Hostilities began on July 3rd when two Honduran T-28 armed trainers forced down a civilian Piper Cherokee light aircraft, which was believed to be scouting for a Salvadorean invading force in the north-western frontier zone.

On the same day Salvadorean ground forces fired on a Honduran civilian DC-3 aircraft as it took of from the airstrip at Nueva Ocotepeque, just inside the Honduran frontier. Nine days later, in accordance with a pre-arranged plan, the major combat elements of the Honduran Air Force were dispersed from their usual base at Toncontin, outside Tegucigalpa, to San Pedro Sula, to the northwest.

On July 14th the Salvadorean Air Force attempted to carry out a pre-emptive strike, bombing Tegucigalpa with a single unescorted C-47, hastily converted into a make-shift bomber, whilst the 8 available Salvadorean fighter-bombers [two crashed into each other on take off and a third lost its way, ending up in Guatemala) carried out strikes against Toncontin, Juticalpa and Choluteca.

The Honduran Air Force, which was not equipped for night flying, was unable to react until the following morning when it bombed El Salvador's sole military air base at Ilopango, outside San Salvador, with a C-47, also hastily adapted as a bomber.

In the early hours of July 15th, whilst the Honduran C-47 carried out its rather futile bombing mission over Ilopango, Toncontin was again attacked by a Salvadorean Corsair and a Mustang, both aircraft fleeing before 2 Honduran T-28s and a single Corsair, the guns of which jammed when it attempted to close with the interlopers.

That afternoon a flight of 4 Honduran Corsairs attacked Ilopango, destroying an obsolete training aircraft on the ground and proceeding to shoot up the port of La Union an destroy El Salvador's vital oil storage depot at Acajutla which was set ablaze and continued to burn throughout the official four-day duration of the war.

El Salvador-Honduras Football War of 1969

Introduction
Part One: Background
Part Two: The Opposing Forces
Part Three: The Air War
Part Four: El Salvador Invades Honduras
Part Five: The Cost