So my little side project has now pretty much blossomed to the point I may have to put it on a table!
While I work out how that is going to work, here are the Dramatis Personae .
Honduras
Corsairs
These are the real stars of the conflict in that the single squadron provided both air superiority and ground attack functions - and scored the only kills of the war. Honduras had eleven in theory, though probably something like half that were airworthy.
T-28 Trojans
Honduras had two armed Trojans along with a handful of unarmed trainers. The armed versions flew CAP and close support missions, one managed to damage an enemy Corsair and lived to tell the tale.
El Salvador
Corsairs
Like their neighbour the FAS used "vintage" Corsairs, mostly the Goodyear variants, for escort and ground attack duties. They theoretically had several dozen on the books, but maintenance and storage issues meant they only had about six that were operational
Mustangs
This gets complicated. El Salvador has a mixed collection of Mustangs. Most were Trans-Florida F51s - basically a standard P51 but with some tweaks to make them a viable ground attack fighter. There were five planes, new, and the pilots thought them "hot" to handle. They also had one re militarised P51D provided by a private individual said to be in superb condition, and a small number of commercially bought civilian P51s - they actually sent representatives with a suitcase full of $$$ and offered to buy any they could find in the US , then shipped them back to El Salvador to be rearmed. These last P51s only were only operational for the last few hours of the conflict. There was also a dual control F51 which was deliberately flown to Guatemala and interned, to keep it safe as it was the only one available.
Cessnas, C47s and Texans
Both sides used light aircraft and transports as makeshift bombers and light attack planes. For my cunning plan I'm planning on using Cessna 172s and DC3 \ C47s to stand in for both sides. Similarly unarmed T-6 trainers were used as recce and liaison.
Ordnance
The makeshift nature of the aircraft was also reflected in the weapons available. El Salvador was restricted to 100lb (one hundred) GP bombs which they carried on hardpoints on the fighter bombers or rolled out of the door on their C47s. Cessna's carried boxes of 60mm & 81mm mortar bombs on the passenger seat that could be thrown out the door \ window WW1 style. Honduras seems to have been slightly better equipped, with napalm bombs, home made cluster bombs and home made rockets with 81mm mortar warheads, along with 100lb bombs, again carried on hardpoints or rolled out of the cargo door of the C47s.
One particular issue that came up was with the 20mm cannon on the Honduran Corsairs. These were the American copies of the Hispano Mk V beloved of the RAF. In combat they had regular jams, which it was discovered to be caused by trying to fire British surplus 20mm ammunition in US guns. They seemed to work fine in older guns due to barrel wear! This issue was resolved by some ground crew using a lathe to grind down the UK rounds by a mm or so - given these were high explosive incendiary shells the guys doing this must have had balls of steel!
