page_title: Guatemalan Air Force
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Guatemalan Air Force / History
caption_attribution_description: English: At Guatemala La Aurora International
context_page_description: The Guatemalan Air Force is a small air force composed mostly of U.S.-made aircraft throughout its history.
  The FAG is a subordinate to the Guatemalan Military and its commanding officer reports to the Defence Minister.
context_section_description: In 1920 a French military aviation mission opened a flying training school. The 'Cuerpo de Aviacion Militar de Guatemala'  was established in 1929 – with pioneer pilots Jacinto Rodríguez Díaz and Miguel Garcia Granados Solís, among others – and started to expand in 1934. The outbreak of World War II hindered any further expansion until 1942, when Guatemala started to receive lend-lease military assistance. Guatemala signed the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance in 1947 at Rio, Brazil. The air force was renamed the Fuerza Aerea Guatemalteca (FAG) in 1948. In the 1960s, the strike aircraft and basic interceptor used was the F-51 Mustang, supplied from surplus US stocks. The first jet aircraft to enter service was the Lockheed T-33 trainer to fight the growing insurgency; the US supplied four jets in 1963, two in 1964 and two more in 1965. In 1965, the US also supplied four armed Sikorsky UH-19B helicopters, the first military helicopters in Central America. In 1967 the FAG acquired five Bell UH-1B and UH-1D helicopters from the US to reinforce its helicopter force. In 1971 the FAG received eight Cessna A-37 Dragonfly fighter-bombers, a Vietnam-proven light attack jet. Seven more A-37s were supplied in 1974 and 1975.
  At the beginning of the 1970s, there was also tension concerning a dispute with the United Kingdom over the territorial status of neighboring British Honduras (now Belize). In 1970, a T-33 overflew Belize City on a photo-reconnaissance mission. In 1971 the FAG forward-deployed seven F-51 Mustangs to an airstrip at Tikal, near the border. Guatemalan C-47 transport aircraft made parachute drops in daylight near the border area. The British reinforced their garrison, but the diplomatic tension eased, and conflict was averted.
  In addition to going after the Maya rebels, the FAG destroyed villages providing support by using bombing and napalm. By 1968 the insurgency was almost neutralized but the cost was an estimated 8,000 civilians killed, so in 1977 the US was pressured to cut off overt military aid due to human rights violations. To circumvent this, Guatemala turned to countries like Argentina, Israel and Switzerland, and the United States continued to supply dual-use aircraft and covertly provided the air force with millions of dollars in overhauls and spare parts for previously purchased aircraft. From Switzerland, twelve Pilatus PC-7 were acquired in 1979–1980 as training aircraft, but they were  also used in combat during the counter-insurgency.
  By the late 1970s the insurgency had been reborn as a mostly Maya peoples rebellion organized around four Maoist-oriented rebel groups, mostly the Guerrilla Army of the Poor. In early 1982 the various guerrilla forces were inflicting 250 casualties per month on the army, so the military again resorted to destroy villages suspected of providing support to the rebels. By the late 1980s an estimated one million Guatemalans had been displaced within their own country and another 250,000 had fled to Mexico and settled in refugee camps there. In the 1980s Guatemala continued to acquire helicopters and airplanes to support the army. In 1981 Guatemala purchased at least 8 Bell 206B civilian helicopters as well as three Aérospatiale Alouettes, which they armed for combat. Four Fokker 27s light transport airplanes were acquired in 1982. Between 1975 and the early 1980s Israel supplied eleven Arava IAI-201 twin engine transport aircraft, which are excellent for small runways and were easily modified as a gunships with the addition of rocket pods and side-mounted machine guns. In the late 1980s France also supplied three Fouga CM.170 Magister jet trainer aircraft, which were also armed and used in combat. Air strikes were launched by A-37 jets and PC-7 armed trainers. One A-37 was lost in combat in 1988 down by ground fire in a close support operation.
    The government also mobilized the nation's civil air fleet and commandeered several Cessna 182 and Cessna 206 with FN or M-60 machine guns fired from the side doors.
  By 1986 the rebellion was considered to be general
caption: Guatemalan Air Force P-51D at Guatemala La Aurora International
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