Still south of the border for this one. Interestingly, I found another combat mission for the Viking on July 29th, 1941.
In 1939, Lt. Cmdt. Armando Revoredo Iglesias CAP traveled to the United States to oversee the purchase of new aircraft, among which were the Vought V-187. The Vought V-187-PE was an export version of the Viking for the Cuerpo Aeronáutico del Perú. A total of ten V-187-PEs were built (company numbers 1612 to 1621). On June 1st, 1939 the first three aircraft took off from the Vought factory, commanded by Revoredo himself, for their over 7,000 mile delivery flight to Lima. They arrived on the 5th of June after a direct flight from Panama, landing at Limatambo Airport at 5:45pm. After arriving, they were assigned to the XXXI Escuadrón de Información Estratégica y Ataque "Zorros" (31st Strategic Reconnaissance and Attack Squadron "Foxes") based in Las Palmas.
In early 1940 the Peruvian government decided to use the Viking for a goodwill flight throughout South America. Five V-187-PEs from the "Zorros" were chosen for this flight, once again under the command of Armando Revoredo Iglesias, now promoted to Comandante de Aeronáutica. The flight began on Saturday March 23rd, 1940 with the Lima-Quito leg, then proceeded to Bogota, Panama, Caracas, Paramaribo, Belém do Pará, Rio de Janeiro, Asuncion, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Santiago, and La Paz, finally getting back to Lima on May 3, being greeted by a large crowd at Limatambo having flown a total of 11,000 miles.
In July 1941, the Vikings of XXXI Squadron would have their baptism of fire in the Ecuadorian–Peruvian War. The "Zorros" took part in reconnaissance flights, bombing Ecuadorian positions, and even providing air cover for the airborne landing that seized the Ecuadorian port city of Puerto Bolívar, on July 27, 1941. This was the first time in the Americas that airborne troops were used in combat. On July 29th, the 92 Escuadrilla of the XXXI was chosen for an attack on the Arenillas Bridge and Santa Rosa Central Railroad. Lt. Cmdt. Manuel Polidoro García piloted XXXI-92-1 in this attack which caused considerable damage to the bridge and rail line.
By the way, anyone interested in that actual combat history of the Douglas 8A-3Ps from the Ecuadorian-Peruvian War of July 1941 should really check out this awesome color footage on YouTube.
Cheers,
Logan