Every year, on April 22nd, the Brazilian Air Force celebrates Fighter Aviation Day. The date is fondly ed by military personnel, researchers and even aviation enthusiasts (like you, dear reader). However, many are unaware of the reason for the date.
Why April 22nd?
Let's go back to 1945!
Even weakened, the Nazi-fascist troops in and Italy continued to resist. The Allied advance was unstoppable, the end of the war was approaching and on April 19th the German front lines were broken in northern Italy. Now the region needed to be properly taken over with the establishment of bridgeheads to prevent an organized retreat of enemy troops.
Between April 21 and 24, 1945, the Air Forces present in the region carried out a huge t effort in interdiction and attack missions against German forces in the Po River region. The Brazilians from the 1st Fighter Aviation Group, the Jambock Squadron, popularly known for its battle cry “Sit a Púa!”, participated in the missions.
Created on December 18, 1943, the 1st GAvCa was born in the midst of the heat of combat, as well as the Brazilian Air Force itself, founded years before in January 1941. Its were all volunteers and the group had already been in combat in Italy since 31 of October 1944.
Employing the Republic P-47D Thunderbolt fighter-bomber, the unit stood out in the theater due to its bravery, precision and number of attack missions carried out. Even with the loss of several pilots – fugitives, refugees, captured and others killed in combat – the Senta a Púa maintained high morale and successfully fulfilled the missions assigned to them.
All this effort reached its peak on April 22, 1945. ing the great Allied offensive to stop the fleeing Germans, the group gave their maximum with only 22 pilots and 23 planes available.
The flights began at 08:30 am on a cold April 22nd with clouds in the middle of the Italian spring, ending at 17:20 pm with the landing of the last flight. According to website data Jambock, historian Vicente Vazquez, at the end of the day, the 1st Hunting Group destroyed or immobilized 35 animal-drawn vehicles, 97 self-propelled vehicles (17 damaged), a car park, 14 buildings, a ferry bridge and a road bridge, having also attacked four other enemy positions.
The effort was herculean. In all, there were 44 sorties, with all pilots having flown twice, along with intense work by the group's mechanics at the base in Pisa. One of the aviators, 2nd Lieutenant Marcos Eduardo Coelho de Magalhães, was shot down and captured, being rescued at the end of the war.
Blue-Ribbon
The 22nd of April of Jambock was unique. With few pilots, few planes and almost no replenishment, the mission was successfully accomplished, and the group's effort was recognized.
The then commander of the 350th Fighter Group – the unit to which the Group was subordinate -, Colonel Ariel W. Nielsen, recommended that the 1st GAvCa receive the Presidential Unit Citation (PUC), an honor given to American units that demonstrate bravery, courage, determination and esprit de corps when facing the enemy in combat.
The PUC is also commonly called the “Blue Ribbon” because of the medal strip used in the uniforms. PUC's badge consists of a blue band surrounded by a golden frame.
According to the website Jambock, the recommendation was sent on May 17, 1945. However, the decoration was only delivered on April 22, 1986. In a ceremony held at Santa Cruz Air Base (currently Wing 12), headquarters of the squadron, the Blue Ribbon was delivered to the unit.
The event was presided over by the then president José Sarney, with the presence of several Jambock veterans. The PUC was delivered by the Secretary of the US Air Force and the US Ambassador.
For a while, the F-5E Tiger II of the 1st Fighter Aviation Group carried a small livery on the tail, celebrating the decoration. Today, modernized F-5EM fighters sport the paint on top of the tail.
The FAB Fighter Aviation will forever carry the feats of all past hunters. All volunteers, they did their best in the mission to protect the whole world from the Nazi-fascist yoke that devastated Europe in World War II.
Site data WW2 In Color point out that, at the end of the fighting, the Senta a Púa destroyed.
- 470 transport vehicles
- 63 rail cars
- 79 animal-drawn vehicles
- 129 enemy buildings
- 43 artillery positions
- 6 fuel tanks
- 1 refinery
- 7 armored
- 4 bridges
- Various other enemy vehicles and infrastructure.
Having used:
- 4180 500 pound bombs
- 166 incendiary bombs
- 88 cluster bombs
- 1.180.200 .50 caliber BMG ammunition
- 850 rockets
“Sentar a Púa: launch yourself against the enemy with decisiveness, a coup d'état and the will to annihilate him. Who's going to sit the prong, don't quibble. He lashes out with red-hot iron and drills the brute.”
Athayde's Austragesyl
