Corsairs vs. Mustangs: e last dogfi ght BY CHUCK LYFORD WITH BARRETT TILLMAN was seated in fi rst class enjoying a cocktail at I 33,000 feet, looking west at the vast Pacifi c Ocean en route to Guatemala on a Pan Am 707 when a thought passed: “I sure hope this isn’t a one-way trip.” THE SOCCER WAR 16 fl ightjournal.com soccer war.indd 16 9/6/12 10:25 AM It was the summer of 1969. But while the Paine Field, Washington, and fl ew around the Vietnam War proceeded, an unlikely feud was area with great glee. brewing in Central America. As time went on, I learned to fl y formation, For me, it started with a middle-of-the night do aerobatics, and tail chase through the call from my fl ying partner and good friend, mountains and clouds of the Northwest. Ben Ben Hall. “Chuck, I just got a call from a contact and I started doing fl ight demonstrations that in El Salvador, and they are at war with their turned into an airshow act called “Mustang Air neighbor Honduras.” With few details, the call Shows.” For years we did those shows all over was an inquiry to see if any qualifi ed American the western U.S. and Canada. P-51 pilots could help out. Before I heard much In 1969, I was 29 years old with about 3,500 more I said, “Count me in.” I knew this was an hours total time including 950 in warbirds and opportunity for a really grand adventure. 800 in Mustangs, so I felt confi dent. However, Ben said our next move would be to get on since neither Ben nor I had any combat an early United fl ight to San Francisco and meet experience, we thought it would be wise to representatives from the Salvadoran Air Force include someone who had been in combat and (FAS) at the Mark Hopkins Hotel. could give us some training. Ben had fl own in Ben Hall was one of my greatest mentors. the Army Air Corps during WW II and received I started fl ying Mustangs when I was 19 and some training in the concepts of dogfi ghting. would trade engine work that I had learned So we placed a late-night call to our friend and while boat racing for fl ight time. While at fellow Mustang pilot, Bob Love. San Jose State, I purchased my fi rst airplane, a Bob was an F-86 ace in Korea with six MiGs P-51D, fresh from the California Air National to his credit, and had fl own my P-51 racer, the Guard. I would never have learned how to fl y Bardahl Special, in the fi rst Reno pylon race in that airplane as well as I did without Ben. We 1964. He was a great stick and extremely kept our two airplanes in adjoining hangars at aggressive. His only drawback was Roy Grinnell’s rendering of Hon- duras Captain Fernando Soto’s fi rst victory of the 1969 “Soccer War,” an El Salvadoran P-51D. Soto also downed two Corsairs later that day. THE SOCCER WAR DECEMBER 2012 17 soccer war.indd 17 9/6/12 10:25 AM the soccer war his vision. He just wouldn’t as we climbed south out of Guatemala City. The wear glasses, so we often had mood in the airplane was one of exhilaration. to repair the airplane from We had not been shot or arrested! I scanned the collisions with power lines and airplane to locate the instruments, found a chart, bushes. During the Reno race and checked the fuel. Then I introduced myself to he lapped the entire field in six my copilot Eduardo who didn’t speak English, but laps but cut four pylons and was he was very nice and smiled a lot. Ben was in the penalized one lap for each cut. back seat with our mechanic, Chuck Hassen. Bob knew many of the folks in Now to navigate. Fortunately, Ben had been El Salvador and said he would living in El Salvador with his wife Ester so he go south with us. We instantly could communicate with Eduardo. I got a heading appointed him our leader, and and altitude as the late afternoon sun was setting he joined us the next day. over the Pacific. However, the beautiful orange When Ben and I sunset illuminated one of the biggest masses of arrived at the San Francisco thunderstorm I ever saw, all hunched over the meeting, we were met by little country of El Salvador. All nav aids were shut Ernesto and Roberto, later to down due to the war so we had to DR. become good friends. They To condense a long-long night, we settled had been commissioned by the in some farmland, still in Guatemala, and FAS to hire some experienced resumed our flight to El Salvador the next day. In Mustang pilots because their daylight, the countryside combined with volcanic Chuck Lyford flew the Bardahl current pilots had not received enough training mountains was absolutely beautiful. We were able Special to second place in the 1965 Reno unlimited champion- in the new Trans-Florida Cavalier P-51s. Ernesto to contact the San Salvador tower, and during our ship, clocking 362mph. (Photo Regalado and Roberto Llach were unable to tell us descent we were jumped by a camouflaged Corsair courtesy of author) we jumped into a piper aztec ... as i pulled up to the runway, a THE truck with flashing lights tried to cut me off. i turned back FOOTBALL sharply and took off on the taxiway. we never called the tower WAR A simmering border much about the conflict, and pointed to a Texaco that popped in view at our 4 o’clock high. We dispute between road map indicating the problems were in an area knew that Honduras had Corsairs, but no one told Honduras and El Salvador on the eastern border. Not much to go on, but the us that El Salvador also had some Goodyear FG-1s. erupted in the aftermath compensation was generous, so we were all on the We learned that the FG had been sent to look for of a soccer game afternoon Pan Am to Guatemala. us, expecting wreckage due to our failure to arrive between the national We deplaned at La Aurora Airport in Guatemala last night. teams in 1969. On July City and entered the transient lounge with forged 14, during the North American qualifying boarding passes indicating that we were traveling Arrival in a war zone round for the World to Panama City. We were whisked down a stairway We landed at Ilopango, San Salvador’s main Cup, El Salvador’s army at 90-second intervals and slipped out to the ramp, airport, and it became overwhelmingly clear that attacked Honduras. The trying not to look like a group. Each time the guard this was a country at war. Anti-aircraft guns ringed reasons were varied, but opened the door, our escort handed him a wad of the airport and everyone had weapons pointed in centered upon cross- Yankee dollars. We were told to casually walk to nearly every direction. The main hangar had been border immigration bombed and was still smoking. and economic factions. two twin-engine aircraft with pilots standing by. Fighting continued for I was last. All of a sudden from up on the second- We were greeted by Maj. Salvador Henriquez four days, then the floor balcony, an airport guard started yelling in and Archie Baldocchi, considered the father of Organization of American Spanish. I could tell by his intensity and emotions, the FAS. They asked if we needed anything before States brokered a cease as well as the automatic weapon slung across his our briefing. I mentioned that a shower would be fire on the 20th. Overall, body, that we were being challenged to halt. My nice, and some breakfast. It had been a long, bug- the larger Salvadoran infested night! army inflicted heavier escort yelled at me to run and took off. I thought, losses than it sustained. “Whoa…this doesn’t look like a good idea,” but Bob Love and our hosts arrived about a half Military-civilian fatalities I found myself running at full speed rather than an hour later. They had encountered the same are indefinite but appear being alone on the ramp. After a 60-yard sprint weather and landed at a private strip featuring a on the order of 900 we jumped into a Piper Aztec; I was told to pilot splendid dinner and cocktails. Trust an ace to find Salvandorians to 2,000 the plane. The Salvadorian in the right seat had the bed of roses! or more Hondurans. started the engines and we split pronto. The other Our briefing was presented by Maj. Enriquez The OAS arranged for Honduras to plane with Bob and our escorts was already rolling and the exec, Maj. Peli Regalado. We learned that withdraw from occupied down the runway, but as I pulled up to the runway, the ground fighting during the first days had been Salvadorian territory in a truck with flashing lights tried to cut me off. I intense with loss of many troops strafed in buses August, and a treaty was turned back sharply and took off on the taxiway. and the loss of aircraft amounted to almost one- signed 11 years later. We never called the tower. fourth of the active El Sal fighters.