The idea of visiting Chile’s Feria Internacional del Aire (International Air Fair, FIDA) was in my mind from the very first edition, when I was a newly recruited Argentine Air Force cadet and wasn’t in a position to join the service’s delegation to the event held in 1980.
Time and money limitations marred my project to visit it until 1984, when I ended-up taking a week-long leave from job and college to cover the fair’s third edition for our predecessor publication, Aviación Latinoamericana (Latin American Aviation, ALA), alongside Jorge Núñez Padín (present CEO and chief editor at Australis) and Jorge Figari (RIP).
In addition to being our first experience abroad Argentina, the show took place in a spicy geopolitical scenario: Argentina had just restored the rule of democracy after seven years under military government and the painful 1982 defeat in Malvinas, Chile remained under Augusto Pinochet’s iron-clad dictatorship and both nations had outstanding issues to solve after the 1978 Beagle Channel crisis.
At the time of our visit, Chile was reeling back from the 1982 economic crisis (which caused a 14% reduction in gross domestic growth and a 27% increase in unemployment) and dealing with all the nuisances of life under military rule: Curfew was in place as of 10pm every night, streetbound military and police controls were ordinary matters and insurgency attacks were common place.
An excursion behind “the Andes wall”?
In such an volatile environment, we were a little bit dissappointed with the treatment we got from local authorities and representatives: Rather than Soviet-style surveillance and restrictions reminiscing of an excursion behind the Berlin wall, Chilean Ministry of Defense officials, FIDAE media executives, Mr. Ugarte and Mr. Sepúlveda, and Fuerza Aérea de Chile (Chilean Air Force, FACH) officials at large were quite cooperative and laisses-fair with all our press requirements… and even got both Jorges on board Twin Otter and Huey media flights!
Other than a few tense minutes while picturing an Armada de Chile (Chilean Navy, ACH) Embraer Bandeirulha, when ground crews got a bit ticklish while both Jorges shot each an every antennae on their aircraft, we were free to take as many pictures as we could afford (remember we were in the 35mm film era!) on the flight line, the static exhibition and even inside Empresa Nacional de Aeronáutica’s (National Aeronautics Enterprise, ENAER) production lines.
Once checking out the access points, we would enter El Bosque air base’s large tarmac, where an amazing gathering of over 90 aircraft, most of them Chilean military which we had previously seen only in the pages of international publications.
Highlights at the static exhibition included all of FACH’s T-36 Halcón jet trainers (the local variant of the Spanish C-101BB Aviojet), the first A-36 Halcón (Chilean equivalent to the C-101CC, flown daily), several A-37B Dragonfly in an innovative all-black low visibility livery and two Beech 99s converted into misterious maritime surveillance and electronic warfare plattforms; as well as several established or newcoming fighter types: Mirage 50FC, F-5E Tiger II and Hawker Hunter.
Visiting parties
Beyond the show’s host institution, aircraft from other local and foreign defense and security forces were also on display, including distinctive novelties such as Chilean Navy PC-7 Turbo Trainer, EMB-110 Bandeirante, EMB-111 Bandeirulha and C-212 Aviocar wearing the service’s newest colour scheme and shortened serial numbers, Ejército de Chile (Chilean Army, ECH) newest Aerospatiale Super Puma and a sole Carabineros de Chile (Chilean Carbineers, CCH) MBB Bo-105 helicopter.
Foreign aircraft included two Argentine IA-58 Pucará attack bomber twins and one exotic AR-25-235 Pawnee Biplaza (a Chincul-developed two-seat of Piper’s PA-25 Pawnee), a Força Aérea Brasileira (Brazilian Air Force, FAB) numerous delegation comprising six EMB-312A Tucano trainers and their supporting EMB-110 Bandeirante and a lone Marinha Brasileira (Brazilian Navy, MB) Westland Sea Lynx.
Also attending, either as visitors or on static display, were three Dirección General de Aviación Civil (General Civil Aviation Directorate, DGAC) service aircraft, a few representatives of Chilean general aviation, ENAER prototypes and a large display of Museo Nacional Aeronáutico y Espacial (National Air & Space Museum, MNAE) historical artifacts.
Regrettably, British aircraft were not exhibited because a duo of Fuerza Aérea Ecuatoriana (Ecuadorean Air Force, FAE) Jaguar Es and an equal number of Royal Navy Sea Harrier FRS.1 failed to arrive for reasons unknown.
Restrained flying display
My notes indicate that flying displays were abundant yet a little bit lackluster, with all aircraft flying above 50 meters above ground level, apparently following Halcon 405’s write-off at the base on Monday 5 during an air display flight.
The roster, however, was crowded and varied; including two military aerobatic teams, an Argentine Pucará (crewed by major Benítez and captains Müller and Sánchez), an ACH Turbo Trainer, the Carabineros Bo-105 and Brazilian Lynx and all of FACH’s jet fighters/trainers: T/A-36, A/T-37, F-5E, Hunter and Mirage 50.
Jorge Figari’s notes highlight the fact that all FACH combat aircraft executed the same aerobatic routine, allowing attentive observers to compare Halcón, Dragonly, Tiger II, Hunter and Mirage maneouvering capabilities.
But the most attractive air displays featured the two attending aerobatic teams: FACH’s Halcones performing what Jorge Núñez described as “an exciting routine” and FAB’s Esquadrilha da Fumaça (Smoke Flight) flying what I defined as the “the best of both acts thanks to the Tucano’s higher performances”.
Halcones Pitts S-2A were crewed by captains Tomislav Spasojevic Kustec (#1), Johnny Berner Roa (#2), José Ili Salgado (#3) and Federico Klock Cruz (#4); and lieutenants Jorge Velasco Velázquez (#5, soloist) and Carlos Rivera (#6, reserve).
Fumaça EMB-312A Tucano, in turn, were flown by lieutenant colonel Geraldo Ribeiro Jr. (lead) and captains Antonio Bragança (right wing), Vario Figueiredo Crispin (left wing), Antonio José Faria dos Santos (tail), Celso Luis Cardoso (soloist) and Henrique Vergara Canto (reserve).
Entering the major leagues
Jorge Figari’s notes are quite documentative and indicate that roofed surface reached 13,271 square meters (5,000 more than in 1982), exhibition stands reached 230 (44 over 1982) and visitors were estimated in 250,000 people, a relevant figure compared to ILA Hannover 1982 (150,000) and Le Bourget 1983 (700,000).
With the benefit of some hindsight, those figures and our perception of a punctilliously organized and smoothly run airshow give some substance my decission to describre FIDA ’84 as “the Latin American Le Bourget” from the very start of my ALA Vol.2 No.7 report.
Also clear to us was the fact that FACH authorities were already drafting expansion plans: Even though actual change would take place only in 1990 (when the final “E” was incorporated at the end of the original acronym), 1984 rumours indicated that a name change to Feria Internacional de la Defensa y el Armamento (Defense & Weapons International Fair) was being considered.
Forty years later, our 1984 projections and perceptions prove to have been correct: The show changed locations twice to continue growing in surface, exhibitors count, participating aircraft and industry sectors incorporated in the fair’s menu; maintaining an unequalled continuity (at the regional level) which only a global pandemic was able to interrupt in 2020 (see Cuenta regresiva para FIDAE 2020: Abort! Abort! Abort!).
Bibiliography: Aviación Latinoamericana (Argentina, 1984), Laureau, Patrick: “A view to a show: FIDAE Latin American Stars” (Chile, 1996) and Pavlovcic, Magnusson & Raczynski: “Catálogo Completo de Aeronaves Civiles Argentinas Registradas 1938-2016” (Argentina, 2016). Internet sources: FG Media, FIDAE, Rotorsport, Scramble and Wikipedia.
