| Aviação do Exército |
By Erwin van Dijkman
Brief History
As in many countries it took quite a while for the aviation branch of the army to gain full independence and aircraft of their own. However, army officers were involved in pioneering the military use of aviation assets in Brazil as well. In fact, Lt. Ricardo João Kirk was the first army pilot and was performing reconnaissance missions in 1914. In these early years of aviation, the number of military planes grew (refer to the general history segment above). Eventually, this led to the creation of an Air Force to control all these activities. Subsequently, army as well as navy air assets were amalgamated under the 3rd armed force of the Air Force during 1941.
It took many years before the rebirth of the army took place. In 1985 the army started to study the possibilities of creating a true army aviation branch. This subsequently led to the creation of army aviation on the 3rd of September 1986. Incepted as a helicopter force the plan was to incorporate a flying unit into each army brigade. Taubaté army complex was chosen as the most important and first home of the 1st army aviation battalion (1ºBAvEx, Batalhão de Aviação do Exército) and an aviation material command was created also (DMAvEx, Diretoria de material de Aviação do Exército). The facilities were restructured; hangars, ramps, a runway, a housing area and classrooms were built. Meanwhile the army sought to acquire helicopters and they bought French material that could (in part) be license built by Helibras of Brazil.
The first two types were the AS.350L1 Squirrel dubbed Helicóptero de Ataque (HA-1) and AS565AA Panther named Helicóptero de Manobra (HM-1) in Brazil. The first Squirrel was officially inaugurated during a ceremony on April 21st, 1989 and a long kept army dream came to fruition.
The present and future
Nowadays, the army is gradually growing to a fully-fledged army air force. Re-organisations took place in 1990 and 1993 and the original 1st battalion was renamed 1º Esquadrão de Aviação de Exército and was reorganised into the 1st group (1º Grupo AvEx) together with newly formed 2nd, 3rd and 4th squadrons. The squadrons no longer solely reside at Taubaté. The 4th squadron is based at Manaus in the Amazon basin and is heavily involved in anti-drug operations, it is the only unit using Black Hawk (HM-2) helicopters. Four were acquired for use in the military monitoring mission on the Ecuadorian-Peruvian border (MOMEP, military observation mission Ecuador-Peru). Recently, the first Cougars (HM-3) started to arrive and before long a third base in Southern Brazil, in the province of Mato Grosso do Sul will be created. Now numbering well over 80 helicopters, the Aviação do Exército, or Exército do Brasil (EB) in short, has finally come of age.
Sources:
http://www.avex.eb.mil.br (official)
http://www.flysite.com.br/historia/aviacaodoexercito.shtm
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Photo: Ricardo Beccari / Aeromagazine
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Força Aérea Brasileira
FAB Order of Battle