme is the new transport aircraft, the C-390 set to replace the Hercules over the coming years. Also, new helicopters have been bought, a dozen Blackhawks, a dozen AH-2 (Mi-35M) and eighteen EC725, two of which are for presidential transport duties. The main fighters are the modernised F-5EM Tiger, with some former Jordanian examples being refurbished also, and leased Mirage 2000 air defence aircraft that will probably soldier on much longer than the five years period originally envisaged.