Honduran Air Force
| Honduras Air Force | |
|---|---|
 Logo |
|
| Active | 1931–present |
| Country |  |
| Blue and white, with one star |  |
| Commanders | |
| Comandante General | General de Brigada Don Marco Vitelio Castillo Brown |
The Honduras Air Force (Spanish: Fuerza Aérea Hondureña, sometimes abbreviated to FAH in English) is the air force of Honduras. As such it is the air power arm of the Honduras Armed Forces.
Contents |
[edit] History
The first Honduras military flying took place on 18 April 1921 in a Bristol F.2b Fighter biplane flown by an American contracted pilot, while in 1923 the first government flying school was founded with the assistance of Italian investors.[1] The forerunner of the modern air force, the Escuela Nacional de Aviación, or National Aviation School, came into being on 14 April 1931; and in 1938, it was renamed the Escuela Militar de Aviación y Fuerza Aérea Hondureña or Military Aviation School and Honduras Air Force when its first combat aircraft were acquired. During World War II they fought against the Axis powers from 1942 until 1944 performing anti-submarine patrols along its Caribbean coastline.
After the war the HAF re-equipped with aircraft from USAAF and RCAF stocks including five Lockheed P-38 Lightnings and 5 Bell Bell P-63 Kingcobras which were their first high performance fighters. Honduras ratified the Rio Treaty in 1947, and within the next 10 years the Americans supplied new aircraft to include 19 Vought F4U Corsair fighter bombers, several C-47 transports and 6 AT-6C armed and 6 T-6G advanced trainers.
In 1969 Honduras fought the wrongly called Football War, or more aptly, The 1969 100 Hour War with El Salvador. The HAF managed to successfully bomb the Salvadorean fuel supplies at Acajutla and Cutuco and fight the enemy's air force out of the sky. Later, they provided close air support to the Honduras Army. After the cease fire, both countries tried unsuccessfully to acquire their first jets to replace their old prop driven aircraft. However, the political climate eventually changed and by the mid 1970s the HAF re-equipped with 10 old ex-Yugoslav CL-13Mk.4's / F-86E Sabre Jet's, 16 ex-Israeli Super Mystere B.2, and 6 new Cessna A-37B COIN jets, plus several UH-1B Huey assault helicopters. Also the HAF was re-organized, several new air bases were created and its name changed to Fuerza Aérea Hondureña only. These airplanes were however used during the 1980s confrontation with the Sandinista government of Nicaragua.
Later that decade, these were augmented or replaced with 11 ex-USAF OA/A-37B's, 12 ex-USAF F-5E/F Tiger II interceptors, 12 new T-27 Tucano armed trainers and 4 new CASA 101BB-02 attack planes; and supported with 5 ex-USAF C-130A Hercules transports, 5 armed MD500D and 10 new BELL 412SP utility helicopters; which are all in use until today.[2]
[edit] Bases
The FAH operates from 4 air bases at Tegucigalpa, Comayagua,[3] San Pedro Sula, and La Ceiba. Additionally, 3 air stations located at Catacamas, Alto Aguán (bomb range) and Puerto Lempira airstrips serve as forward operations locations-FOL. Also a radar station operates at La Mole peak. With the exception of Soto Cano Air Base, all other bases operates as dual civil and military aviation facilities.
[edit] Aircraft inventory
[edit] Retired Aircraft-
- 1x Agusta A-109 Helicopter
Italy(2004) - 1x Bell-47G4
United States - 8x Hughes 269TH-55A United States
- 1x Sikorsky S-76 Spirit United States
[edit] Aircraft planned to enter service
- 12x IAI Kfir C-2 and 1x TC-2 FGAs
Israel
[edit] AIR TO AIR MISSILES:-
- 100x IAI Shafrir MK-II Israel
- AIM-9P Sidewinder United States
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Hagedorn 1986, p. 57.
- ^ http://www.scramble.nl/hn.htm
- ^ http://www.academiamilfah.com
- ^ "World Military Aircraft Inventory", Aerospace Source Book 2008, Aviation Week & Space Technology, January 28, 2008.
- ^ FAH
- Hagedorn, Daniel P. "From Caudillos to COIN". Air Enthusiast, Thirty-one, July–November 1986. Bromley, UK:Fine Scroll. ISSN 0143-5450. pp. 55–70.
