Title: Aztec Eagles
Description: Mexican pilots help liberate the Phils.
Description: Mexican pilots help liberate the Phils.
possible - September 21, 2005 05:15 PM (GMT)
Strike of the Aztec Eagles
Article from Aviation History Magazine
The only Mexican Air Force unit to serve overseas during World War II fought to liberate the Philippines.
By Sig Unander Jr.
Nearly a century after a bitter defeat by the United States, Mexico sent a military force to fight against the Axis powers alongside U.S. military forces in World War II. It was the first time that Mexico sent combat personnel abroad and the first time both nations battled a common threat. This unique unit was the Mexican air force, Fuerza Aerea Mexicana (FAM). Its pilots provided air support in the liberation of the Philippines and flew long-range sorties over Formosa, earning praise from Allied theater commander General Douglas MacArthur and decorations from the U.S., Mexican and Philippine governments.
At year's end, Mexico prepared for the unit's deployment. Speaking to the senate, the president asked for the authority to send troops abroad. It was granted, and an order was issued redesignating the unit as the Mexican Expeditionary Air Force (FAEM). Rather than send the FAEM to join the Brazilian squadron in Italy, the Mexican president suggested operations in the Philippines to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. There, he said, the unit could aid "the liberation of a people for whom it is felt a continuity of idiom, history and traditions."
http://www.historynet.com
el mascot "pancho pistolas"
more pics at http://www.rathbonemuseum.com, http://erickr0.tripod.com/ (note that the Fuerza Aerea Mexico emblem is very similar to the PAF's - coincidence?)
60 years later
Article from Aviation History Magazine
The only Mexican Air Force unit to serve overseas during World War II fought to liberate the Philippines.
By Sig Unander Jr.
Nearly a century after a bitter defeat by the United States, Mexico sent a military force to fight against the Axis powers alongside U.S. military forces in World War II. It was the first time that Mexico sent combat personnel abroad and the first time both nations battled a common threat. This unique unit was the Mexican air force, Fuerza Aerea Mexicana (FAM). Its pilots provided air support in the liberation of the Philippines and flew long-range sorties over Formosa, earning praise from Allied theater commander General Douglas MacArthur and decorations from the U.S., Mexican and Philippine governments.
At year's end, Mexico prepared for the unit's deployment. Speaking to the senate, the president asked for the authority to send troops abroad. It was granted, and an order was issued redesignating the unit as the Mexican Expeditionary Air Force (FAEM). Rather than send the FAEM to join the Brazilian squadron in Italy, the Mexican president suggested operations in the Philippines to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. There, he said, the unit could aid "the liberation of a people for whom it is felt a continuity of idiom, history and traditions."
http://www.historynet.com
el mascot "pancho pistolas"
more pics at http://www.rathbonemuseum.com, http://erickr0.tripod.com/ (note that the Fuerza Aerea Mexico emblem is very similar to the PAF's - coincidence?)
60 years later
| QUOTE |
| The Chief Executive also acknowledged the heroic deeds of the men of Squadron 201, also known as the Aztec Eagles of the Mexican Expeditionary Air Force (FAEM), who valiantly fought for the defense and liberation of the Philippines during World War II. She awarded the following members of the Squadron 201: Colonels Justino Reyes and Carlos Garduno Nunez, Captains Miguel Moreno, Jose Luis Pratt, and Jaime Zenizo; Sergeants Armero Fortino Gonzalez Gudeno, Gilberto de la Cruz Alvarez, and Sergio Carillo Diaz. http://www.gov.ph |
:salute:
arvcab - September 23, 2005 03:06 AM (GMT)
I wonder how many filipinos knows about this one... We should thank the mexicans for helping us... :bow:
MSantor - September 23, 2005 03:32 AM (GMT)
Viva a Mexico! Viva a el fuerza aerea de Mexico, porque ellos has nos liberaron!
Anyone here have pics of their Mexican P-47s?
:fire:
Anyone here have pics of their Mexican P-47s?
:fire:
jammerjamesky - September 23, 2005 06:44 AM (GMT)
Heres some of the 25 Mexican P-47 pics
flying at old manila
at clark airfield
201st Sqdrn. Plane in Flight. A rare wartime in-flight view of plane 44-33721/18 (subject of my diorama) of Mexico's 201 Escuadrón over the Philippines. This is one of the finest examples of the definitive wing/tail markings of the squadron.
flying at old manila
at clark airfield
201st Sqdrn. Plane in Flight. A rare wartime in-flight view of plane 44-33721/18 (subject of my diorama) of Mexico's 201 Escuadrón over the Philippines. This is one of the finest examples of the definitive wing/tail markings of the squadron.
Kookie - September 23, 2005 07:09 AM (GMT)
This is new info to me. Thanks for posting. :thumb:
flipzi - September 23, 2005 07:41 AM (GMT)
| QUOTE (jammerjamesky @ Sep 23 2005, 02:44 PM) |
| Heres some of the 25 Mexican P-47 pics flying at old manila at clark airfield 201st Sqdrn. Plane in Flight. A rare wartime in-flight view of plane 44-33721/18 (subject of my diorama) of Mexico's 201 Escuadrón over the Philippines. This is one of the finest examples of the definitive wing/tail markings of the squadron. |
Precious find indeed, jammer. :thumb: :thumb:
Now, more Filipinos will realize the contribution of the Mexican people during WW2 in helping us protect our own freedom.
I only knew of the Galleon trade between Manila and Acapulco before.
We never realized that we have a wonderful partnership with the Mexican people.
possible - September 23, 2005 05:49 PM (GMT)
very interesting finds there, jammerjamesky :ssalute:
scale model of a 201st Sqdrn. P-47D
201st Squadron Fuerza Aérea Expedicionaria Mexicana (F.A.E.M.) members with aviation artist Jack Fellows. From left to right: Jack Fellows, Carlos Garduño Nuñez, Jaime Cenizo Rojas, Angel Sánchez Rebollo, Justino Reyes Retana Fernández, Miguel Moreno Arreola, Reynaldo Pérez Gallardo, Joaquín Ramírez Vilchis, Julio Calimayor Sauz.
more pics at http://www.ipmsstockholm.org
some of these men were among those honored by Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during her 2004 state visit to Mexico (see first post).
scale model of a 201st Sqdrn. P-47D
201st Squadron Fuerza Aérea Expedicionaria Mexicana (F.A.E.M.) members with aviation artist Jack Fellows. From left to right: Jack Fellows, Carlos Garduño Nuñez, Jaime Cenizo Rojas, Angel Sánchez Rebollo, Justino Reyes Retana Fernández, Miguel Moreno Arreola, Reynaldo Pérez Gallardo, Joaquín Ramírez Vilchis, Julio Calimayor Sauz.
more pics at http://www.ipmsstockholm.org
some of these men were among those honored by Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during her 2004 state visit to Mexico (see first post).
| QUOTE |
| Reynaldo Perez Gallardo By Lucy Guevara The men of the squadron participated in numerous missions, slowly gaining the confidence of the American pilots. Mr. Gallardo remembers an incident. " The North Americans used to call us the "White Noses" because our mechanics had painted the nose of our airplanes white. · We became very popular. On one occasion, I was in the hospital getting treated for little things that happen to us over there when a wounded soldier that was next to me noticed that I wasn't North American. He was very injured, but got up and came to the bed where I was lying. He asked me, "Do you fly a white nose?" and I said "yes." He embraced me and said, "You can't imagine how much we love you, because you have helped us so much." Although the men were advised to proceed with caution, they knew that they would soon return home. Before returning to Mexico, the men of the Mexican Fighter Squadron 201 built a monument in honor of the seven members of their group killed. http://www.utexas.edu 02:49 PM CDT on Monday, May 9, 2005 Heroes back home The pilots were heroes back in Mexico. Thousands greeted them in Mexico City when they returned in November 1945. Now, with their numbers dwindling, some worry that the memories will fade, too. Crowds were thin when four of the pilots of the 201st marched down the streets of Mexico City last week. "There used to be big marches. ... They used to march down the streets carrying flags, and the ceremonies in their honor were brief but colorful," said Javier Ibarrola, a columnist for the Mexico City daily Milenio and an expert on Mexican military affairs. "That symbolism is gone," he said. "Few people remember them." http://www.dallasnews.com |
an all too-common fate of veterans everywhere, especially our own: shame, shame on the nation that forgets its true heroes. wonder if that monument in Clark AB is still around, though :dunno:
Duminus - January 10, 2008 01:37 AM (GMT)
Forgotten heroes get their due
A documentary to be screened this weekend recalls efforts of Mexican fighter pilots in WW II
THELMA GUERRERO-HUSTON
Statesman Journal
January 9, 2008
Briefly recorded in the annals of war are the actions of a little-known military unit that fought as an ally of the United States in World War II.
Thirty-eight Mexican pilots plus support personnel helped U.S. and Filipino forces liberate the Philippine islands from Japanese occupation. Their story will be told this week in two showings of a documentary film at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville.
"History, in general, has failed to recognize the contributions of this elite squadron, and someone needed to tell their story," said director Victor Mancilla, a Los Angeles filmmaker. "I made the documentary because I wanted to add this Latino chapter to history, so that future generations of Latinos will know about it and see heroes who look like them, heroes who have the same color of skin as they do."
In the 2006 documentary "The Forgotten Eagles," Mancilla brings to light the story of the Aztec Eagles pilots of Mexican Air Force Fighter Squadron 201. It remains the only Mexican military unit to have served in combat outside Mexico.
The English-language film has two Oregon connections, including retired Philippine army veteran Alejandro De La Rosa, who lives in Portland, and retired U.S. Air Force pilot Lt. Col. Howard Tuman of Gold Hill, who helped orient the Mexican squadron to the Pacific war zone.
"My contact with them was mostly in the air as we, at first, would escort them on missions," said Tuman, who served as squadron commander of the 310th Fighter Squadron in the 5th Fighter Command.
"Then they were on their own, and they did great," Tuman recalled. "They had been very well trained in Mexico, and had also received extensive training by the Air Force in the United States.
"I only wish I had gotten to know them better on the ground, but there just wasn't much time to do that."
The film is not encyclopedic but an impressionistic portrait of the front lines as told by a handful of squadron personnel, some of who have died since being interviewed.
The 65-minute documentary blends rare archival color and black-and-white footage of the unit in training with the U.S. Air Force's 58th Fighter Group, in the combat zone and in present-day interviews with personnel at their old air base in the Philippines.
The movie was filmed during a three-year period in Mexico, the Philippines and the United States, and is narrated by actor/director Edward James Olmos, best known for his roles as Martin Castillo in "Miami Vice" and Jaime Escalante in "Stand and Deliver."
Created in 1942 by special accord between President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Mexican President Manuel Avila Camacho, the fighter pilots and 270 specialists and support personnel were initially intended to serve in Europe.
But because of historical ties between Mexico and the Philippines, Camacho requested that the squadron be sent to help defend the Pacific island nation.
Already trained in Mexico, the pilots were given additional flight training at Pocatello Army Air Base in Idaho.
Gen. Douglas MacArthur personally greeted the squadron when it arrived in the Philippines on May 1, 1945.
While there, the unit was attached to the 5th Fighter Command at an airfield north of Manila.
Although in the Philippines for only six months, the group participated in 59 missions and helped the Allies bomb Luzon and Formosa, pushing the Japanese out of the islands.
Like their American counterparts, the Mexican aviators carried out their tactical air missions in P-47 Thunderbolt, single-seat fighters. Seven of the 38 Mexican pilots were killed in action.
The war came to an end with the surrender of Japan on Aug. 15, 1945. Mexico's survivors returned home and were decorated by the governments of all three countries for valor in the cause of freedom.
Before going back to Mexico, the men of Fighter Squadron 201 built a monument in Manila in honor of the seven members of their group who were killed.
Adam Schmidt, the marketing coordinator for the Evergreen Aviation Museum, said a decision was made to show the film at the McMinnville venue because they wanted to help tell the Mexican squadron's untold story.
"It shows the real history of how the Mexican Air Force helped Americans in World War II," Schmidt said.
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs..../801090389/1001
A documentary to be screened this weekend recalls efforts of Mexican fighter pilots in WW II
THELMA GUERRERO-HUSTON
Statesman Journal
January 9, 2008
Briefly recorded in the annals of war are the actions of a little-known military unit that fought as an ally of the United States in World War II.
Thirty-eight Mexican pilots plus support personnel helped U.S. and Filipino forces liberate the Philippine islands from Japanese occupation. Their story will be told this week in two showings of a documentary film at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville.
"History, in general, has failed to recognize the contributions of this elite squadron, and someone needed to tell their story," said director Victor Mancilla, a Los Angeles filmmaker. "I made the documentary because I wanted to add this Latino chapter to history, so that future generations of Latinos will know about it and see heroes who look like them, heroes who have the same color of skin as they do."
In the 2006 documentary "The Forgotten Eagles," Mancilla brings to light the story of the Aztec Eagles pilots of Mexican Air Force Fighter Squadron 201. It remains the only Mexican military unit to have served in combat outside Mexico.
The English-language film has two Oregon connections, including retired Philippine army veteran Alejandro De La Rosa, who lives in Portland, and retired U.S. Air Force pilot Lt. Col. Howard Tuman of Gold Hill, who helped orient the Mexican squadron to the Pacific war zone.
"My contact with them was mostly in the air as we, at first, would escort them on missions," said Tuman, who served as squadron commander of the 310th Fighter Squadron in the 5th Fighter Command.
"Then they were on their own, and they did great," Tuman recalled. "They had been very well trained in Mexico, and had also received extensive training by the Air Force in the United States.
"I only wish I had gotten to know them better on the ground, but there just wasn't much time to do that."
The film is not encyclopedic but an impressionistic portrait of the front lines as told by a handful of squadron personnel, some of who have died since being interviewed.
The 65-minute documentary blends rare archival color and black-and-white footage of the unit in training with the U.S. Air Force's 58th Fighter Group, in the combat zone and in present-day interviews with personnel at their old air base in the Philippines.
The movie was filmed during a three-year period in Mexico, the Philippines and the United States, and is narrated by actor/director Edward James Olmos, best known for his roles as Martin Castillo in "Miami Vice" and Jaime Escalante in "Stand and Deliver."
Created in 1942 by special accord between President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Mexican President Manuel Avila Camacho, the fighter pilots and 270 specialists and support personnel were initially intended to serve in Europe.
But because of historical ties between Mexico and the Philippines, Camacho requested that the squadron be sent to help defend the Pacific island nation.
Already trained in Mexico, the pilots were given additional flight training at Pocatello Army Air Base in Idaho.
Gen. Douglas MacArthur personally greeted the squadron when it arrived in the Philippines on May 1, 1945.
While there, the unit was attached to the 5th Fighter Command at an airfield north of Manila.
Although in the Philippines for only six months, the group participated in 59 missions and helped the Allies bomb Luzon and Formosa, pushing the Japanese out of the islands.
Like their American counterparts, the Mexican aviators carried out their tactical air missions in P-47 Thunderbolt, single-seat fighters. Seven of the 38 Mexican pilots were killed in action.
The war came to an end with the surrender of Japan on Aug. 15, 1945. Mexico's survivors returned home and were decorated by the governments of all three countries for valor in the cause of freedom.
Before going back to Mexico, the men of Fighter Squadron 201 built a monument in Manila in honor of the seven members of their group who were killed.
Adam Schmidt, the marketing coordinator for the Evergreen Aviation Museum, said a decision was made to show the film at the McMinnville venue because they wanted to help tell the Mexican squadron's untold story.
"It shows the real history of how the Mexican Air Force helped Americans in World War II," Schmidt said.
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs..../801090389/1001
makabayani - December 13, 2008 01:04 AM (GMT)
:aberet: mga kaibigan ako'y masaya sapaglata natuklasan ko ang forum na ito na para sa mga nagmamahal sa bayan at magmamalasakit sa ating sandatahan. maraming salamat.
City Hunter - December 14, 2008 12:44 AM (GMT)
Nasaan yun monument to the fallen Mexican pilots? Baka mayroon may pix nun pa post naman. Ditto on that remark that veterans ay madalas nakakalimutan over time. Maliban na lang sa mga nanloloko sa kanila :nono: