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Alfredo Jurado
Ecuador
The Alto Cenepa conflict between January and February 1995, saw a new confrontation between the armed forces of Ecuador and Peru in the El Condor mountains and Cenepa river basin. Quick and intense combats set pace on those days, where ground troops were supported by planes and helicopters of both sides.
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In the previous days of the conflict,
some units from the ecuadorean army and the air force have received orders
to move to the southern border, to stop several peruvian infiltrations
in the Cenepa River basin. Same order was received by A-37B Sqn. "Dragons",
detached to Eloy Alfaro AB, Manta and operating Cessna A-37Bs. The order
received from the Air Command was to transfer the unit temporarily to the
new Macas AB, in the ecuadorean jungle, where they inmediately started
reconaissance and CAP missions along the disputed area.
In the area, combats have intensified
after February 7th, with repeated mortar fire from the peruvian army and
several attacks with Mi-8 / Mi-25 helicopters from the peruvian air force.
That day at 14:45 hours, peruvian army Maj. Gustavo Escudero on an armed
Mi-8T helicopter was shot down by ecuadorean land forces, after his attempt
to straff Coangos and Base Sur detachments. Next day, peruvian helicopters
came once more to bomb those positions, but again they were repelled by
ground fire.
On February 12th, new attacks were
developed; this time the targets were Tiwintza and Cueva de los Tayos detachments.
The response was in the form of a flight of four A-37B that took of from
Macas AB to provide close air support to ecuadorean troops. One of this
"Dragons", serialled FAE-382 was piloted by Lt. Rodrigo Rojas and UnLt.
Manolo Camacho, both from Manta AB.
During this mission and while flying at 1000 feet over the Cenepa river, the FAE-382 was hit by an SA-7 Grail ground-air misil from a peruvian trooper, destroying most of the right wing flaps.
"We saw the moment when the misil
came up to hit us. We tried to maneuver, but there was so much enemy fire
that we simply had no room to do anything. Under those conditions, your
only thoughts are to react very quickly. In the beginning we were certainly
scared, but after a few seconds we calmed down and realized what had happened".
The plane was loosing fuel and hydraulic pressure, the instrument panel was lit-up like a christmas tree and all kind of alarm sounds was filling the cockpit. The plane was experiencing strong vibrations as they had no flaps and other vital navigation systems were not working. Despite the conditions of the plane and the tension of both pilots, they took the decision to return to Macas AB. It was a very difficult task, but at least they wanted to try.
"The difference in weight between
both wings was alarming. We tried to reduce speed, but the left wing dropped
dangerously and we couldn´t recover it. We decided then to increase
engine power and dump some fuel from the left wing tank to compensate the
weight and level the plane. This way, we got more control."
Scaring minutes passed-by, where
the plane was threatening all the time to fall down, until they finally
saw the Macas runway. The DME was indicating the miles left to reach the
asphalt. The count down was eternal, despite the Cessna was over normal
landing speed. Finally, with 5 miles left, they aligned the plane with
the runway and landed where the concrete started, giving them some two
and a half miles to brake. They had 15 knots over landing speed,
and ended up in the muddy extension of the runway.
Fortunately, everything was o.k.
and both pilots came out without a scratch. The plane was trucked back
to Manta AB, where sustained a major repair on the wing and landing gear,
and now is back to flyable conditions, this time christened "Tiwintza"
in memoriam of those brave ecuadorean combatants of the Alto Cenepa.
References
Vistazo
Magazine, Special Edition February 23 1995 (Cecilio Moreno)
The
Ecuadorean-Peruvian Conflict Report (Ecuadorean Foreign Affairs Ministry)
The
Alto Cenepa Conflict, Part 2 (Peruvian Air Force)
