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"ZAPATA"
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| 742 Squadron received, along with the first F-86K Sabre interceptor aircraft in 1961, instruction from US pilots, who were World War II veterans and who perceived that the Germans were very reckless in the aerial maneuvers, for which they indicated that the Germans under their charge were ”more crazy than those pilots of the Mexican Air Force”. |
| They referred to the 201st Fighter Squadron (Escuadrón Aéreo de Pelea 201) "Aztec Eagles", Mexican Expeditionary Air Force, whose 38 combat pilots distinguished themselves in the war against Japan in 1945 as part of the 58th Fighter Group of the United States Army Air Forces. |
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| The German pilots, undoubtedly impregnated with the good humor of the military aviators, adopted Emiliano Zapata as a coat of arms and baptized the 742 as the “Viva Zapata” Squadron. |
| On September 9, 1971, the Mexican military attache in Germany formally authorized the 742 Squadron to use the image of the Morelense caudillo on its emblem, as well as to use the callsigns “Zapata” and “Zapatas”. |
| Emiliano Zapata Salazar (8 August 1879 – 10 April 1919) was a Mexican revolutionary. He was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920, the main leader of the people's revolution in the Mexican state of Morelos, and the inspiration of the agrarian movement called Zapatismo. |
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