Mexicans at War: Mexican Military Aviation in the Second World War 1941-1945 (Latin America@War)

This book introduces the reader to an unknown Ally of the Second World War. Few people remember that Mexico, like Brazil, took an active part in that conflict. This volume covers Mexican participation in the Second World War for the first time using photos, documents and testimony from official and personal archives. Mexican nationals or those of Mexican descent were already volunteering for the Allied air forces of the British Commonwealth and the Free French naval and air forces While the Mexican Republic first had to defend both its coasts and its shipping from enemy submarines, using its obsolete general purpose biplanes, following the sinking of Mexican ships by German u-boats the first North American Texan armed trainers entered service in the Gulf of Mexico, earning the title of the ‘Mexican Dive Bomber’. Due to the necessities of the war, the service had to reorganize its aviation assets to be able to receive a larger number of American-built lease aircraft, which started the modernization and reorganization process that is felt even today. The war affected all aspect of Mexican military aviation from tactical units, to training, to logistics and military doctrine. This also led to the establishment of Mexican Naval Aviation which led, in turn, to the creation of its first naval squadron to patrol the Gulf of Mexico. One aspect that the war affected was the training of the new generation of military personnel, some of whom would later see action before the end of the war. As Mexico was securing its coasts and sending aviation personnel to train in the USA, it would later field its fighter squadron to participate in the liberation of the Philippine islands. By the end of the war the Mexican Air Force had experienced its most rapid growth since it was officially established back in February 1915. The text is fully supported by numerous previously unpublished photographs and color profiles showing camouflage and markings.