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THANK YOU!!! I posted this twice, figured that maybe one of our French speaking members might know something!Hi Joe, I'd never heard of this before, so I did some digging and found this:
"Wishing to make some original "aviation" envelopes on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the end of the Spanish Civil War, I decided to commemorate the landing of Republican aircraft in France on February 6, 1939.
"Below, profile that I made of the Polikarpov I-16 CM-244 based on a photo of the aircraft published in Docavia n°8. During the fall of Catalonia in February 1939, many Republican planes sought refuge in France. Among these was the Polikarpov I-16 CM-244 which took off from Villajuiga with the CM-193 and 202 and landed on its stomach near Bordeaux on February 6, 1939.
"Based on the field of Vilajuiga, the last Republican airfield in the northern zone, José FALCO took off on February 6, 1939 at the controls of the Polikarpov I-15 CA-205 to try to reach the Toulouse Francazal airfield in France. He was accompanied by the I-15 CA-077 and CA-230. Attacked by Messerschmitt 109 of the J-88 squadron, José FALCO shot down two of them before having to re-land in disaster on his starting ground. José FALCO, ace of the Spanish Republican Aviation with 8 victories, will still join France with the hundreds of thousands of refugees of the Retirada and will remain there until his death in 2014."
Apparently a Republican DC-2 landed in France in March 1939, too. From here:
06/02/1939 : CHATO et MOSCA sur la FRANCE
Désireux de réaliser quelques enveloppes ''aviation'' originales à l'occasion du 80eme anniversaire de la fin de la guerre d'Espagne...philatelie-aviation.blogspot.com
Andrés García La Calle landed at Toulouse-Francazal aerodrome and was interned in a rather nasty concentration camp near Perpignan.
Photos might be difficult to come by, but there is a magazine reference above, Docavia No.8.
I hope this helps a little.
Well it turns out I totally brain farted and remembered I had this book in my library! It is in French but I'll go through it. I'm interested in finding out what France did with all the I-15s and I-16s. So far I seen that some of the larger aircraft (DC-2s) were returned to Spain.Hi Joe, I'd never heard of this before, so I did some digging and found this:
"Wishing to make some original "aviation" envelopes on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the end of the Spanish Civil War, I decided to commemorate the landing of Republican aircraft in France on February 6, 1939.
"Below, profile that I made of the Polikarpov I-16 CM-244 based on a photo of the aircraft published in Docavia n°8. During the fall of Catalonia in February 1939, many Republican planes sought refuge in France. Among these was the Polikarpov I-16 CM-244 which took off from Villajuiga with the CM-193 and 202 and landed on its stomach near Bordeaux on February 6, 1939.
"Based on the field of Vilajuiga, the last Republican airfield in the northern zone, José FALCO took off on February 6, 1939 at the controls of the Polikarpov I-15 CA-205 to try to reach the Toulouse Francazal airfield in France. He was accompanied by the I-15 CA-077 and CA-230. Attacked by Messerschmitt 109 of the J-88 squadron, José FALCO shot down two of them before having to re-land in disaster on his starting ground. José FALCO, ace of the Spanish Republican Aviation with 8 victories, will still join France with the hundreds of thousands of refugees of the Retirada and will remain there until his death in 2014."
Apparently a Republican DC-2 landed in France in March 1939, too. From here:
06/02/1939 : CHATO et MOSCA sur la FRANCE
Désireux de réaliser quelques enveloppes ''aviation'' originales à l'occasion du 80eme anniversaire de la fin de la guerre d'Espagne...philatelie-aviation.blogspot.com
Andrés García La Calle landed at Toulouse-Francazal aerodrome and was interned in a rather nasty concentration camp near Perpignan.
Photos might be difficult to come by, but there is a magazine reference above, Docavia No.8.
I hope this helps a little.
Well it turns out I totally brain farted and remembered I had this book in my library! It is in French but I'll go through it. I'm interested in finding out what France did with all the I-15s and I-16s. So far I seen that some of the larger aircraft (DC-2s) were returned to Spain.
Excellent and once again many thanks! Between the book I "rediscovered" and this information, I'm going to have to digest all this. I'm looking to do some modeling of an I-16 and CR-32 side by side. I did a CR 32 many years ago but it got destroyed during some moves.I found the following, which explains what happened to the Moscas that went to France:
"On 31 March 1939, the Spanish Republic surrended to the Nationalists.
At that time there were no longer serviceable I-16s in the Central Sector, but many intact ones were found at the High Speed Fighter Training Camp at El Carmoli near Cartagena; further fifteen planes were built with parts of Moscas found in the Servicio de Aviacion y Fabrication SAF-15 factory at Alicante. Seven further I-16s were returned from France to Spain."
From here:
This guy's site is a mine of useful information on the I-16.
Again many thanks!