[1] The squadron was attached to the 58th Fighter Group of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) during the liberation of the main Philippine island of Luzon in the summer of 1945.

The pilots flew Republic P-47D-30-RA Thunderbolt single-seat fighter aircraft carrying out tactical air support missions.

The Escuadrón Aéreo de Pelea 201 (201st Air Fighter Squadron) was composed of more than 300 volunteers; roughly 30 were experienced pilots and the rest were groundcrew.

These attacks prompted President Manuel Ávila Camacho to declare war on the Axis powers on May 22, 1942, and to join Brazil as the only two Latin American countries to actually send military forces overseas.

In charge of the group was Colonel Antonio Cárdenas Rodríguez, and Captain First Class Radamés Gaxiola Andrade was named squadron commander.

The squadron arrived in Manila on April 30, 1945, and was assigned as part of the Fifth Air Force, attached to the U.S. 58th Fighter Group, based at Porac, Pampanga, in the Clark Field complex on the island of Luzon.

In a military parade in the Zócalo the Fighter Squadron delivered the Mexican flag to President Manuel Ávila Camacho.

The Escuadrón Aéreo de Pelea 201 is still an active duty squadron, flying the Pilatus PC-7 from Cozumel, Quintana Roo, and saw extensive counter-insurgency service during the 1994 uprising in Chiapas.

Pilot marked by three asterisks (***) was killed in a low altitude gunnery training exercise in March 1945 near Harlingen AAF in Texas.