In 1938 it was renamed the Escuela Militar de Aviación y Fuerza Aérea Hondureña or Military Aviation School and Honduras Air Force, when its first combat aircraft were acquired.

Honduras ratified the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance in 1947, and within the next 10 years the United States supplied new aircraft including 19 Vought F4U Corsair fighter bombers, several Douglas C-47 Skytrain transports, and six North American AT-6C armed- and six T-6G advanced trainers.

The political climate eventually changed and by the mid-1970s the HAF re-equipped with 10 old ex-Yugoslav Canadair CL-13 Mk.4 Sabre, 16 ex-Israeli Dassault Super Mystère B2 and six new Cessna A-37B Dragonfly Counter-insurgency jets; plus several Bell UH-1B and UH-1H Huey Iroquois assault helicopters.

This aircraft (FAH-001) arrived at Toncontín airport on 15 October and was donated to the Honduras Air Force (Fuerza Aérea Hondureña, or FAH) by Taiwan.

Additionally, three air stations located at Catacamas, Alto Aguán (bomb range) and Puerto Lempira airstrips serve as forward operations locations-FOL.