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Revised: January 25, 2010
Copyright © 1997-2010 by Jean Charles Barroux - jbarroux@LAMilitary.org
During 1971 the Policía Federal Argentina begins the study of which aircraft to acquire taking the decision to purchase the MBB Bö-105. At that time the aircraft was quite new and met all of the requirements, specifically in the areas compactness, maneuverability, power and of using two engines, a major requirement when you flight in the densely populated downtown. The report presented on March 19, 1971 by Aux Sup 1ra Sanguinetti recommended strongly this model so on September 26, 1971 the Licitación Nº 130 was awarded to a company named Rappart, the local representant of MBB, for four helicopters. So, the Cuerpo Federal de Aviación (CFA) became the first operator in Latin America and one of the firsts worldwide of this helicopter.
In August 31, 1972 the first of four brand new aircraft was received in the form of a MBB Bö-105A serialed LQ-LAP (C/N S-18) which would enter operational service in October 25 of that year. The remaining three MBB Bö-105As would be received during 1972 and would receive the serials LQ-LAR (C/N S-19), LQ-LAS (C/N S-24) and LQ-LAT (C/N S-30). These would initially operate from the Aeroparque de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires and from Ezeiza while waiting for the work being performed for the accommodation of their brand new base at Isla Demarchi to be finished, which was finished in July 1973.
In November 1978 another brand new helicopter was received, but this time it would of the more powerful MBB Bö-105CBS model. This aircraft would be serialed LQ-MMS (C/N S-369) and followed in 1981 and 1982 by two more examples, serialed LQ-AOF (C/N S-545) and LQ-ARV (C/N S-563) respectively.
Their operational life was the one expected for the typical police helicopter in a large city with some interesting incidents. For example, on December 23, 1973 an insurgent unit composed of cells from different organizations amalgamated under the name Batallón Urbano José de San Martín mounted a frontal attack against the Army unit Batallón de Arsenales 601 Domingo Viejobueno based at Monte Chingolo in the province of Buenos Aires. The newly arrived MBB Bö-105 helicopters were literally the first to arrive on scene and operated nearly for the full day of fighting with elements of all of the military and security forces in range. During the first semester of 1974, due to the increasing insurgent activity in the province of Tucumán, a few MBB Bö-105 were dispatched to the zone of San Gabriel de Acheral under the command of Crio Grl Alberto Villar with the objective of providing support to the Policía Federal Argentina units engaged on the terrain with logistical support from the Army. Another major insurgent operation happened on January 23, 1989 when members of the Movimiento Todos por la Patria (MTP) took the military base of La Tablada, in the province of Buenos Aires, where were located the Regimiento de Infantería 3 General Manuel Belgrano and the Escuadrón de Caballería Blindado I. Again the MBB Bö-105 helicopters (LQ-LAR, LQ-LAT and LQ-MMS) were used in numbers performing a large number of the medevac missions, mostly under enemy fire. Also, during the December 1990 military insurrection one of these helicopters was transporting then Vice President E. Duhalde when it was hit by small arms fire fortunately without injuries and major damage to the aircraft. Also, on December 29, 1991, when LQ-LAR was participating in an operation in the neighborhood of Lugano, in Buenos Aires, it crashed being written off as a result. The helicopter was doing some low flying while pursuing some suspects that were hidden in some tall grasses and in the process of using the air flow to uncover the suspects, those fired in return to the aircraft moving the pilot to go backwards in a hurry which resulted in the tail boom touching some trees. The crew did not suffer serious injuries but the aircraft was written off.
Another MBB Bö-105CBS would be bought in the nineties as a replacement in the form of LQ-WFO (C/N S-839 put in service on April 24, 1994) completing thus the fleet. The operational life of these aircraft is considered quite successful with more than 25,500 flying hours up to date with no accident due to mechanical failures, which speaks long of the quality of the maintenance crews of the Policía Federal Argentina. They perform a complete overhaul every 2,400 hours in their own facilities at Isla Demarchi, for example. The complete fleet is currently being standardized with the Allison 250-C20B engine in order to simplify the logistics and to improve the MBB Bö-105A performance. Depending of the mission a number of add-ons are installed like the forward GyroCam Skyball LLLTV gyrostabilized video camera with real time datalink, a powerful (1,700 W) joystick controlled Spectrolab searchlight, speakers, sirens and external fuel tanks for ferry flights.
The training undertaken by the crews of these helicopters is quite hard and it is not unusual to see the operators of the GyroCam Skyball and Spectrolab searchlight targeting the fountain or the statues in the Parque Chacabuco at night. Also, a few years ago you could see members of the elite squadrons of the force rappel from MBB Bö-105 on top of a building in construction at night in the corner of Centenera and Salas.
These aircraft had an interesting operating life with more than the typical city traffic and sports events monitoring. For example LQ-LAT has been based in Tucumán, being operated by the Grupo I de Helicópteros since 1997 and is equipped with skis for mountain operation and with a Spectrolab light. LQ-LAP is used at the Escuela Federal de Aviación Policial as the training helicopter once the students have spent long hours getting acquainted with the Cicaré SVH-3. Of more notoriety is the operational life of LQ-WFO which is assigned to the Servicio de Custodia Presidencial in charge of the protection of the President. It has been specifically modified for the task with cable cutters, VIP accommodations, air conditioning and a Garmin GPS. Lastly, LQ-ARV used to be configured specifically for medevac operations until it was replaced in that function by the single Eurocopter Bk-117 C-1, serialled LQ-WJW (C/N S-7512), which is much better equipped for this kind of operations. Unfortunately, this last aircraft has been out of service for more than a year because it is in need of a refurbish that has not been budgeted. Part of the medical equipment has been again transferred to the Bö-105 serialled LQ-AOF, (C/N S-545), which is currently performing the medevac function for this force.
Initially these aircraft were painted in a white and blue livery, and as time went the used a number of different schemas, from the overall blue with sky blue cheat lines to the light gray, sky blue and blue and then another schema also with light gray, sky blue and blue, but metalized. Lately, they are being painted back to the old dark blue with light blue only for the letters.
The Cuerpo Federal de Aviación is quite happy with these aircraft but due to their age it is looking for a replacement which could probably be the Eurocopter EC-135.
Designation: MBB Bö-105A Manufacturer: MBB, E.U. (Germany) Crew: 2 Passengers: 4 Construction: Light alloy structure with rigid titanium hub and all-composites blades Engine: 2 x Allison 250-C18 originally, but with Allison 250-C20B now Engine Type: Turboshaft Engine Thrust: 313 kW (420 shp) Rotors: 4 bladed main rotor and 2 bladed tail rotor Main Rotor Diameter: 9.82 m Main Rotor Disk Area: --- m2 Fuselage Length: 8.55 m Overall Length: --- m Height: 2.98 m Empty Weight: 1,068 kg Max. Weight MTOW: 2,300 kg Max. Weight with Sling: --- kg Max. Speed: --- km/h Max. Speed at Sea Level: --- km/h Max. Cruising Speed: 222 km/h Normal Cruising Speed: --- km/h Initial Rate of Climb: --- ft./min Ceiling: --- ft. Howering Ceiling: --- ft. Fuel Capacity: --- lts Range on Internal Fuel: --- km Range with Max. Fuel: 585 km Range with Max. Payload: --- km Combat Radius: --- km () Endurance: 4:15 Hrs Useful Load: 1,232 kg Radar: --- EW: --- Avionics: --- Weapons: --- Format: 1.0 Notes: S/N C/N Unit Built Bought Disposition Notes LQ-LAP S-18 EFAP --/---/---- 31/Aug/1972 wfu --/---/2002 Ex-D-HDAA, PF-01 callsign & H-1 identification, assigned to the Escuela Federal de Aviación Policial, l/n 21/Apr/1999 LQ-LAR S-19 CFA --/---/---- 13/Sep/1972 w/o 29/Dec/1991 Ex-D-HDAB, PF-02 callsign & H-2 identification LQ-LAS S-24 CFA --/---/---- 31/Oct/1972 wfu --/Dec/1997 Ex-D-HDAG, PF-03 callsign & H-3 identification LQ-LAT S-30 GIH --/---/---- 14/Dec/1972 wfu --/---/2002 Ex-D-HDAL, PF-05 callsign & H-4 identification, Tucumán based
Designation: MBB Bö-105CBS Manufacturer: MBB, E.U. (Germany) Crew: 2 Passengers: 4 Construction: Light alloy structure with rigid titanium hub and all-composites blades Engine: 2 x Allison 250-C20B Engine Type: Turboshaft Engine Thrust: 313 kW (420 shp) Rotors: 4 bladed main rotor and 2 bladed tail rotor Main Rotor Diameter: 9.84 m Main Rotor Disk Area: 76.05 m2 Fuselage Length: 8.81 m Overall Length: 11.86 m Height: 3.00 m Empty Weight: 1,301 kg Max. Weight MTOW: 2,500 kg Max. Weight with Sling: --- kg Max. Speed: 240 km/h Max. Speed at Sea Level: 240 km/h Max. Cruising Speed: 240 km/h Normal Cruising Speed: 204 km/h Initial Rate of Climb: 1,457 ft./min Ceiling: 17,000 ft. Howering Ceiling: 5,000 ft. with ground effect and 1,500 ft. without ground effect Fuel Capacity: 570 lts without auxiliary tank Range on Internal Fuel: 555 km Range with Max. Fuel: 555 km without auxiliary tank and 961 km with auxiliary tank Range with Max. Payload: 555 km Combat Radius: --- km () Endurance: 3:24 Hrs Useful Load: 1,199 kg Radar: --- EW: --- Avionics: At least LQ-WFO is equipped with a Garmin GPS Weapons: --- Format: 1.0 Notes: Specifications for the CBS-4 submodel. S/N C/N Unit Built Bought Disposition Notes LQ-MMS S-369 CFA --/---/---- 17/Nov/1978 wfu --/---/2002 Ex-D-HDLE, PF-07 callsign & H-5 identification, l/n 26/Nov/1988 LQ-AOF S-545 CFA --/---/---- 26/Oct/1981 -- Ex-D-HDNT, Ex-LV-AOF, PF-09 callsign & H-6 identification, l/n 7/Mar/2008 LQ-ARV S-563 CFA --/---/---- 5/Nov/1982 wfu --/---/2002 Ex-D-HDPL, Ex-LV-AVR, PF-10 callsign & H-7 identification, l/n 21/Apr/1999 LQ-WFO S-839 CFA --/---/---- 24/Apr/1994 -- Ex-D-HFCW, ex-N71581, PF-12 callsign & H-12 identification, assigned to the Servicio de Custodia Presidencial, l/n 31/Oct/2008
Copyright © 1997-2010 by Jean Charles Barroux - jbarroux@LAMilitary.org
