Soccer War War Birds

[Glen]

Greetings
I was wondering if their were any suriving War Birds that took part in the South America Soccer War in the mid 70's ? I had heard that their is suppose to be a P-51 or two that took part (Illegal) and some F4U's As well. can anybody shed light on this ?

[EDowning]

Jim Read's F4U is a Soccer War vet.

[Tulio]

Better referred to as the 100 Hour War, this conflict left deep resentments between the two nations involved, that still nowadays trigger nasty exchanges in some forums.

Surviving aircraft were all brought back to the USA during the 1980s. One, an F-4U5N is preserved at the Fundacion del Museo del Aire de Honduras (FMAH) Museum in Toncontin, Tegucigalpa. It was the mount of then Maj. Fernando Soto, who managed to shoot down three Salvadorean aircraft. There should also be a T-6 that was equipped with a small bomb-bay, and probably one or more C-47s.

There is also a center section of another Corsair in the same airport, although I do not know for certain that this belonged to a veteran of the war.

As for the Salvadorean Mustangs and Corsairs, the surviving airframes and some spare parts, were brought back to the USA. There are rumors however, that there still remain some Corsair parts in El Salvador, according to a conversation that I had with Jim Harker back in 2000. I would venture saying too, that there might be one or more C-47s (Google Earth Ilopango Airport to see a few airframes).

Saludos,


Tulio

[AAF]

Hi Glen,

The 100-hour war (incorrectly called "soccer war"), actually took place on July 14-18, 1969 between Honduras and El Salvador (Central America). Of 19 F4Us acquired by the Honduran air force (FAH) in the late 50s and early 60s, F4U-5N, FAH 609, plus the center fuselage and wings of F4U-4, FAH 617, remain in the Honduran air museum. On July 17th, Captain Fernando Soto H. flying FAH 609 shot down one Salvadoran air force Cavalier F-51 Mustang and two Goodyear FG-1D Corsairs.
All remaining aircraft, including the remains of F4U4, FAH 611 (partially destroyed by fire during a crash landing), were either flown or shipped to the USA. It is my understanding that most of them were restored to flying condition, I believe one is in Australia and another in France or Austria (I need to check my records which I don't have at hand this moment). I am aware two ex-Honduran Corsairs were either destroyed or extensively damaged: Joe Tobul's F4U-4 BuNo. 97143 (FAH 613); and F4U-4 BuNo. 97280 (FAH 615) at Oshkosh.

As for the Salvadoran aircraft, of 20 acquired in the mid-50s, five were operational FG-1Ds during the war. One was apparently shot down by friendly fire in the Golfo de Fonseca (although there is conflicting evidence to the contrary); while two of their Cavalier Mustangs collided at the Ilopango airport on the first day of the war. An undetermined number of P-51Ds were illegally purchased by El Salvador during and after the conflict, some of which were destroyed in accidents, however to this date the number of Mustangs shipped out of that country remain sort of a State Secret. The same applies to the number of FG-1Ds which were also shipped to the USA.

Should you require further information on this matter, don't hesitate to ask, or perhaps you may want to contact Corsair Historian, WIXer Rob Mears.


Cheers

[mlenoch]

Moonbeam is known to be the former FAS 406.
VL

[daniel-k]

(Photo from Swiss Mustangs)

The Cavalier Mustang II, N405HC of Heber Costello, served in FAS during the conflict. Now flying in Sweden with Biltema group:
http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.o ... hp?t=13433

Cheers, Daniel

[Randy Haskin]

Two FAS Cavalier Mustangs that flew combat sorties are currently still flying:

FAS 401 is (was?) N51MX, "Mad Max".

FAS 405, as posted, is N405HC.

Both FAS 401 and 405 were flown by American mercenaries during the Soccer war.

Vlado's airplane, while not one of the military Cavaliers probably -- likely -- flew combat sorties, too, as it started its service with the FAS more than 6 months prior.

Last edited by Randy Haskin on Wed Jul 18, 2007 2:14 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Randy Haskin]

two of their Cavalier Mustangs collided at the Ilopango airport on the first day of the war.

My understanding is that this occured on 16 July, which was the 3rd day of the conflict.

There's also significant doubt in my mind as to if both of the Mustangs involved in this collision were Cavaliers. There's no doubt that a collision between two FAS Mustangs happened...but, the accuracy of it happening between two Cavaliers all depends on how seriously the aircraft were damaged.

Dan Hagedorn writes in “El Guerra de 100 Horas”, "At 0430 on July 16th, the FAS dispatched two of its prized Cavalier F-51Ds on a mission to attack Puerto Cortez and Gozalén. Unfortunately, the two aircraft collided in the darkness near the end of runway 33 at Ilopango during the take off and the mission was never carried out.”

It's possible that the collision was very, very minor -- enough to cancel the mission, but not enough to damage the aircraft at all. If this is the case, then two Cavaliers may very well have been involved. I personally haven't ever seen collisions on takeoff that didn't cause significant damage, though...

I have interviewed two pilots who were intimately familiar with three of the FAS Cavaliers starting the night of the 16th (FAS 401, 403, and 405) and I can't imagine them not mentioning that one or more of them were even minorly damaged when they were inspected on that day. We also know that FAS 400 was 'visiting' Guatemala on that day and FAS 402 had all ready been destroyed months earlier in a takeoff accident. This leaves only one Cavalier of the six total in the FAS that cannot be positively accounted for.

If the aircraft involved were more seriously damaged in the collision, I can't see how two Cavaliers could have been involved at all. In this case, AT MOST one of them was a Cavalier Mustang, which only could have been FAS 404. This is also a long shot, as FAS 404 was flying combat sorties the very next day -- the 17th -- and was actually shot down by a Honduran Corsair.

[Swiss Mustangs]

mornin' everyone....

this one:



is a survivor:

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/corsairr ... 92629.html

Martin

[daniel-k]

Randy, interesting info. Any details of FAS 405's combat history?

[Randy Haskin]

Randy, interesting info. Any details of FAS 405's combat history?

Nothing specific, unfortunately. It's known to have been in a landing accident on the first day of the war which caused a prop strike (there is a photo in the Dienst/Hagedorn book showing 405's engine change afterward). The pilot (for the last 3-4 days of the war, at least) was one of the American mercenaries.

Unortunately, beyond that, I don't have any specific "there I was" types of stories on it. Based on my interview of 405's pilot (who is getting up there in age and provided vivid details on some things but couldn't remember others), it flew numerous times every day during the week of the war (perhaps as many as 5 missions per day), and continued to fly "combat" air patrol during the week following the war when neither side really trusted the other to actually quit fighting.

It was retired in '73 and sold to Jack Flaherty in October '74 and flown back to the US in November '74. It stayed on the Connie Edwards ranch until Heber bought it.

[JDK]

Better referred to as the 100 Hour War, this conflict left deep resentments between the two nations involved, that still nowadays trigger nasty exchanges in some forums.

The 100-hour war (incorrectly called "soccer war"),...

Dumb question time, why is the name 'Soccer War' a problem? I can appreciate the issues, but I've not seen an explanation. No agenda, just curious.

(I know a number of conflicts have different names depending on which side's telling the story; Falklands / Malvinas, and, not to trivialise the subject too much, I always wondered what they called the '100 years war' at the time. 'The see how long it takes war'? '95 years down 5 to go war'?)

Regards,

[Warbird Kid]

Our only local is a survivor...

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/corsairr ... 92460.html

[Warbirdnerd]

mornin' everyone....

this one:



is a survivor:

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/corsairr ... 92629.html

Martin

It still sports a what I've been told is a bullet hole in one of the main gear doors...

[jaldo]

xFAH-612 BuNo 97288 at Sikorsky Airport,1980


xFAH-606 BuNo 124486


xFAH-613 BuNo 97143


xFAH-607 BuNo 124692


xFAH-603 BuNo 123168


xFAH-610 BuNo 97388


FAH F4Us lineup at Tegucigalpa