Mexico marks Air Force Day on Friday, February 10, honoring some 11,000 serving elements and a history that dates back to the early years of the Mexican Revolution.
The precursor of the Fuerza Aerea Mexicana (Mexican Air Force) was the Arma de Aviacion Militar (Military Aviation Arm), created in February 1915 by the leader of the Constitutionalist Army, Venustiano Carranza. As civil war raged in Mexico, Carranza used planes purchased in the United States to bomb the targets of his rivals, in particular those of Sonora Governor Alfonso de La Huerta, who would succeed him as president in 1920.
The Air Force played a key role in subsequent rebellions, including a 1929 military coup in Chihuahua that was overcome at the Battle of Jimenez after several days of air raids involving planes that had quickly been made available to the Mexican government by a concerned United States.
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