Salvadoran Air Force

The Salvadoran Air Force (, abbreviated FAS) is the air force branch of the Armed Forces of El Salvador. , the air force has 51 aircraft, most of which are from the United States.

History

Early history

The Salvadoran Air Fleet (, abbreviated FAS) was established on 20 March 1923 by Salvadoran president Alfonso Quiñónez Molina twenty days after assuming office. He established the Military Aviation Course on 27 June 1923 with Italian pilot Enrico Massi as its flight instructor. Massi was killed later that year when the Caudron G.3 he was in crashed in Ilopango while teaching Juan Ramón Munés. On 19 February 1924, the Salvadoran government created the Salvadoran Aviation Headquarters and appointed General Carlos Carmona Tadey as Chief of Salvadoran Aviation.

On 12 July 1924, Munés and Ricardo Aberle graduated from the Military Aviation School as El Salvador's first military pilots. In 1927, the air fleet consisted of fifteen aircraft; fourteen were named after El Salvador's fourteen departments and its sole Breguet 14 bomber was named after former president Gerardo Barrios. Carmona resigned as the air fleet's chief on 7 December 1927 after a failed coup and was replaced by General Antonio Claramount Lucero.

Military dictatorship

On 8 December 1931, Munés became the chief of the air fleet six days after the 1931 coup d'état that established a military dictatorship. In January 1932, air fleet helped suppress a rebellion in western El Salvador by conducting reconnaissance missing and bombing runs of rebel positions. President General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez bought several new aircraft for the air fleet including Curtiss-Wright CW-14 Osprey trainers, Fairchild M-62 trainers, and four Caproni AP.1 bombers. During World War II, the air fleet patrolled El Salvador's coastline. The air fleet supported the 2 April 1944 Palm Sunday Coup that attempted to overthrow Martínez. North American AT-6 Texan bombers attacked loyalist positions in San Salvador but the coup failed and many pilots were executed.

El Salvador signed the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance in 1947 and the air force acquired American aircraft. During the 1950s, the air force used two Douglas C-47 Skytrains as the presidential transporters.

The Salvadoran Air Force first saw action in the 1969 Football War against Honduras equipped with F4U Corsairs and P-51 Mustangs. The Salvadoran Air Force attacked Honduran Air Force positions early, but the Honduran Air Force eventually retaliated and destroyed much of the Salvadoran Air Force. After the war, the Salvadoran Air Force acquired newer aircraft. After the 1972 presidential election, Colonel Benjamín Mejía attempted to overthrow the Salvadoran government in support of José Napoleón Duarte, the election's loser. The air force remained loyal to the government and bombed rebel positions in San Salvador. The coup ultimately failed.

Salvadoran Civil War

The Salvadoran Air Force acquired its first jet aircraft in 1974 when it acquired the Fouga CM.170 Magister. From the late 1970s, isolated guerrilla actions rapidly developed into a civil war. US aid to El Salvador in 1980 consisted of six UH-1Hs and four in 1981; they were used as gunships. Other deliveries brought that number of UH-1Hs in service up to 40. In January 1982, the rebel Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) launched an attack of the Ilopango International Airport. Minister of Defense General José Guillermo García described the attack as a "terrorist attack". Following the attack, the United States sent the Salvadoran government $55 million and new Bell UH-1H helicopters. During the civil war, the air force did not bomb targets indiscriminately.

On 23 October 1984, the FMLN bombed a FAS UH-1H in Joateca killing all fourteen people on board including Colonel Domingo Monterrosa. The bombing occurred when the FMLN booby trapped a radio transmitter disguised as the primary transmitter for the FMLN's Radio Venceremos. The FMLN coaxed Monterrosa into capturing the rigged transmitter and claiming it as a war trophy leading to the bomb inside detonating after takeoff.

A FAS Douglas DC-6B transporter crashed after departing Ilopango International Airport on 1 May 1986. The accident killed all 37 military personnel on board. The Salvadoran government did not rule out sabotage, but the FMLN never claimed responsibility for the crash.

A four-engined Douglas DC-6B provided long-range logistical capability between 1975 and its retirement in 1998. It was used on supply flights to and from the United States.Eastwood, 2007, p. 298 In December 1984, two AC-47s were delivered to be in service with the other three C-47s in use. The civil war ended in mutual exhaustion in 1990 and the Air Force was geared for internal security. The air force support demining operations conducted by the Belgian company IDAS after the civil war.

Post-civil war

On 6 May 2013, in celebration of the 189th anniversary of the Armed Forces of El Salvador, the Salvadoran government announced the planned purchase of 10 A-37 aircraft from Chile.

In September 2016 it was reported that the Salvadoran Air Force in cooperation with the Colombian Aerospace Force was finalizing negotiations on modernizing its Bell UH-1H helicopters to the Huey 2 standard.

In 2023, the United States donated twelve MD Helicopters MD 530Fs to the Salvadoran Air Force. On 8 September 2024, an air force Bell UH-1H crashed in poor weather near Pasaquina killing all nine people on board including Mauricio Arriaza Chicas, the chief of the National Civil Police, and Manuel Coto, a former bank manager. In 2025, air force personnel were deployed to Haiti as part of the Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti to combat organized gangs there.

Structure

Per article 157 of the constitution of El Salvador, the president of El Salvador is the commander-in-chief of the air force. The air force is administered by the Joint General Staff and is overseen by the minister of national defense.

Aircraft

Current inventory

The following is a list of all aircraft in the Salvadoran Air Force's inventory .

Aircraft Origin Type Variant(s) Inventory Combat aircraft Cessna A-37 Dragonfly Attack A-37B 15 Transport Cessna 208 Caravan Transport 1 IAI Arava Transport 3 Helicopters Bell 412 Combat 3 Bell UH-1 Iroquois Combat UH-1H, UH-1M, UH-1N 15 Hughes 269 Trainer 5 McDonnell Douglas MD 500 Defender Combat 500E, 530F 7 Trainer aircraft Cirrus SR22 Trainer 2 ENAER T-35 Pillán Trainer 2

Notes:

Retired aircraft

The following are some aircraft that the Salvadoran Air Force formerly operated.

Aircraft Origin Type Variant(s) Inventory Combat aircraft Breguet 14 Bomber A.2 1 Caproni AP.1 Bomber 4 Cavalier Mustang Ground attack F-51D, II 25 Dassault Ouragan Fighter-bomber 18 Dassault Super Mystère Fighter-bomber 4 Douglas B-26 Invader Ground attack B-26B 5 Douglas AC-47 Spooky Ground attack AC-47D 7 Vought FG Corsair Fighter-bomber 1D 20 Transport Beechcraft Model 18 Transport AT-11 1 Cessna 170 Utility 1 Cessna 180 Skywagon Utility 1–2 Cessna 185 Skywagon Utility U-17 1–2 Cessna 210 Centurion Utility 1 Dornier Do 28 Transport 12 Douglas C-47 Skytrain Transport C-47D 6 Douglas DC-6 Transport DC-6B 2 Fairchild C-123 Provider Transport 2 Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner Transport III 1 Piper PA-23 Utility 250 Aztec Rockwell Commander 114 Transport 1 Waco 10 Transport 2 Surveillance aircraft Cessna Skymaster Forward air control O-2A 5–9 Helicopters Aérospatiale Alouette III Transport 3 Aérospatiale SA 315B Lama Utility 3 Canadair North Star Transport DC-4M 1 Fairchild Hiller FH-1100 Utility 1 Hughes 300 Trainer 300C 1 Hughes 500D Attack 9 Trainer aircraft Beechcraft T-34 Mentor Trainer 1 Caudron G.3 Trainer Cessna T-41 Mescalero Trainer A, C 7 Curtiss JN Jenny Trainer 4D Curtiss-Wright CW-14 Osprey Trainer Fairchild PT-19 Trainer PT-19B 6 Fouga CM.170 Magister Trainer/light strike 12 Hanriot HD.32 Trainer HD.320 5 Lincoln Standard L.S.5 Trainer Luscombe 8 Trainer A 2 North American T-6 Texan Trainer AT-6C, AT-6D, SNJ-4, SNJ-5 SOCATA Rallye 230 Trainer 235GS 16 Vultee BT-13 Valiant Trainer A 21 Waco F Trainer 2

List of commanders

The following is a list of commanders of the Salvadoran Air Force.

# Commander Rank Assumed office Left office Time in office 1 Humberto Aberle Major captain 20 March 1923 20 February 1924 2 Carlos Carmona Tadey General 20 February 1924 7 December 1927 3 Antonio Claramount Lucero 7 December 1927 15 May 1929 4 José Trabanino 15 May 1929 8 December 1931 5 Juan Ramón Munés Lieutenant colonel 8 December 1931 6 April 1944 6 Hernán Barón Major 6 April 1944 5 December 1944 7 Francisco Alberto Ponce Captain 5 December 1944 15 May 1945 8 Hernán Barón Lieutenant colonel 15 May 1945 15 June 1945 9 Gustavo López Castillo General 15 June 1945 14 December 1948 10 Francisco Alberto Ponce Major 14 December 1948 16 December 1949 11 Hernán Barón Lieutenant colonel 16 December 1949 30 September 1950 12 Luis Felipe Escobar Colonel 30 September 1950 14 October 1955 13 José Velásquez Lieutenant colonel 14 October 1955 28 October 1960 14 Jorge Rovira Pleitez 28 October 1960 2 August 1967 15 Salvador Adalberto Henríquez Major 2 August 1967 4 December 1971 16 Rafael Antonio Herrera Lieutenant colonel 4 December 1971 7 April 1972 17 Felipe de Jesús Artiga 7 April 1972 3 January 1975 18 Godofredo Regalado 3 January 1975 1 July 1979 19 Óscar Nelson Bolaños Colonel 1 July 1979 15 October 1979 20 Juan Rafael Bustillo General 15 October 1979 31 December 1989 21 Rafael Antonio Villamariona 31 December 1989 1 May 1991 22 Héctor Leonel Lobo Pérez Colonel 1 May 1991 30 June 1993 23 Juan Antonio Martínez Varela General 30 June 1993 30 June 1998 24 Milton Antonio Andrade Cabrera Colonel 1 January 1999 16 January 2002 25 Ricardo Benjamín Abrego Abrego Brigadier general 1 February 2002 1 June 2004 26 Jorge Enrique Navas López Colonel 1 June 2004 1 January 2006 27 Salvador Palacios Castillo 1 January 2006 1 January 2009 28 Jaime Leonardo Parada González 1 January 2009 1 January 2010 29 Nelson Edgardo Hernández Díaz 1 January 2010 1 June 2011 30 Hugo Aristides Angulo Rogel 1 June 2011 1 January 2013 31 Carlos Jaime Mena Torres Brigadier general 1 January 2011 1 January 2016 32 Salvador Ernesto Hernández Vega Colonel 1 January 2016 1 January 2019 33 Manuel Fabio Calderón Menéndez 1 January 2019 1 January 2020 34 Pablo Alberto Soriano Cruz 1 January 2020 Incumbent

Salvadoran Air Force

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