The 1st Fighter Aviation Group (Portuguese: 1º Grupo de Aviação de Caça, 1st GAvCa) is the first fighter aviation group of the Brazilian Air Force, well known for having participated in the Second World War in the Italian Campaign and in the South Atlantic Campaign, it was created by the first Minister of Aeronautics and first Commander of the Brazilian Air Force, Joaquim Pedro Salgado Filho and Major Nero Moura and aeronautical engineer and Major José Vicente Faria Lima. It is very well known in popular culture for its battle cry, Senta a Púa! (literal translation: "Send a Bullet!")
History
Squadron creation
With the outbreak of World War II in September 1939 after the invasion of Poland, many countries around the world began to get involved, including the United States in 1941 after the attack on Pearl Harbor. After the United States entered the war, it was only a matter of time before Brazil entered the war.
On January 20, 1941, with the intention of strengthening the Brazilian Air Force, the Ministry of Aeronautics was founded by the lawyer and politician Joaquim Pedro Salgado Filho, by Major Nero Moura, by the military engineer José Vicente Faria Lima and others including Nélson Freire Lavanère-Wanderley. Together with the Ministry of Aeronautics, the National Air Force was created, which would later be called Brazilian Air Force (FAB).
The following year, on August 26, 1942, Brazil declared war on Axis forces after a series of attacks on merchant ships and with that began a series of preparations so that Brazil could enter the war, with that on December 18, 1943, Decree No. 6123 was issued, which gave rise to the 1st Fighter Aviation Group (1st GAvCa). The Minister of Aeronautics, Salgado Filho, wanted to choose Faria Lima as Commander of the group, but Nero Moura argued saying that if Faria Lima were shot down they would lose an engineer and aviator, if they lost they would lose only one aviator, so Nero Moura was appointed Commander of the squadron, with Nélson Freire Lavanère-Wanderley as Lieutenant Colonel and Faria Lima as Symbolic Commander for his achievements to create the FAB, acting as Cabinet Officer of the Minister of Aeronautics.
After the leaders of the 1st Fighter Aviation Group were integrated into the new corporation, a training process began so that the air forces were well prepared to go to war, Major Nero Moura went to Orlando to negotiate agreements with the United States government. to begin FAB training internships in Panama and the United States.
Major Nero Moura started a search for pilots who were experts in all flight categories and who wanted to volunteer across the country in the war. Among the new members of the body, the first non-commissioned officers, 16 officers and 16 sergeants were chosen. After the first stage, the second now was that each sergeant and officer was responsible for a task, such as the selection of auxiliaries, the Squadron Leaders and the choice of pilots; to the non-commissioned officers, they were assigned to heads of maintenance, supply, armament, communication, intelligence and also medical service, after the function of each one was established, the 1st Fighter Aviation Group was ready.
Training in Panama and the United States
In January 1944, members of the 1st Fighter Aviation Group went to Orlando, Florida in the United States, did a 60-hour training period using the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighters and adapted to the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) standards at the School of Tactics Aerial. In March of the same year after training began, the group went to Aguadulce in Panama, where Commander Nero Moura was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel; in April of that year, the group had already improved to such an extent that the unit started to operate independently and took part in the Panama Canal Zone Air Defense System complex.
After extensive training, about 110 hours of flight on Curtiss P-40 fighters and dedicated programs for jobs in Panama, the group returned to the United States in June, at Suffolk County Army Air Field in New York, where they were introduced to the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, the newest fighter of the USAAF so far, there the group performed training as hard as Aguadulce's but soon after the course the pilots and support were ready for action.
The pilots of the group went by ship to Italy and landed at the Port of Livorno, on October 6, 1944, and were about to pass the final test, the so-called blood baptism; the planes used by the FAB in the war were taken from the USAAF warehouse.