Mexican Expeditionary Air force 201st. Fighter Squadron

[mustang1]

Any Aces.

[Amado Aguiluz F.]

Hi,

The Escuadrón Aéreo de Pelea 201, "Aztec Eagles", of the Fuerza Aérea Expedicionaria Mexicana, arrived in the Philippines in March 1945, and commenced operations as a part of the Fifth Air Corps USAAF flying Republic P-47 Thunderbolts.

Missions completed:
53 ground support missions flown in support of American troops in Luzon from 4 June to 4 July 1945,
37 training missions from 14-21 July 1945 (including missions of transporting new aircraft from Biak Island, New Guinea),
4 fighter sweeps to the island of Formosa, 6-9 July 1945,
1 dive bombing mission against the Port of Karenko, Formosa, 8 August 1945,
1 convoy escort mission in the Sea North of the Philippines, 26 August 1945

Combat record:
Combat Missions flown - 96
Offensive Sorties flown - 785
Defensive Sorties flown - 6
Hours flown in Combat - 1966:15
Hours flown in the Combat Zone - 59:00
Hours flown in Pre-Combat - 28:00
Average hours flown per pilot - 86:00
Total hours flown - 2842:00
Bombs dropped 1000 lb - 957
Bombs dropped 500 lb - 500
Total rounds of 0.50 cal used - 166,922 rds.
Aircraft lost in combat - 0
Aircraft damaged in combat - 5
Pilots killed in combat - 0
Pilots killed in accidents - 4 (two of them killed in a combat zone)
Pilots missing - 1

There is no evidence of air-to-air combat ever taking place.

Cheers,

Amado

[Tulio]

No aces, no air to air combat whatsoever.

This has not stopped a couple of characters, one of them in the Austin-San Marcos area, to claim that he was an "ace."

Saludos,

Tulio

[tom d. friedman]

interesting figures. this little known little appreciated unit should be much more appreciated.

[corsair166b]

I met a guy at the last CAF show at Harlingen back in the late 80's, he and his son gave me a ride from McCallen TX to the CAF show....wish I still had his business card....the older man had a keen interest in P-47's...they had me take some shots of him in front of the CAF's bird...neither of them spoke english and were up from Mexico for the show...the guy was president of some kind of security firm in Mexico....for years I have wondered....was he one of the 'Aztec Eagles'?

Mark

[Amado Aguiluz F.]

Mark,

I've found some interesting photos, vintage and recent, which depict members of the 201st, at the following link (see Imágenes): http://es.msnusers.com/ElEscuadron201

In case it may help, there is also a message board (see Mensajes), but should you need any Spanish language assistance, please don't hesitate to ask.

Cheers,

Amado

[corsair166b]

Amado-

Mucho apprecianado, por favor....but it's been so long since I saw either of their faces I would'nt know them by pictures OR their names....just wish I still had that business card. The man and his son were real nice, and despite the language barrier, we got along faitly well...the manager of the hotel I was staying at told me they were here in McCallen for the CAF show also, so we contacted each other and agreed to ride to the show the next morning together...they even fed me a breakfast of Cheesecake (!) and milk before we left...must unexpected and neighborly. It'll just have to be one of those mysteries that remains unsolved but leaves a pleasant smile on my face...nice folks, and possibly a combat vet that I got to meet...and a rare one at that....

Mark

[Amado Aguiluz F.]

Mark,

No hay problema alguno.

Regards,

Amado

[jaldo]

Check out this video about the Aztec Eagles (wait a few seconds for file to download and the click on "play")

http://www.7thcode.com/temp/aztec_eagels.mov

[K5DH]

One of the Aztec Eagle pilots visited our Museum a few months ago. One of the local TV stations had a camera crew on hand. I wish I could recall the gentleman's name... looks like I'm having yet another "senior moment"...

[Amado Aguiluz F.]

One of the Aztec Eagle pilots visited our Museum a few months ago. One of the local TV stations had a camera crew on hand. I wish I could recall the gentleman's name... looks like I'm having yet another "senior moment".

Hope this helps ... (pilots who returned to Mexico at the end of WW2):

Radamés Gaxiola Andrade
Graco Ramírez Garrido
Joaquín Ramírez Vilchis
Amador Samano Piña
Julio Cal y Mayor Zaus
Fernando Hernández Vega
Carlos Varela Landini
David Cerón Bedolla
Carlos Garduño N.
José Luis Pratt Ramos
Justino Reyes Retana
Amadeo Castro Almanza
Angel Sánchez Rebollo
Jaime Zenizo Rojas
Carlos Rodriguez Corona
Manuel Farías Rodriguez
Miguel Moreno Arreola
Roberto Legorreta Cicilia
Reynaldo Pérez Gallardo
Praxedis López Ramos
Jacobo Estrada Luna
José Barbosa Cerda
Raúl García Mercado
Roberto Urias Aveleyra
Guillermo García Ramos
Miguel Uriarte Aguilar

Cheers,

Amado

[Swiss Mustangs]

another interesting link (in Spanish)

http://www.portalaviacion.com/articulos/ecua201.html

Martin

[Tulio]

Very likely, the guy that K5DH saw, was Reynaldo Pérez Gallardo.

Saludos,


Tulio

[Amado Aguiluz F.]

Dean:

A photo of Capt. Reynaldo Pérez Gallardo, circa December 2004, can be seen at this link:

http://es.msnusers.com/ElEscuadron201/e ... &PhotoID=1


Regards,

Amado

[Warren_C]

Honored Guest Rey Gallardo posing with our PT-17 at the Heritage Airfield fly-in New Berlin Texas.