Every war Nicaragua’s air force has fought
The National Guard air force that bombed insurgent districts of Chinandega, León and Estelí in September 1978 was the predecessor of today’s service; the finding that it used its firepower indiscriminately is the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights’. In the Contra war the Mi-25 losses come from English Wikipedia and are not confirmed by the Nicaraguan army. The International Court of Justice found in 1986 that the United States had violated international law by supporting the Contras; Americas Watch and Human Rights Watch accused the Contras of systematic abuses of civilians, while Wikipedia records that human rights bodies found little evidence of the most extreme types of abuse by the Sandinista state. 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 the National Guard’s bombing of the cities in 1978 to the Contra war of the 1980s.
| Конфликт | Годы | Против | Основной самолет | Вылазки | Самолет потерян | |
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| The Nicaraguan Revolutionthe insurrection against SomozaNational Guard air force (Fuerza Aérea de la Guardia Nacional) | 1978–1979 | Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) | National Guard aircraft and helicopters (types not itemised in the IACHR report) | |||
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Bombed and rocketed insurgent-held districts of Nicaraguan cities in support of the National Guard. During the insurrection of September 1978 the National Guard used its air arm against the cities that rose. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, reporting on 17 November 1978, recorded testimony from Chinandega of a plane that flew very low and fired rockets, from León of helicopters and planes diving to drop shrapnel, bombs and rockets, and from Estelí of the air force bombing the Calvario, San Antonio and José Benito Escobar neighbourhoods; it also recorded a helicopter attack that killed two people in a Red Cross pickup. Its finding was that it was totally convinced the Guard had used its firepower indiscriminately, causing a great number of casualties and tremendous suffering to the civilian population, and had ordered people to stay in their homes before the bombing rather than allowing them to evacuate. The regime fell ten months later. Исход Somoza resigned on 17 July 1979; the FSLN entered Managua on 19 July. Most of the Guard’s US-trained pilots left the country, and the Sandinistas built a new air force from the aircraft left behind. The IACHR’s conclusions are reported as the Commission’s findings. Aircraft types and numbers used by the Guard in 1978–1979 were not confirmed in the sources checked.
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| The Contra Warthe war against the Nicaraguan ResistanceSandinista Air Force and Air Defence (FAS-DAA) | 1981–1990 | Contras (Nicaraguan Resistance), backed by the United States | Mi-25, Mi-8, Ми-17и еще 3 | |||
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Helicopter assault, gunship support and transport for the Sandinista Popular Army; interception of Contra supply aircraft; ground-based air defence. The Contra war was a helicopter war. Soviet Mi-8s and Mi-17s carried Sandinista troops to the border regions, and the Mi-25 gunships that arrived in the mid-1980s, 12 or perhaps 18 of them, attacked Contra columns and, being fast, could also catch the light aircraft that supplied the insurgents. The Contras, operating from Honduras and Costa Rica with US backing, answered with shoulder-launched missiles. Sandinista air defence scored the war’s best-known kill on 5 October 1986, when an SA-7 brought down the C-123 N4410F; the two pilots and a Nicaraguan radio operator died and the American cargo handler Eugene Hasenfus was captured, sentenced to 30 years on 15 November 1986 and pardoned on 17 December. The Reagan administration and the CIA denied any connection with the flight, though Secretary of State Shultz acknowledged support for private Contra aid; Nicaragua’s defence minister said the sentence was aimed at the US government’s policy, not at Hasenfus. In Nicaragua v. United States (1986) the International Court of Justice found that the United States had violated international law by supporting the Contras. Americas Watch and Human Rights Watch accused the Contras of systematic abuses of civilians, while Wikipedia records that human rights bodies found little evidence of the most extreme types of abuse by the Sandinista state. Исход Ended in 1990, after Violeta Chamorro’s election victory; the army and air force were then cut deeply. Loss figures for the Mi-25s come from English Wikipedia and are not confirmed by the Nicaraguan army; the weapon credited (Stinger or Redeye) differs between articles. The Honduran account of the border interception is reported as Wikipedia gives it.
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Поисковый запрос не дал результатов.
Все цифры проверены.
- Ejército de Nicaragua: Fuerza Aérea – Reseña históricaOfficial history: founded 31 July 1979 as Fuerza Aérea Sandinista y Defensa Antiaérea (FAS-DAA) with abandoned Guard aircraft; Mi-8s from 1980; An-2, UH-1H, Marchetti and Alouette 1981–1984; Mi-8, Mi-17, Mi-25, Mi-2, An-26 and An-2 by 1984; severe reduction after 1990; list of seven commanders 1979–2011.
- Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Nicaragua (17 November 1978), chapter IIFinding that the National Guard used aerial bombardment and heavy artillery indiscriminately against cities in September 1978, with testimony from Chinandega, León and Estelí.
Данные проверены 01.10.2026. Back to the Nicaraguan Air Force.