Aztec Eagles with their P-47 Thunderbolt during the Philippines campaign

Mexican Air Force Captain Radames Gaxiola Andrade and members of the maintenance team photographed in front of a US P-47 Thunderbolt fighter aircraft after returning from a combat mission during the Philippines Campaign in 1945.

The team was part of Mexico’s 201st Fighter Squadron, which assisted the Allied efforts during World War II as part of the Mexican Expeditionary Air Force (the only Mexican military unit ever to fight outside Mexico).

Nicknamed “Aztec Eagles”, the 201st Fighter Squadron was involved in more than 90 combat missions during the Pacific War and is still an active duty squadron to this day.

As for the Philippines campaign, which took place between October 1944 and August 1945, it was a joint operation by US, Mexican, Australian and Filipino forces, led by General Douglas MacArthur, which attempted to expel the Imperial Japanese forces from the Philippines. Codenamed “Operation Musketeer”, the campaign was largely succeeding in its objective, retaking Manila and inflicting massive casualties on the enemy up until the Japanese Army surrendered following the dropping of the atomic bombs.

Book suggestion ⤵️

📖 The Aztec Eagles: The Forgotten Allies of the Second World War (Walter S. Zapotoczny Jr, 2019)