The 1969 Soccer War in the Air
Classic Mustang and Corsair Warbirds of the 1940s decided this modern war
Fearless Latin American aviators, flying aircraft that had been retired from front line service for twenty years fought it out over the jungles of Central America.
The war is often cited as the last occasion on which piston engine fighters fought each other - both sides deploying former World War II American types. P-51 Mustangs, F4U Corsairs, T-28 Trojans and even Douglas C47s converted into bombers saw action. The actual fighting was brief. Despite early Salvadoran air strikes, the Hondurans eventually dominated in that area, destroying most of the Salvadoran Air Force.
The one thousand-man Salvadoran Air Force at the beginning of the war was equipped with a six P51 Mustangs, six FG-1D variants of the F4U-4 Corsairs built by Good Year, and a number equally old transport aircraft. A privately owned Mustang held by a civilian pilot, Mr. Baldacci, was impressed into service by the Air Force after being rearmed and repainted on the first day of the conflict. The 700 strong Honduran air force held eleven F4U Corsairs and a quantity of small armed T28 trainers and C47 transport aircraft.
The initial action would be undertaken by the Salvadoran air force that would blitz the main airport in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, hopefully catching the Honduran air force on the ground as well as attacking numerous towns across the country. The operation would use every aircraft that could take to the air as well as fourteen civilian aircraft, which had been converted to drop armed mortar rounds from railings. After the mortar bombs were all dropped the ersatz bomber crews they reverted to dropping ancient 30lb bombs by hand from the windows of their planes
As it was to be expected, the Salvadoran aviation attack caught the Hondurans completely by surprise. However it did not accomplish much. Several of the Salvadoran planes got lost and bombed the wrong targets or worse, had completely missed their intended areas of operation, with several bombs being dropped on uninhabited jungle. One of the Mustangs even found itself so far off course it landed in Guatemala and was interned for the remainder of the war
The Honduran air force mounted a counter-offensive the next morning July 16th with two different attacks on their enemy's headquarters at Ilopango airfield in El Salvador. The first attack by a C47 Dakota transport that had been modified to carry 18x100 pound bombs missed the target; the second attack by Honduran Corsairs dropped four bombs that cratered the runways and damaged several aircraft in hangars. They also managed to hit the main petroleum and oil storage facilities for the country severely damaging El Salvador's war effort.
On July 17th Honduran Major Soto Henriquez, flying a twenty six year old F4U-5N Corsair shot down a pair of El Salvadoran Corsairs flown by Captain Cezeña, who bailed out and survived the war and Captain Cortez who died when his plane exploded under the Honduran major's shells. In combat later that day Major Henriquez shot down a Salvadoran Mustang flown by Capt Varlera over the jungle near the Port of San Lorenzo. A fourth FAS corsair was shot down over the Gulf of Fonseca by anti aircraft batteries. With these four shoot-downs, the Honduran air force achieved air superiority over the theater of operations and retained it for the rest of the conflict. The Salvadoran aviators' morale crumbled to the point that the commander was forced to ask for volunteers for the few missions that were flown in the final days.
Seven disarmed P51 Mustangs and a B26 bomber were bought in the United States by El Salvadoran agents from private civilian owners and sent to the battle zone as fast as possible to replace losses. Great efforts were made to basically smuggle these aircraft out of the United States as the El Salvadoran government did not get export licenses for these obsolete but still very deadly war birds. These craft, ferried to El Salvador by mercenary pilots of British, American and Brazilian origin took some time to be re-armed and placed into service too late to affect the outcome of the conflict.
On the morning of the 18th, the Honduran air force continued their aerial attacks carrying Napalm canisters in support of the Honduran Army, especially against the Salvadoran National Guard in Llano largo, Nueva Ocotepeque, and against the Army's Third Battalion in El Amatillo. The OAS cease fire agreement effectively ended the ground fighting at 10:00 PM that night.
