MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Fifty years since the air link between Falkland Islands and Comodoro Rivadavia
Half a century ago, on 12 January 1972, a seaplane from the Argentine Air Force landed in Stanley harbor establishing the first regular flight between Comodoro Rivadavia and the Falkland Islands. From then onwards, ”sanitary, passenger and general cargo (mail, fresh food, and medicines) became regular flights”. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesAn excellent article which can be expanded upon by opening this link:
Jan 13th, 2022 - 10:48 am - Link - Report abuse +2https://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/port-stanley-airport-before-during-and-after-1982/
If only the Argies had continued their co-operative stance instead of becoming hopelessly belligerent then things might have turned out differently.
Preceded by a statement from the Governor on the 10th.
Jan 13th, 2022 - 11:40 am - Link - Report abuse +1“May I turn now to external affairs, and in particular to our relations with the Argentine, much has been said and written and I do not intend to repeat it all. However, I would like to say that the agreements do reflect a degree of political maturity that is rare in these days and that we should not under-estimate what has been achieved. I would like to pay tribute to the work done by our negotiating team including the members from the Islands for the way in which they handled the talks. On the agreements reached in B.A. in June of course the acid test is going to be how these agreements work out in practice, We can only proceed step by step and see how things go: always prepared to talk but not to compromise on our basic position. And now we have to live by and adjust to the changing pattern of our communications network. So far the agreements have worked well and we can expect the
first regular amphibian flight in a couple of days thus introducing the fortnightly service and there are many other areas in which the provisions of the agreement have been implemented — not quite as spectacular perhaps as the air link but in important fields such as medical, postal, telecommunications and education, We expect that a third round of talks will take place in Stanley in March…”
https://falklandstimeline.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/1972-to-1982.pdf
Perhaps our historian friend can also reveal how the Falkland Islands provided the means for the Argentine province of Santa Cruz to achieve a level of economic development at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. The sheep and sheep station/estancia infrastructure including wire, medications, and building materials mostly came from the Falklands as did many of the managers and other personnel skilled in the sheep raising business. Even the frigorificos, the meat-packing plants, of the region still reveal the British sources of the machinery and building materials. How amusing that so much of the development of southern Argentine Patagonia was due to the British, the Falklanders, and other Commonwealth contributors. Of course the 1940s and peronismo brought a considerable decline in that industry.
Jan 13th, 2022 - 03:06 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The British government of the time must have been very naive. Just to allow three state-owned Argentine companies to operate in the F.A. One of them (LADE) in addition part of the Argentine military.
Jan 13th, 2022 - 11:22 pm - Link - Report abuse +1the british government were extremely naive and their intelligence worse than poor since it thought it could persuade kelpers to switch sovereignty at a time when a military government ruled argentina with an iron fist. who in their right minds would want such a switch from democratic rule under the mother of all parliaments? certainly not the kelpers!
Jan 21st, 2022 - 09:04 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Commenting for this story is now closed.
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