Skip to main content

馃嚥馃嚱WWII uncovered: 201st Fighter Squadron of the Mexican Expeditionary Air Force.

 馃嚥馃嚱WWII uncovered: 201st Fighter Squadron of the Mexican Expeditionary Air Force.



"Members of the 201st Fighter Squadron of the Mexican Expeditionary Air Force, which was attached to the Fifth Air Force during World War II, at Clark Field in the Philippines" - National Museum of the United States Air Force


According to the National Museum of the US Air Force: "Mexico's Escuadr贸n 201, The Aztec Eagles, equipped with Republic P-47D Thunderbolt fighter aircraft distinguished themselves in providing close air support to American ground units as well as long-range bombing strikes deep into Japanese held territory."


"By July 1944 enough Mexican Air Force pilots and ground support personnel had been trained to form the first squadron for overseas deployment, the 201st Fighter Squadron (Escuadr贸n A茅reo de Pelea 201) consisting of 36 pilots and over 264 support personnel. This unit, along with a Mexican Expeditionary Air Force (Fuerza A茅rea Expedicionaria Mexicana) headquarters, moved to the Philippine Islands in February of 1945."


"Arriving in March of 1945 the Escuadr贸n 201 was attached to the U.S. 5th Air Force and the 58th Fighter Group which was based at Porac, Luzon. The 58th Fighter Group merged the Escuadr贸n 201 into combat operations and provided invaluable support to the new unit during its first combat missions. In early July 1945 the 58th Fighter Group deployed to Okinawa and the now fully operational Escuadr贸n 201 assumed full responsibility for air operations in its area. It provided not only close in ground support to the advancing U.S. 25th "Tropic Lightning" Division and Philippine Army units on Luzon but also strenuous and dangerous seven hour long-range fighter strikes on strategic Japanese targets on the island of Taiwan."


During its operational history the Escuadr贸n 201 had flown 795 combat sorties, had accumulated nearly 2,000 hours of combat flying, and had sadly lost seven pilots. At the end of the war the Escuadr贸n 201 was awarded the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation, individual decorations and awards from the United States, and, the most treasured award, the Mexican Far East Service Medal (Servicio en el Lejano Oriente). The Escuadr贸n 201 remains the only military unit in the history of Mexico to engage in combat outside of its national borders. Lest We Forget.


#ww2uncovered #honorourveterans #WWIIveteran #WorldWarII #worldwar2 #pilot #MexicanAirForce #WWII #ww2 #pilots #pacifictheater #wwiiaircraft #greatestgeneration #lestweforget 


WWII uncovered ©️ description and photo sourced by the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

drop your comment in the comment section 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A great story about a little bit of 'humanity' during a terrible war.

A great story about a little bit of 'humanity' during a terrible war.                                                                                      In April 1945, 2nd Lt. Peter During was a South African fighter pilot (N.7 Squadron) running missions over Italy when his Spitfire was shot down by German AA fire. He managed to crash land his plane behind enemy lines where he was immediately captured.   Whilst been escorted to a German Lufwaffe Prisoner of War (POW) camp (he was a pilot and thus his interrogation and imprisonment was the responsibility of the German airforce), he opened a conversation with his captors. He was quickly able to establish that they could already see the writing on the wall, that the war was at an end and Germany would lose it. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

French woman accused of sleeping with Germans during the occupation has her head shaved by vindictive neighbors in village near Marseilles.

French woman accused of sleeping with Germans during the occupation has her head shaved by vindictive neighbors in village near Marseilles.  Antony Beevor wrote: "... In Paris, there were cases of prostitutes kicked to death for having accepted German soldiers as clients. (...) A large number of the victims were prostitutes who had simply plied their trade with Germans as well as Frenchmen, although in some areas it was accepted that their conduct was professional rather than political, others were silly teenagers who had associated with German soldiers out of bravado or boredom.  In a number of cases, female schoolteachers who, living alone, had German soldiers billeted on them, were falsely denounced for having been a "mattress for the boches. (...) Women accused of having had an abortion were also assumed to have consorted with Germans.  Many victims were young mothers, whose husbands were in German prisoner-of-war camps. During the war, they often had no means of supp...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Nazis assassinate Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in a failed coup attempt.

The Nazis assassinate Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in a failed coup attempt.  Engelbert Dollfu脽 (4 October 1892 – 25 July 1934) was an Austrian Fatherland Front politician who served as Chancellor of Austria between 1932 and 1934.  Having served as Minister for Forests and Agriculture, he ascended to Federal Chancellor in 1932 in the midst of a crisis for the conservative government.  In early 1933, the so called "Selbstausschaltung des Parlaments" happened, which made the Austrian parliament unable to govern.  Suppressing the Socialist movement in February 1934 during the Austrian Civil War and later banning the Austrian Nazi Party, he cemented the rule of authoritarian conservatism through the First of May Constitution.  Dollfuss was assassinated on 25 July 1934 by a group of Austrian Nazis, who entered the Chancellery building and shot him in an attempted coup d'茅tat.  During mass trials which took place after the coup, Hudl was sentenced to li...
Post a Comment
Read more