The Chaca and her FIATs
La Chaca The Chaca above is an emblem used originally by the 2 nd Fighter Regiment of the Fuerza Aèrea Argentina, the Argentine Air Force. It represents an enraged Latin maid, or a housekeeper, armed with a broom, who’s about to bring her force to bear on someone who’s intruding into her space. (Whoever has experienced that, knows how terrifying that can be). Although she looks very fierce and deadly, the Argentines thought that even the Chaca, in a modern confrontation, could have used some force multipliers in the form of a group of fighter aircraft. Attilio Baldini and Sergio Bontti recounts the story of how the Chaca came to adorn the noses of the FIAT G.55 fighters of the Fuerza Aérea Argentina, in this article, originally translated from Spanish into Italian by Silvano Martí, that I took and translated to English from the n. 137 issue of Ali Antiche magazine. I hope you will find it interesting. Your comments, as usual, will be very appreciated. Thanks, L. Pavese