World War II: Mexican Air Force Helped Liberate the Philippines

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Underway once again, Fairisle joined a convoy. ‘The journey was made bearable by the happy spirit of the Squadron,’ wrote one man. ‘In these hot nights, the sound of the guitars was heard: `La Cancion Mixteca’ and other Mexican melodies were played while young soldiers played cards using their life jackets as cushions.’ As the ships steamed west, General Douglas MacArthur cabled President Avila Camacho: ‘The 201st Squadron … is about to join this command. I wish to express to you, Mr. President, the inspiration and pleasure this action arouses…it is personally most gratifying because of my long and intimate friendship with your great people.’

The convoy entered Manila Bay on May 1 and was received by the theater air commander, General George Kenney–representing General MacArthur–Honorary Consul Alfredo Carmelo and other officials. Shortly afterward, they left by train for their assigned airfield at Porac, near Clark Field.

Porac was hardly a paradise. The Mexicans’ new base of operations consisted of a dirt runway hacked out of the jungle, surrounded by low green hills. By night, small-arms fire could generally be heard, and by day there was the intermittent sound of artillery pounding the retreating enemy. A nearby prisoner of war camp had just been liberated, and the Mexican airmen were sobered by the ghastly sight of American and Filipino soldiers and civilians in a state of acute starvation. Filipino guerrillas were mopping up, and occasionally a Japanese soldier emerged from the jungle. There was a control tower in the center of the field, an encampment at one end where the Fifth Air Force’s 58th Fighter Group had established itself, and not much else.

The 58th Group, to which Kenney had assigned the squadron, was a seasoned veteran of the New Guinea campaign, consisting of three squadrons. The 201st was attached as a fourth, though it would operate under Mexican command and administration and occupy its own area.

On May 17, 1945, the 201st began flying combat orientation missions, with its pilots assigned to various other squadrons. Shortly thereafter, however, the so-called Aztec Eagles started flying missions as a unit. Their initial targets were buildings, vehicles, artillery and enemy concentrations in the Marikina watershed east of Manila, where the U.S. 25th Infantry Division was encountering fierce resistance.

The squadron comprised four flights of eight pilots each. Commanding flight operations was Captain Radames Gaziola Andrad, a senior pilot with 4,000 flight hours. Pilots were briefed each evening for the first mission of the next day. In the morning, they took off at about 0800. Missions were short, though they lengthened as the Japanese were pushed back. After the first mission of the day, mechanics and armorers would refuel and rearm the aircraft. The second mission would take off about 1300. In the hot afternoon the pilots would relax while mechanics repaired the aircraft, armorers removed and cleaned machine guns and specialists checked radios and instruments.

The squadron soon began flying missions led by its own officers. On June 1, a sortie was launched in which 2nd Lt. Fausto Vega Santander, the squadron’s youngest pilot, was killed. That loss came when a four-plane flight led by Lieutenant Carlos Garduno made a target run on an island off Luzon’s west coast. Vega died when his P-47, for reasons that have never been explained, suddenly rolled and crashed into the sea.

Only a few days later another pilot, Lieutenant Jose Espinosa Fuentes, died when the P-47 he was flight-testing after repairs crashed at nearby Floridablanca after takeoff. The reported cause was engine failure, but one analysis found the rudder trim-tab linkage reversed. Witnesses said the engine had been running up to the moment of impact.

Throughout June, the campaign to liberate Luzon continued as the U.S. Sixth Army fought north toward Cagayan Valley in the central highlands, where Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita’s Fourteenth Army was holding out. The troops advanced through rugged mountain passes above scenic valleys, sculpted with ancient rice terraces and dotted with the thatch-roofed houses of the Ifugao people. The fighting was a brutal combination of jungle and mountain warfare. Close air support proved crucial, and as the fighting moved deeper into the mountains, the 201st’s missions changed from hitting visible targets to striking hard-to-see troops and fortified positions in close proximity to friendly forces.

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Tags: 20th - 21st Century, Aerial Combat, Air Sea, Aviation History, Historical Conflicts, World War II

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