Every war the Honduran Air Force has fought
The 1969 war with El Salvador is described as the last in which piston-engined fighters fought each other. Honduran accounts credit Captain Fernando Soto, in Corsair FAH-609, with a Mustang and two Corsairs on 17 July 1969; El Salvador’s official figures give three of its aircraft destroyed in all, without a breakdown by cause, and the Honduran claims are not independently confirmed. Honduras’s official figure for its own side is 99 killed, El Salvador’s for its own 107. Where a consolidated sortie or loss figure exists in the official record it is given here; where accounts disagree, the range is shown and the disagreement named. Blank cells are blank because no figure could be verified, not because the fighting was small.
From Caribbean patrols in the Second World War and the 1969 war with El Salvador to air interdiction against drug flights today.
| Conflict | Years | Against | Main aircraft | Sorties | Aircraft lost | |
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| Second World War Caribbean patrolsPatrullaje antisubmarinoFuerza Aérea Hondureña | 1942–1945 | Germany | ||||
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Anti-submarine patrols. English Wikipedia dates the patrols to 1942–1944 and Spanish Wikipedia to 1942–1945; in the same period the FAH received P-38s, P-63s and BT-13As from the United States. Outcome No engagements with submarines were found in the sources checked. Both accounts are brief Wikipedia summaries.
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| Mosquitia dispute with NicaraguaConflicto de la MosquitiaFuerza Aérea Hondureña | 1957 | Nicaragua | F4U Corsair | |||
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Corsairs deployed during a border clash. Spanish Wikipedia records small clashes with Nicaragua over the Mosquitia in 1957 in which F4U Corsairs were deployed. Details of air action were not found. Outcome Not detailed in the sources checked. Single brief source; Nicaragua’s account was not checked.
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| The 1969 war with El Salvador (Football War)Guerra de las Cien HorasFuerza Aérea Hondureña | 1969 | El Salvador | F4U Corsair, T-28 Trojan, C-47 (improvised bomber)and 1 more | |||
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Air defence, counter-air strikes on Ilopango, strikes on Salvadoran oil installations, close support. English Wikipedia gives El Salvador 11 combat aircraft and Honduras 23 at the start. On the evening of 14 July the Salvadoran Air Force attacked Honduran airfields with P-51 Mustangs, C-47s and converted civil aircraft; its main target was Toncontín, where the FAH kept half its aircraft, and Spanish Wikipedia lists ten Honduran towns bombed. On 15 July the FAH, mainly with F4U Corsairs, struck Ilopango airport and the oil facilities at Acajutla and Cutuco; English Wikipedia says El Salvador lost 20 per cent of its fuel reserves. Honduran accounts, as summarised by Spanish Wikipedia, credit Captain (later Major) Fernando Soto Henríquez, flying F4U Corsair FAH-609, with three Salvadoran aircraft on 17 July 1969: a Cavalier F-51D Mustang in the morning and two Goodyear FG-1D Corsairs in the afternoon. El Salvador’s official figures, as given by English Wikipedia, put its own losses at three aircraft destroyed; the Salvadoran pilot Captain Guillermo Reynaldo Cortez was killed in the dogfight of 17 July. A Salvadoran account of each of the three combats, and any Salvadoran claim of Honduran aircraft destroyed, was not found in the sources checked. Soto was declared a national hero by the Honduran Congress in 2003 and died on 25 June 2006. The war is described as the last in which piston-engined fighters fought each other. Outcome Ceasefire effective at midnight on 18 July 1969 under international pressure. Kill claims are Honduran claims as summarised by Wikipedia; they are not independently confirmed. El Salvador’s figure of three aircraft destroyed is its official total and is not broken down by cause in the source checked.
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| Air interdiction against drug flightsInterdicción aéreaFuerza Aérea Hondureña | 1980s–present | Drug trafficking organisations | F-5E/F, A-37B, King Air 200 | |||
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Surveillance and interception of illegal flights. Spanish Wikipedia describes the base at San Pedro Sula as focused on counter-narcotics with A-37s. Infodefensa reported in May 2024 that four refurbished F-5E/Fs were moved to La Ceiba for air interdiction under Honduran legislation on intercepting aircraft, and in June 2026 that they serve for "vigilancia e interdicción aérea". JTF-Bravo, according to English Wikipedia, shifted to counter-narcotics after the Cold War. Outcome Ongoing. The text of Honduras’s interception legislation and any shoot-down policy were not checked; the Infodefensa summary is relied on.
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Nothing matches that search.
Every figure, checked
- Infodefensa: La FAH desplegará sus cazas F-5E/F repotenciados en una base del Atlántico (Alberto López, 3 May 2024)Four of twelve F-5E/F (10 E, 2 F, acquired 1987) refurbished; grounded about six years; to La Ceiba.
- Infodefensa: La FAH despliega un Northrop F-5 en un show aéreo en San Pedro Sula (Alberto López, 23 June 2026)FAH 4008 at Armando Escalón Espinal; four refurbished in 2023; based at La Ceiba.
Figures verified 2026-10-01. Back to the Honduran Air Force.