Passengers 114 Survivors 115 Site San Miguel de Tucumán Fatalities 6 Passenger count 114 | Injuries (non-fatal) 29 Date 28 August 1975 Operator Argentine Air Force Survivor 115 Crew count 7 | |
Summary Plane crashed after bomb placed in a sewage drain under the runway detonated during take-off. Aircraft type Military transport aircraft Aircraft name Lockheed C-130 Hercules | ||
Operation Gardel was the codename given by the Peronist guerrilla organization Montoneros to the downing of a Lockheed C-130 Hercules, belonging to the 1st Transport Group of the 1st Air Brigade, as it took off the old Teniente General Benjamín Matienzo International Airport, carrying 114 Gendarmerie personnel as part of the Operativo Independencia.
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Background
The plan was to set off an explosive charge in the form of a conical tip placed below the runway, right in the moment when the C-130 was at full power during takeoff.
Almost in the middle of the runway, 1,100 meters away from the northern end and 1,000 from the southern, there was a storm drain leading to a disused sewer that crossed below the runway. A cable was laid through the 250 meters of tunnel, emerging from the storm drain and connecting the charge to the 12V battery of a parked vehicle. The switch would be activated from a nearby pit.
This "masterpiece of military engineering", referred as such by Montoneros, had taken at least six months of planning; the fork of a branch was used as a benchmark to calculate the trajectory of the plane.
The downing
The TC-62 took off from El Palomar Air Base at 09:00 am, carrying 85 members of the Argentine Federal Police, landing at the Benjamin Matienzo International Airport at 11:56. Refueling started immediately and a contingent of 114 members of the National Gendarmerie embarked on the plane, returning home at the beginning of their leave. Additionally, the mission of the day for the TC-62 comprised another transport from San Juan to La Rioja, and the return flight to Buenos Aires.
Shortly after 01:00 pm, the TC-62 began taxiing, reaching the speed of 200 km/h after traveling 800 meters. The explosion took place between 100 and 150 meters in front of the aircraft and two seconds away in time, leaving a 12-meter wide and 2-meter deep crater. The plane was between 12 and 15 meters above the ground at the time of the blast. The aircraft caught fire, leaned on its right side and crashed 400 meters further down the runway.
Originally five gendarmes were killed. However, one who was unhurt set out to rescue those who were still trapped. He died later from asphyxiation.