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How the Aztec Eagles carried the Mexican flag with distinction
Mexican Air Force's 201st squadron

The target, a Japanese ammo dump well-protected by anti-aircraft guns, was ringed on three sides by steep ridges and on the fourth by sea at Vigan on the west coast of Luzon (near Subic Bay). Both the Air Corps and the Navy had attacked it from the bay without success and at the loss of aircraft. General George C. Kenny, General MacArthur's Air Chief, was told that some of his Mexican Air Force pilots had dive-bombing training, so he assigned the target to them.

As he crossed the steep ridgeline while leading his flight of four P-47s, 1st Lt. Carlos Garduno rolled his Thunderbolt over, put the nose down into a steep dive, and then leveled out his wings. With the target in his sights, his airspeed at virtual terminal velocity and the altimeter unwinding, he pickled his two 1000-pound high-explosive bombs over the Japanese warehouses.

With both hands Carlos pulled the stick back into his lap, his plane clearing the water at the bottom of the dive with only 500 feet to spare. As he climbed back to altitude, he looked over his shoulder delighted to see columns of black smoke shooting up from the target. Unexpectedly, he also noticed a roiling ring of white water on the Vigan beach 300 feet from the shore. A Japanese anti-aircraft gunner had claimed his wingman, Fausto Vega, on his 20th and last birthday.

The Mexican Air Force in WW II? Yes, the Fuerza Area Mexicana Esquadron 201, the "Aztec Eagles" carried the Mexican flag with distinction in General MacArthur's drive to end the war with Japan. It was the first and only Mexican Air Force Unit to see action in World War II.

Not only did the 201st deliver pinpoint, close air support to the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division on Luzon against Gen. Yamishita's forces, but the squadron delivered deep interdiction missions against Japanese targets in Formosa (now Taiwan).

The 201st was about to follow the rest of its group, the 58th Fighter Group, to Okinawa to prepare for the last terrible push on the Japanese homeland when the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki effectively ended the war. Three additional Mexican Air Force squadrons had trained and would have joined the 201st as Gen. George C. Kenney's 5th Air Force's all-Mexican fighter group.

The 201st enjoys the distinction of being the first and only Mexican fighting force ever to operate outside of Mexico. The squadron flew with distinction at the cost of lost in training and others, including Lt. Vega lost in the Pacific Theater.

On June 3, 1942 after German U-boats had sunk two Mexican tankers, the President of Mexico, Manuel Avila Camacho, declared war against the Axis. Initially, Mexican Air Force pilots patrolled for enemy submarines off Mexico's Caribbean and Pacific coasts.

In April 1943 President Franklin Roosevelt met with President Manuel Avila Camacho in Monterrey, Mexico to encourage Mexico's active participation.

In 1943, Lt. Garduno Nunez and six other Mexican Air Force pilots reported to NAS North Island, San Diego for eight months of dive-bombing training. They were given VIP treatment and their SBDs sported the Mexican Air Force markings.

The Fuerza Area Expedicionaria Mexicana (F.A.E.M.) consisting of Escuadron 201 and support personnel was formed in Mexico. The squadron numbered over 300 including 38 experienced pilots between 19 and 24 years of age and maintenance, intelligence, administrative, security, medical and other support personnel. The personnel were selected by competitive examination from all branches of the Mexican military services as well as civilian life.

On December 27th, 1943 President Camacho indicated that when the assistance of Mexico was required by the Allies, he would send them. He said, "not to help the triumph over the Nazi Fascist dictators would be moral compromise."

Even though the numbers were modest, they symbolized the overwhelming cooperation of Mexico. For these reasons, the Mexican Senate voted overwhelmingly to send the F.A.E.M. on December 29th.

Before heading north for specialized training at various U.S. Army Air Force bases, the squadron paraded before President Camacho and a legend was born. The President asked if anyone in the squadron had any last-minute requests.

Not expecting a reply, President Camacho was surprised when a soldier in the rear ranks took two steps forward, smartly saluted and said in a loud, clear voice, "Mi Presidente, I am Cabo Angel Bocanegrea del Castillo and, sir, I request that a school he built in my home town of Tepotzlan, Morelos."

The F.A.E.M., commanded by Col. Antonio Cardenas Rodriguez, and its No. 201 squadron, commanded by Capt. Radames Graxiola Andrade, left Mexico City on July 24th by rail for Laredo, Texas and on to initial processing at Randolph Field, Texas. The pilots were then transferred to Foster Field, Victoria, Texas for training in the AT-6 for fighter tactics and then transition to the Curtiss P-40s. In the meantime, the ground personnel were dispersed to appropriate USAAF bases for training. The mechanics were trained in the P-47 at the Republic Aviation factory in Farmingdale, New York.

The squadron reassembled at Pocatello, Idaho where it was organized, equipped, and trained as a P-47 Thunderbolt fighter squadron. Later because of continuous bad flying weather, the squadron was transferred to Majors Field, Greenville, Texas for acrobatics and night flying and then to Amarillo, Texas for air-to-ground gunnery and Brownsville, Texas for aerial gunnery. Two pilots were lost in training. On February 22, 1945 at Majors Field, two battle flags were presented to the squadron. One from Mexico was presented by Lt. Gen. Fen. Francisco L. Urquizo, Undersecretary of National Defense of Mexico and the other from the United States was presented by Lt. Gen. Barton A. Yount, as representative of U.S. Air Force Chief-of-Staff, Gen. "Hap" Arnold.

The Squadron decamped for Camp Stoneman near San Francisco, where on the 8th of April it shipped out on the expeditionary ship Fairisle.

Both the U.S. and the Mexican governments had decided that for unity in battle the 201st should he integrated with the U.S. Army Air Force. Nevertheless, the tactical commander would be a Mexican trained in the U.S. methods. Administration and roles of conduct would fall under the Mexican military code, but each member of the squadron was under the Commander of the Theater of Operations. The planes would carry regular U.S. identification markings, but the Mexican Air Force insignia was placed on the wing and the colors of the Mexican flag on the verticle stabilizer.

On April 30 the squadron arrived in Manila and was greeted by a ceremony. Col. Cardenas presented credentials and messages from President Avila Camacho to Philippine President Quezon and Gen. Douglas McArthur. There was a job to be done as Allied Forces occupied only.

The squadron was divided into four esquadrillas, (flights) A to D. The first launch was at 7:15 a.m. and the second at 11:45 a.m. in direct support of the U.S. Army's 25th Division, helping it break through from the Belate Pass and Marikana Watershed area into the Cagayan Valley. Each plane was loaded with two 1000-pound high-explosive bombs and machine guns. The Army forward air controllers, talking in English, guided the Mexican pilots onto the targets.

Lt. Carlos Garduno was the first Aztec Eagle to be hit by the enemy. AA fire scored two hits on his wing, filling it with hydraulic fluid, costing him the use of his flaps, brakes and landing gear. He locked down his landing gear by gravity by a high "G" maneuver and brought his Thunderbolt in using all 5000 feet of runway and ground-looping to a stop.

Lt. Graco Ramierez was shot out of the sky on one of these close air support missions. As he pulled out of a dive 500 feet ahead of the friendly lines, his engine quit. Too low to bail out, he zig-zagged his plane into a clearing and "pancaked" to a landing unhurt. He got out of the plane and started walking south. He walked until dark, three or four hours. He had a .45 pistol with two clips of ammo, but he didn't know where he was. In the dark a patrol neared, and he hid himself, preparing for the worst. Luckily, he heard English. It was the patrol looking for him.

Lt. Jose Luis Pratt and Lt. Manuel Farias were also hit by anti-aircraft fire but were able to return to base.

In July the squadron moved over to Clark Field and began flying a new and more dangerous mission. While the other squadrons in the 58th were transferring to Okinawa for the invasion of Japan, the Aztec Eagles were assigned long-range strike missions against heavily defended Japanese targets across the sea on Formosa.

The Aztec Eagles would launch at dawn in flights of 12 aircraft and would navigate north over Luzon and then lose sight of land at 12,000 feet over the sea. They would then cross over the Formosa coastline and through anti-aircraft defenses to search for their assigned targets.

After releasing their bombs over target, the pilots turned around and headed for home with one eye glued to the fuel gauge. They lived with constant stress throughout these 7-hour and 15-minute flights and always landed with the red low-fuel warning lights on. Lt. (now retired General) Julio Cal y Major claims that he lost one to two kilos in weight on each mission. He said that stress on the pilots was total with a daily routine of chow at 6:00 p.m., a movie before target briefings at 8:00 p.m. or later, trying to sleep with the next day's mission churning on his mind, an early morning launch, and the long flight before starting all over.

On October 23, the F.A.E.M. shipped out of Manila to arrive back at San Pedro, California on November 13. They entered Mexico on the 16th and arrived in Mexico City on the 18th and were given a heros' welcome. A full scale parade was held on November 20 when President Avila Camacho received the battle-scarred flag from Col. Carderas in victory. The President decorated the entire force en masse, conferring on them the only medal of valor for combat ever bestowed on a Mexican military unit, the "Servicio en el Lejano Oriente."

Both Col. Cardenas and Capt. Gaxiola received the Legion of Merit, while all the veterans earned the Philippine Liberation Medal, the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (with Battle Star) and the WW II Victory Medal.

Gen. George C. Kenney later presented all of the pilots with Air Medals, The accompanying citations were signed by President Harry S. Truman.

General "Hap" Arnold, Commander in Chief of the Allied Air Force, had said on a visit to Mexico City, "The pilots of the F.A.E.M. employed guns, fragmentation and incendiary bombs against enemy column, artillery, tanks and roads. It is our duty to recognize with merit the complete job done against 30 thousand Japanese. There were six sorties over Formosa which were conducted with great valor. These operations led to the advance to the Ryukus and the Southern islands of Japan."

While memory dims, there are monuments to the Aztec Eagles throughout Mexico. Perhaps the most impressive is a semi-circular marble amphitheater below Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City. The names of the pilots are inscribed and special attention is paid to the seven pilots who lost their lives. The pilots hold reunions there each November 18th at an official ceremony sponsored by the Secretary of Defense and the Mexican Air Force.

There are monuments featuring P-47 aircraft at Santa Lucia Air Base (one hour from Mexico City) and in Guadalajara. A T-6 aircraft graces a monument at the El Cipres Air Base just south of Ensenada, Baja California. Another T-6 tops a monument at a southeast Mexico city suburb named "Colonia Esquadron 2.01."

Remember Cabo Bocanegra and his request for a school in Tepotzlan, Morelos? Well, each July 24th a reunion is held by the squadron veterans at "La Escuela del Escadron 201" in this town which before WW II had no school.

COPYRIGHT 1997 Hispanic Times Enterprises
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group
 

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