What's happening with the FAD?

[Porfio_Rubirosa]

Luis,

I am willing to stand corrected on many points. Are you sure about the Vampire jets operating in the '65 revolution?

The question I have, then, is the degree to which the DR military declined from 1961 to 1964. The FACT is that Bosch felt he did not have the military might to attack Haiti or project forces. he also did not feel that he had a functioning navy, and was looking for Venezuela's help in this regard. Are we really to believe that the military collapsed from the most powerful in the region to one incapable of attacking pathetic Haiti in three years??? Or did the collapse begin in the later years of Trujillo himself?

Porfirio Rubirosa:
The Dominican Army in 1961 to 1964 was in better condition to handle Haiti 100%. In addition to that, Bosch was ready to buy 25 Hawker Hunter fighter bombers that were in England just to be shipped over. And the reason that he did not authorized the deal because there were several generals who will benefits from the deal and Bosch killed the deal. Also, they wanted to buy the Hunter because Cuba received a shipment of MIG-21. In addition, Haiti only had around 10 M3 Stuart Tanks, who knows how many were actually working since they were in service since 1943, Dominican Republic had 12 AMX-13 brand new Battle Tank, 24 L-60, 13 Lynx and 4 M3 Stuarts. In addition, The Haitin Air Corp only have 6 Mustang F-51, conpared to at least 12 Mustang F-51 and around 18 or 24 Vampire, and 4 B-26 Invander from the FAD that were in active service between 1961 and 1964. By 1964, all the surviving Mustang and Vampire received an overhaul financed by the US MAP Program, at the start the Civil War 40 aircraft (between Mustang and Vampire) were in good condition and were modified in Florida by Cavalier and the Vampires in San Isidro.

Visit my web site www.fuerzasmildom.com and read about the Mustang and the Vampire, there are several photos of the Vampires after 1965. One was in Santiago in 1968, you can see several of them parked next to each other.
During 1965 to 1974, there were 10 Vampires in flying condition and the number was reduced even futher in 1974.

They participated in the Dominican Civil War. The only aircraft that did not participated in the Civil War were 4 B-26 Invander that were in service. General Wessin thought to use them to bomb Ciudad Nueva, but the American did not allow him to achieve that. The aircraft that were used by the FAD were Mustang F-51, armed AT-6 Texan and FB-5 Vampires. May be you are refering to the Vampire MK1 that were in service until 1963 (I believe), those MK1 were retired before the civil war and were used as spare parts. DR bought 25 MK1 and around 20-25 FB-5 in 1953-54.

Another thing, according with the American Historian Dan Hagerdorn, in his book Latin American Mustang, the government of Haiti locked the machine guns of their Mustang because Duvalier did not trust his generals.

[Ogre of the Caribbean]

i'm currently reading several books on haiti and papa doc. papa doc realized quickly that the haitian army was always a threat to any government and quickly set up a rival army, the para military ton ton macote. personally loyal to papa doc, and eventually better armed than the regular haitian army, the ton ton macote kept papa doc firmly in power. eventually most of the army would not even have access to heavy weapons and ammunition. papa doc would move most of the weapons and ammo to the dessalines barracks complex next to his presidential palace.

when did the dominican navy get rid of the 2 destroyers and 7 frigates? were they sold off to another country or just scrapped?

i was rereading some books on the DR army under trujillo. there were american military advisors who desribed trujillo's army as "well trained, highly disciplined". the officer corps was highly praised. i have never read anything that claimed that trujillo created an ineffective army.

trujillo was a bad person. but he was always an extremely disciplined and proficient soldier. he graduated at the top of his cadet class and by all accounts, the marine corps officers in charge of his training all described him as being the "best" officer in the dominican republic. he was "tireless" and hard working. one of his personal secretatries published a book 1-2 years after his assassination in which he described trujillo's work schedule. it was gruelling. he had extremely high standards and his officer corps and army were reflections of that highly dicsiplined personality. and to some degree, some elements of it(the SIM) reflected trujillo's cruelty. trujillo was once asked how he stayed in power despite all the enemies he had. trujillo answered that he "worked harder than any of his enemies".

is the modern DR army still considered highly disciplined and well trained? is it still considered a prestige job to be an officer in the dominican army?

Joel
You are right you can see this is www.fuerzasmildom.com
This is the list of mayor ships from 1947 to 1999

- Destroyer Sanchez(1961-1969)/ Ex-Generalisimo (1949 to 1961)/HMS Fame H-78 (1934-1949). Flag ship of the Dominican Navy until from 1949 to 1969. She participated in the bombarment of Santo Domingo in 1965. After Trujillo's death it was rename Sanchez. Armed with 3x 4.7in cannons, 1x 3in cannon, 6x 40mm automatic cannon antiaircraft, 4x torpedoes tubes and several antisubmarine Depth charge with sonar

- Destroyer Duarte (1961-1972)/Trujillo (1949 to 1961) / HMS Hotspur (1935 - 1949). Second Destroyer bought in the UK by Trujillo. She also participated in the bombarrment of Santo Domingo in 1965. Rename Duarte in 1961. Same type of armament as the Destroyer Sanchez.

- Fragate Mella (1961-1999)/Presidente Trujillo (1946-1961)/ HMCS CarlPlace (1944-1946). Bought brand new in Canada. And was armed in Dominican Republic by Dominican and Italian naval engineers. Flag ship of the Dominican Navy from 1970 to 1999 after Destroyers Sanchez and Duarte were retired. Also participated in the bombardment of Santo Domingo in 1965. Armed with 1x4in cannon, 1x12pound cannon, 4x 20mm antiaircraft automatic cannons. Retired in 1999, the Navy may make a museum out of her.

-Fragate General Gregorio Luperon(1961-1979) /Presidente Troncoso(1947-1961)/ USS Knoxville (1943-1947). Participated as a submarine hunter during WWII sold to DR in 1947 relative new ship only 3 years old. Partcipated during the invasion of dominican exiliates of July 14 1959 alone with the Dominican patrol boats that sunk in from of Puerto Plata the boats Tinina and Carmen Elsa which had abord the guerrilla that came from Cuba during the invasion. She was armed with 3x3in/50 cannon, antisubmarine Depth charge, 2 40mm automatic cannon (antiaircraft), fire control by radar, 6x 20mm automatic cannon (antiaircraft), sonar. rename Luperon after 1961.

- Fragate Juan Pablo Duarte (1948-1949)/HMCS ANNAN bought in Canada in 1948 similar to Fragate Mella or Presidente Trujillo was armed in Dominican Republic. Trujillo bought this ship from a friend of his Louis Moore that bought her as his personal ship. In 1949, she had an accident in Puerto Plata's Port and sold to Felix Benitez, an puerto rican engineer who repaired her and use her as his personal yacht rename MOINEAU.

-Fragate Capitan General Pedro Santana (1961-1979)/Presidente Paynado (1947-1961)/ USS Pueblo (1943-1947) Similar to Gregorio Luperon /Presidente Troncoso, only was 3 years old when she was transfered to the Dominican Republic. Rename in 1962 General Pedro Santana was in service until 1979. Ended in Metaldom.

- there were 4 Corvette class Flower 2, made in Canada all made between 1943 and 1945 bought by the Dominican Republic in January and February 1947 unarmed, they were armed by Dominican naval engineers. Their names:
Juan Bautista Maggiolo(retired in 1972)
Juan Alejandro Acosta(retired in 1979)
Colon(retired in 1979)
Juan Cambiasco(retired in 1972)

Armed with 1x4in Vickers cannon, 1x40mm automatic cannon with electronic fire control,6x20mm automatic cannon antiaircraft, several antisubmarine depth charges and sonar.

The Army had good trained and also Trujillo brought mercenaries from Italy to train a Naval Comandoes Unit know as Hombre Rana,also there were Brazilians, Americans, and Ex-German SS officers mercenaries that trained our Armed Forces.

Please check my website and you guys will have an idea of our military power during Trujillo's Era.

[Ogre of the Caribbean]

luis, i don't understand spanish. i just scan through the pictures on your website. that is why i was asking.

when the destroyers were retired in the 1970's, were they scrapped? or were they sold off?

you didn't mention the fate of the destroyers.

All were scrapped at Metal Dominicana (MetalDom), the only ship that did not was scrapped was Fragate Mella ( Fragate Juan Pablo Duarte was sold after one year of service as I mentioned in my comments above).

[Ogre of the Caribbean]

what happened to trujillo's yacht, angelita?

how many cadets attend the dominican miltary academy?