Honduran Air Force combat record

Todas las guerras en las que ha luchado la Fuerza Aérea Hondureña

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.

Conflicto Años Contra Avión principal Salidas Avión perdido
Patrullas en el Caribe durante la Segunda Guerra MundialPatrullaje antisubmarinoFuerza Aérea Hondureña 1942–1945 Alemania

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.

Resultado No engagements with submarines were found in the sources checked.

Both accounts are brief Wikipedia summaries.

Volar para
Fuerza Aérea Hondureña
Dónde
Caribbean coast of Honduras
Junto a
Estados Unidos
Contra
Alemania
Aeronave
Salidas
No se encontraron cifras.
Pérdidas
No se encontraron pérdidas.
Fuentes
Wikipedia · Wikipedia (es)
Disputa de La Mosquitia con NicaraguaConflicto de la MosquitiaFuerza Aérea Hondureña 1957 Nicaragua Corsair F4U

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.

Resultado No se detalla en las fuentes consultadas.

Single brief source; Nicaragua’s account was not checked.

Volar para
Fuerza Aérea Hondureña
Dónde
La Mosquitia, Honduras–Nicaragua border
Junto a
Ninguna fuerza aérea aliada
Contra
Nicaragua
Aeronave
Corsair F4U
Salidas
No se encontraron cifras.
Pérdidas
Extraviado.
Fuentes
Wikipedia (es)
La guerra de 1969 con El Salvador (Guerra del Fútbol)Guerra de las Cien HorasFuerza Aérea Hondureña 1969 El Salvador F4U Corsair, T-28 Trojan, C-47 (improvised bomber)y 1 más

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.

Resultado 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.

Volar para
Fuerza Aérea Hondureña
Dónde
Honduras y El Salvador
Junto a
Ninguna fuerza aérea aliada
Contra
El Salvador
Aeronave
F4U Corsair, T-28 Trojan, C-47 (improvised bomber), civil DC-3
Salidas
No se encontraron totales de salidas.
Pérdidas
Honduran air losses were not found. Overall, Honduras’s official figure is 99 killed and 66 injured; El Salvador’s official figure for its own side is 107 killed, 593 injured and three aircraft destroyed. Other estimates of the dead run to 400 (a parish priest) and up to 1,500 (CIA), mostly civilians.
Fuentes
Wikipedia · Wikipedia (es) · Wikipedia (es) · Wikipedia
Interdicción aérea contra vuelos de drogasInterdicción aéreaFuerza Aérea Hondureña Década de 1980 hasta la actualidad organizaciones de narcotráfico F-5E/F, A-37B, King Air 200

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.

Resultado En curso.

The text of Honduras’s interception legislation and any shoot-down policy were not checked; the Infodefensa summary is relied on.

Volar para
Fuerza Aérea Hondureña
Dónde
Honduran airspace, especially the Atlantic coast and Mosquitia
Junto a
United States (JTF-Bravo, attributed)
Contra
organizaciones de narcotráfico
Aeronave
F-5E/F, A-37B, King Air 200
Salidas
No se encontraron cifras.
Pérdidas
None found.
Fuentes
Infodefensa · Infodefensa · Wikipedia (es) · Wikipedia

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Fuentes y lecturas adicionales

Cada cifra, verificada

Cifras verificadas el 1 de octubre de 2026. Back to the Honduran Air Force.