Brazilian Army Aviation (1919–1941)
In addition to the school at Campo dos Afonsos, a flight group was established in Rio Grande do Sul in 1922, but deactivated in 1928.
From 1933 onwards, aviation spread outside Rio de Janeiro, with regiments founded throughout the country, and in 1941 it already had 330 aircraft, although not all of them were modern or in good condition.
The aviators developed their own ethos, differentiating themselves from their companions on land and contributing to the formation of the Brazilian Air Force in 1941.
The Brazilian Army was the pioneer in the military use of aerial assets in South America during the Paraguayan War.
[3] In 1907, first lieutenant Juventino Fernandes da Fonseca was sent to Paris to buy two aerospace parks, each consisting of two cutting-edge balloons.
After two rises in France and one in Belgium, Fonseca returned to Brazil, built a hangar and set up the park's equipment next to the Artillery and Engineering School in Realengo.
Fonseca activated the gas exhaust valve, but it stuck in the open position, causing a sudden leak of hydrogen, the ballon's fall and the pilot's death.
[4] In the absence of an aeronautical structure in the country, the navy and army sent lieutenants Jorge Henrique Moller and Ricardo Kirk to learn piloting in France in 1911 and 1912 respectively.
[5][6] In 1914, a partnership between the army, navy and the firm Gino, Buccelli & Cia created the Brazilian Aviation School, in Campo dos Afonsos, but it operated for only four months and did not get to form any pilots.
[7] Acquiring aeronautical material, hiring the scarce instructors and specialist mechanics, and forming an aviation school was difficult.
[8] There was no aeronautical industry in South America, just isolated cases such as the Aribu and Alagoas planes of army captain Marcos Evangelista da Costa Villela Junior.
War Minister Vespasiano de Albuquerque denied his request for support, and construction proceeded slowly.
Using the fuselage of a Bleriot plane, Vilella designed the wings and propellers and equipped the device with an imported 80 horsepower Luckt engine.
Later, major Vilela was the highest-ranking officer to be part of the new aviation branch and the first brigadier of the Brazilian Air Force.
In September 1914, general Setembrino de Carvalho, who was appointed commander on that front, included reconnaissance planes in his operational plans.
After some training and reconnaissance flights, Kirk died in an accident while flying in the current municipality of General Carneiro, Paraná, on 1 March 1915.
[19] This institution, also located in Campo dos Afonsos, is remembered as the precursor of two current schools, the Army Aviation Instruction Center[20] and the Air Force Academy.
[24] Army, naval and commercial aviation were managed independently,[25] under the ministries of War, Navy and Transport and Public Works respectively.
The expansion did get to occur in Rio Grande do Sul, close to Argentina, which was ahead of Brazil in aviation and was the subject of plans for a defensive war.
Commentators in the magazine A Defesa Nacional (National Defense) condemned the occupation of management bodies by officers without aerial experience and demanded reorganization and increased budgets.
It helped integrate the country, reaching many locations with poor communications and no road or rail access, in a decade when there was only one private airline in Brazil.
[45][46] In the 1935 Communist uprising, a revolt broke out in Campo dos Afonsos, but was suppressed by troops from Vila Militar.
At Campo dos Afonsos, they lost contact with the rest of the army and developed their own ethos, with values such as individualism, adventure and heightened courage.
[49] Since the 1930s, a movement led by civilians and military personnel defended the unification of army, naval and civil aviation into a single "Ministry of Air".
[34] With the beginning of the Second World War, patrol aviation on the coast, departing from bases in the northeastern salient, would gain prominence.
[54] In 1986, the army, which intended to establish an airmobile force, was authorized to operate helicopters and recreate its organic aviation.
