Coup Atlas Research Database
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16006161955AttemptedMilitary coup

Argentina, 1955 — military coup attempt

Argentina (ARG)South America, AmericasJune 16, 1955

Event Summary

On 16 June 1955 about 30 aircraft of the Argentine Navy and Air Force bombed and strafed the Plaza de Mayo in central Buenos Aires as the first step of a failed coup against President Juan Domingo Peron, striking the adjacent Casa Rosada while a large crowd demonstrated in support of the president. Amid a bitter conflict between Peron and the Catholic Church, rebel officers aimed to kill Peron and ignite a wider uprising, but the army did not join and the ground assault lost momentum through the afternoon. Loyalist forces prevailed, one loyal fighter scored the Argentine Air Force's first air to air kill, and the surviving rebel pilots fled to Uruguay to seek asylum.

Between roughly 150 and over 300 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the largest aerial bombing ever on the Argentine mainland. Peron survived, but the assault presaged the successful Revolucion Libertadora that deposed him in September 1955.

Researched Details

Researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: President Juan Domingo Peron survived the bombing unharmed but was deposed three months later in September 1955
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Juan Domingo Peron (president of Argentina, target)
Argentine Navy and Air Force rebel officers (attackers)
Loyalist army units (defended the government)

Sources

On 16 June 1955, 30 aircraft from the Argentine Navy and Air Force bombed and strafed Plaza de Mayo, targeting the adjacent Casa Rosada while a large crowd demonstrated in support of President Juan Peron, in what remains the largest aerial bombing ever on the Argentine mainland.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Bombing of Plaza de Mayo open source ↗
The action was to be the first step in an eventually aborted coup d'etat, and the number of identified bodies was put at 308 including six children, plus an indeterminate number of unidentified victims.
SOURCE REVIEWED Alchetron, Bombing of Plaza de Mayo open source ↗
A squad of loyal Gloster Meteors took off and one shot down a rebel Navy trainer over the Rio de la Plata, scoring the first air to air kill of the Argentine Air Force, and faced with the coup's failure the rebel pilots received orders to head to Uruguay to seek asylum.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Bombing of Plaza de Mayo open source ↗
In September 1955 the bulk of the armed forces joined the coup known as the Revolucion Libertadora, which overthrew Peron and began a period of military dictatorship.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Revolucion Libertadora open source ↗

Editorial Note

Exact date match, extensively documented. Follows the 1951 Menendez chirinada enriched in batch 58 and directly precedes the successful September 1955 Revolucion Libertadora in the dataset.

Cross-Reference

Datasets agree. At least two of the three reference datasets we check against carry this event, and none of them disagrees about its date or its result.

Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:

Cline Center id
16006161955
Albrecht/Koehler/Schutz (CAM) id
CAM-160-1955-06-16

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Juan Domingo Peron survived the bombing unharmed but was deposed three months later in September 1955.

Baseline coding: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.

Baseline Dataset Citation
Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
Open dataset DOI ↗
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

CSP

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

Luttwak

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Plaza_de_Mayo

New York Times

“Peron Asks Truce of Political Foes, But is Rebuffed: President Absolves His Rivals of Role in Plot as He Addresses Argentines He Pleads for Harmony: Radical Party Asks Chance to Reply – Refuses Peace in Absence of Liberty,”by Edward A. Morrow, July 6, 1955

This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →

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Related Records

Argentina — Military coup, 19561956-06-09AttemptedSouth AmericaArgentina — Military coup, 19511951-09-28AttemptedSouth AmericaArgentina — Military coup, 19601960-06-13AttemptedSouth America