Escuadrón Fénix

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Coat of Arms of the Escuadrón Fénix

Civilian Learjet like those employed by the unit

The Phoenix Squadron (Spanish: Escuadrón Fénix) was a special unit of the Argentine Air Force formed during the 1982 Falklands/Malvinas War.

The Argentine Air Force recognition force at that time was formed around the Grupo 1 Aerofotográfico (English: 1st Air Photographic Group) part of the 2nd Air Brigade equipped with two Learjet 35s and based at Parana province of Entre Rios.

In April 1982, the unit was deployed to Comodoro Rivadavia and was reinforced with several civilian planes and their civilian pilots who volunteered to fly them.

During the war, the Learjets performed 52 missions including search and reconnaissance flights, communications retransmission flights, and pathfinder flights to guide combat jets with the Learjets’ superior navigation systems.

The unit's most difficult missions were 126 sorties in which the Learjets acted as decoys, flying day and night to simulate strike aircraft preparing to attack the fleet. Many believe that most of the Argentine A-4 Skyhawks and Daggers successes were achieved because the British Sea Harriers had been drawn away from the targets. (Citation needed)

On one of these flights, on June 7, an Air Force Learjet was shot down by a surface-to-air Sea Dart missile killing the squadron commander, Vice Commodore Rodolfo De La Colina, who became the highest ranking Argentine officer to die in the War.