At the end of the United States occupation of the Dominican Republic, which lasted from 1916 to 1924, General Horacio Vásquez was elected president.

To achieve this, a group of engineers and cadets were sent to an aviation school located in La Habana to form the basis for the new air branch.

Whilst granting base facilities to the United States during World War II the Dominican Republic received limited quantities of Lend-Lease military equipment.

After signing the Rio Treaty 1947 the Dominican Republic received large quantities of aircraft, for example 25 P-47D fighter-bomber and 30 AT-6 trainers from the United States.

In 1952, 25 Vampires and 32 North American P-51D were bought from Sweden but similar purchases from Canada and Japan were again blocked by the United States.

In January 2015 the president of the Anti-narcotics agency announced that a Tecnam MMA (Multi Mission Aircraft) would be acquired for maritime surveillance.

A Cessna Citation 501 was imported to the Dominican Republic and officially handed over to the Air Force on 14 May 2022 in two-tone tactical grey camouflage as serial 3505.