In 1940, after graduating from high school, Vega Santander joined the
Mexican Air Force. He graduated from the Military Aviation School as a
Sub-lieutenant and then served as a special instructor in the aviation school in
Guadalajara,
Jalisco, in 1944. After Mexico declared war against the
Axis powers (
Germany,
Italy and the
Empire of Japan) in May 1942, in March 1945 Mexico sent Sub-lieutenant Fausto Vega Santander's unit, the
201st Fighter Squadron, to the
South Pacific Theatre. The squadron was attached to the
58th Fighter Group of the
United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) during the liberation of the main
Philippines island of
Luzon in the spring of 1945. On 1 June 1945, Santander crashed during
dive bombing practice near Tabones Island, a small islet off
Luzon, near Nagsasa Bay on the
Redondo Peninsula. His aircraft, a
Republic P-47D Thunderbolt, crashed into the sea at high speed and exploded. The USAAF
search and rescue team was not able to locate his body. ==Legacy==