Flashes in the Dark Volume 1: USAF Covert Operations and Nuclear Intelligence in Argentina, 1946-1957 (Latin America@War)

Marón, Gustavo

ISBN 10: 1804519359 / ISBN 13: 9781804519356

Published by Helion & Company, 2026

About this Item

2026. paperback. . . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Seller Inventory # V9781804519356

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Flashes in the Dark Volume 1: USAF Covert Operations and Nuclear Intelligence in Argentina, 1946-1957 (Latin America@War)
• Publisher: Helion & Company
• Publication Date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1804519359
• ISBN 13: 9781804519356
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

“…provide significant background on the US Cold War nuclear strategy that led to the USAF presence in Argentina." – IPMS/USA

Flashes in the Dark explores one of the least known aspects of Cold War military history: the secret aerial missions carried out in Argentina by the United States Air Force. Drawing on over twenty years of research across archives, photographs, and eyewitness accounts, the book reveals how, under the guise of meteorological and scientific work, the USAF conducted operations on Argentine soil and in its airspace—often without the knowledge of local authorities.

The study traces these activities to the birth of the USAF in 1947 and the creation of its Air Force Office of Atomic Energy (AFOAT-1), responsible for detecting foreign nuclear tests through the Atomic Energy Detection System (AEDS). This organisation—later the Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC)—achieved its first major success in identifying the Soviet Union’s secret atomic test of 1949.

Using aircraft such as the Douglas C-47, C-54, and WB-29, US operations expanded globally, including from Argentina, where missions sought uranium deposits and monitored local nuclear experiments. Conducted under the highest security classifications, these flights left virtually no official trace, even within the Argentine Air Force.

By assembling scattered evidence and newly unearthed documents, Flashes in the Dark lifts the veil on decades of concealed US military activity in Latin America and offers a foundation for future research into the region’s Cold War intelligence landscape.

About the Author

Gustavo Marón was born in Mendoza, Argentina, in 1971 into a family of Lebanese immigrants. In 1998, he graduated as a lawyer from the Law School of the National University of Cuyo, Argentina. Since then, he has worked as an advisor to various aeronautical associations, companies and organisations. In parallel, he teaches Aeronautical Law at various Argentine universities and other educational establishments in the country. To date, he has published more than two hundred aircraft investigations on different aspects of Argentine Civil Aviation. This is his first work published by Helion.