Lockheed L-188 Electra variant
Lockheed L-188 Electra L-188E Electron
Local Argentine designation for the civil Electras converted by the Argentine Navy for maritime patrol from 1983. One of them is preserved at the Naval Aviation Museum in Bahía Blanca.
- 4
- Units built
History
The Argentine Navy's Electras
In 1973 the Argentine Navy bought three Electras fitted with cargo doors. Those aircraft were used during the last dictatorship in the so-called death flights, throwing political prisoners into the Río de la Plata. The same Electras later flew transport duties during the 1982 Falklands War.
In 1983, after retiring its last SP-2H Neptune, the Navy acquired further civil Electra airframes and modified several for maritime patrol. It used them intensively until they were replaced by P-3s in 1994. One of these aircraft, known locally as the L-188E Electron, is preserved at the Naval Aviation Museum (Museo de la Aviación Naval) in Bahía Blanca.
Census criterion
It is recorded as a variant because it is a documented designation applied to a specific airframe configuration, with the caveat that it is NOT a Lockheed designation but an operator's local usage.