Latin America has always been an area that are rife with political instability. Often this leads to coups or civil wars. There have been many reasons given for this but it is fairly agreed that much of the cause has been a vast difference between those who run the country and the citizens. This usually means corruption between government officials and the money people of the nation, who usually own most of the land, the industrial base and various other means of production. This also includes those who head the various branches of the military and it is no surprise that many of the coup attempts and successes come at the hands of the military. With all this corruption it is not surprising that rarely does US democracy succeed in this environment.

The Dominican Republic is one of those places. While fairly stable for many years, in the mid-1960s, things began to sour. The US had been supporting the country for many years and much of its military equipment was ex-WWII surplus. Aviation-wise, it is probably not surprising that a fair number of the warbirds flying in the 1970s and even today were sourced from there.

So concerned was the US about the unrest in the country during this time, that a large contingent of aircraft, troops, ships, and the supplies needed was sent there to try to stifle the unrest. For the most part, this was successful as most of the trouble was in and around the capital city. What that meant was the country was fairly stable for a while so the political situation could be brought to an amenable conclusion.

This initial volume provides not only a background history of the Dominican Republic, but an in depth look at the equipment operated by their various miitary branches. Much of this part looks at the Air Force and includes a goodly number of color period photos of the types in service. The authors have also done a commendable job taking what is often a convoluted story and having it make sense. As always with these books, a large number of full color profiles along with helpful maps are included. In all, a very nicely done book that I enjoyed reading.

September 2026

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