Despite US refusals to supply even piston-engined fighters designed at the times of the WWII to Dominican Republic, in the early 1950s, Trujillo obtained permission to buy 25 Republic F-47D Thunderbolt fighter-bombers. These entered service with the Fighter-Bomber Squadron, which operated several different flights, each of which marked its aircraft with specific colour - red, green, yellow, or blue - applied on engine cowlings, wing-tips and the top of the fins.