Spanish Civil War: Republican Air Force (FARE)

gekho · Aug 13, 2010

One Model 281 was sold to Spain in 1935 for evaluation as a possible successor to the Nieuport-Delage NiD-52 fighter that was then the backbone of the Spanish air service. Delivered to Barajas, in Madrid, without armament on March 10, 1935, the Boeing fighter was test-flown by Boeing and Spanish military pilots. Boeing's asking price of 500,000 pesetas per plane ultimately resulted in the Spanish government's decision to reject the 281 and instead obtain a license from the British Hawker Aircraft Company for Hispano Suiza to produce 50 Hawker Spanish Fury biplane fighters.

The Boeing 281 was still at Barajas when the Spanish Civil War broke out on July 18, 1936, and was hastily armed with two .303 Vickers machine guns under the wings for front-line service with the Republican forces. Operating from Getafe airfield, it saw considerable action against the fascist rebels, on one occasion flying in formation with a Spanish Fury, four Dewoitine D.372s, two Loire 46s and two Nieuport-Delage NiD-52s. Republican air strength at Getafe was down to one Fury, one Dewoitine and the Boeing 281 by mid-October 1936. Then, on October 21, Ramón Puparelli, one of the Boeing fighter's original test pilots, took it up to defend the airfield against three enemy Fiat CR.32s, only to be shot down. Puparelli managed to bail out. Some time later, the Spanish Republican government, which had never actually bought the prototype, finally paid $20,000 to Boeing representative Wilbur Johnson, through its embassy in Paris, for the 281's use in combat.

gekho · Aug 14, 2010

Many Vultees found their way to the Spanish Civil War. At least 16 V1-As and V1-ADs were shipped to Spain and used by both sides. The republicans made conversions in five of these aircrafts, with dorsal gun positions and internal racks for eight 75kg bombs. Lady Peace was captured by the rebel Nationalists (as well as 3 more V-1) and rechristened the Capitan Haya in memory of a famous Nationalist pilot. Despite the nationalist tought to use the V-1 as bombers, this concept was finally rulled out, being used only as transports. Several Vultees survived the war, including Capitan Haya, which served in the Spanish Air Force until 1953, when the record-breaking plane was unceremoniously sold for scrap.

gekho · Aug 14, 2010

The first design was manufactured under contract by Edo Aircraft Corporation of College Point, Long Island, NY. Designed as a low wing monoplane design, this first aircraft, designated the SEV-3, was a floatplane. Edo, being the leading manufacturer of aircraft floats, was an ideal choice when one considers that Seversky had no manufacturing facilities. Even with Edo's expertise, construction still took two years, largely due to the lack of capital funds.

Finally, in June of 1933, the SEV-3 took off from Long Island waters with Seversky at its controls. Painted in a stunning bronze, the SEV-3 was one of the more advanced aircraft in the world. Several months later and fitted with a more powerful engine, the SEV-3 set a new world speed record for amphibians. One major contributor to the plane's excellent speed was its distinctive thin, but broad semi-elliptical wing. This basic wing design would still be seen on the P-47 a decade later.

Originally designed as an amphibian, it was sent to republican Spain, but its floats apparently never arrived. There is not much information about this plane and its life in Spain; acording to my sources, it came from Mexico, like many others american planes, wearing the civil mexican code XB-ABG. It is believed that it was evaluated as a reconnaissance aircraft. Further information will be welcome.

gekho · Aug 14, 2010

The FF-1 was Grumman's first aircraft design for the US Navy. The prototype XFF-1 (serial number A8878) was built to a contract placed on 22 April 1931, first flying on 29 December of that year. A two-seat design, with an enclosed cockpit, fuselage of all-metal construction, and wings covered largely with fabric. The XFF-1 was powered initially by a 616 hp (459 kW) Wright R-1820-E Cyclone radial engine, it achieved 195 mph (314 km/h) during service trials, and when the original engine was exchanged for a 750 hp (560 kW) Wright R-1820-F Cyclone the XFF-1 reached a top speed of 201 mph (323 km/h), faster than any US Navy fighter in service at the time.

A production order was placed for 27 two-seat FF-1 (G-5) on 19 December 1932. Meanwhile Grumman had completed a second prototype (serial number A8940) to a two-seat scout configuration as the XSF-1 (G-6). Subsequently 33 production SF-1s were ordered based on the two-seat configuration. They differed from the FF-1 principally in having revised internal equipment and in being powered by R-1820-84 Cyclones instead of the R-1820-78 model installed in the fighter version. One XSF-2 was also completed, this having a Pratt Whitney R-1830 Wasp engine in place of the Cyclone.

The Canadian Car Foundry Co acquired a manufacturing licence for the FF-1, of which it completed a total of 57, some of them assembled from US-built components. A total of 40 aircraft were acquired by the Spanish Republican Government in 1937 via intermediaries from Turkey. This batch was built primarily to bypass the US embargo placed on belligerents during the Spanish Civil War. Referred to as the GE-23 Pedro Rico by the Spanish Republican Air Force, the aircraft were used in the conflict, but were not well matched against their chief opponent, the Fiat CR.32, although one victory against a Heinkel was the only recorded "kill" by a Grumman biplane fighter. Eight survived to serve in the Ejercito del Aire Espanol as the Delfin (Dolphin).

gekho · Aug 14, 2010

The Northrop Delta was an American single engined passenger transport aircraft of the 1930s. Closely related to Northrop's Gamma mail plane, 13 were produced by the Northrop Corporation, followed by 19 aircraft built under license by Canadian Vickers Limited. When Jack Northrop set up the Northrop Corporation as a joint venture with the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1932, he set out to design two closely related single engined aircraft as the new company's first products, a mailplane/record breaking aircraft, which was designated the Gamma and a passenger transport, the Delta. The Delta was a low winged monoplane, with a fixed tailwheel undercarriage. It was of all-metal stressed skin construction, with streamlining spats covering the main landing gear. While the Delta's wings were common with those of the Gamma, it had a new, wider fuselage, which seated the pilot in an enclosed cockpit immediately behind the engine, and had accommodation for eight passengers in a cabin behind the pilot. The first Delta was flown in May 1933, and received an airworthiness certificate in August that year.

Seven aircrafts were built as executive transports for private owners. Of these, three were purchased by the Spanish Republicans for use in the Spanish Civil War. Two of these aircraft were captured by the Nationalists when the ship carrying them (along with four Vultee V-1s, a Fairchild 91 and a Lockheed Electra) was captured at sea. These two Deltas were used as Transports by Franco's forces, while the third Delta was used by the Republican airline Lineas Aéreas Postales Españolas (LAPE) until the end of the civil war when it was handed over to Franco's air force.

gekho · Aug 14, 2010

The Douglas DC-1 was the first model of the famous United States DC (Douglas Commercial) commercial transport aircraft series. Although only one example of the DC-1 was produced, the design was the basis for the DC-2 and DC-3. Development of the DC-1 can be traced back to the 1931 crash of TWA Flight 599, due to the failure of a wooden strut, which in turn was caused by water which had over time seeped between the layers of the wood laminate and dissolved the glue holding the layers together.

Following the accident, the Civil Aeronautics Board ruled passenger aircraft could no longer contain wings or structural members (such as struts and spars) made of wood. Boeing developed an answer, the 247, but their production capacity was limited and they could only supply their primary contract, United Airlines. TWA wanted a similar aircraft, and asked four manufacturers to bid for construction of a three-engine, 12-seat aircraft to meet the specifications stipulated by the CAB. Donald Douglas was initially reluctant to participate in the invitation from TWA. He doubted there would be a market for 100 aircraft, the number of sales necessary to cover development costs. Nevertheless, he submitted a design consisting of an all-metal, low-wing, twin-engine aircraft seating 12 passengers, a crew of two and a flight attendant. The aircraft exceeded the specifications of TWA even with two engines. It was insulated against noise, heated, and fully capable of both flying and performing a controlled takeoff or landing on one engine.

Only one aircraft was produced, the prototype.The DC-1 was sold to Lord Forbes in the United Kingdom in May 1938, who operated it for a few months before selling it in France in October 1938. It was then sold to Líneas Aéreas Postales Españolas (L.A.P.E.) in Spain in November 1938. Later operated by Iberia Airlines from July 1939 with the name Negron it force-landed at Malaga, Spain in December 1940 and was damaged beyond repair.

Concerning the DC-2, four of these modern aircrats were serving in Spain as mail planes when the Civil War broke out; three of them fell in hands of the republicans and the other one was captured by the nationalist, that was used to supply the soldiers that were under siege at Santa Maria de la Cabeza Monastery. This aircraft was nicknamed "Vara del Rey" in honor of the man who captured the plane; this DC-2 was at Sevilla at the moment of the uprising, preparing to take off and bombing the nationalist ships that were trying to cross the Strait of Gibraltar. Captain Vara del Rey managed himself to shot the plane and prevent the attack. The republicans used their DC-2s as bombers and VIP Transport. Two of them were lost during the war; one was destroyed on the ground and the other one was lost due to an accident. The remaining DC-2 was used by the menbers of the goverment to scape to France when the war ended.

Gnomey · Aug 14, 2010

Good stuff!

gekho · Aug 15, 2010

The Northrop Gamma was a single-engine all-metal monoplane cargo aircraft used in the 1930s. Towards the end of its service life, it was developed into a light bomber. The Gamma was a further development of the successful Northrop Alpha and shared its predecessor's aerodynamic innovations with wing fillets and multicellular stressed-skin wing construction. Like late Alphas, the fixed landing gear was covered in distinctive aerodynamic spats, and the aircraft introduced a fully enclosed cockpit. The Gamma saw fairly limited civilian service as mail planes with Trans World Airlines but had an illustrious career as flying laboratory and record-breaking aircraft. The US military found the design sufficiently interesting to encourage Northrop to develop it into what eventually became the Northrop A-17 light attack aircraft. Military versions of the Gamma saw combat with Chinese and Spanish Republican air forces. At least three Gammas (other sources say two) found their way to Spain, being used by republicans as trainers. The aircraft of the picture is a Gamma 2E, a light bomber version; this aircraft survived to the war and flew until the 1950s.

gekho · Aug 15, 2010

The Macchi M.18 was a flying boat produced in Italy in the early 1920s. Originally planned as a passenger aircraft, it entered production as a bomber before eventually being offered on the civil market that it was originally intended for. A conventional design for World War I, it was a biplane flying boat with unstaggered wings of unequal span braced by Warren truss-style struts. The engine was mounted pusher-fashion in the interplane gap, and the pilot and observer sat in side-by-side open cockpits. An open position was provided in the bow for a gunner. In addition to the standard military version, a version with folding wings was produced for shipboard use as the M.18AR. This equipped the Italian Navy's seaplane tender Giuseppe Miraglia and the Spanish Navy's Dédalo. The latter service used the type in action against Moroccan rebels. Six of the 20 machines purchased by Spain remained in service at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War and were used to attack Nationalist forces on Mallorca as well as flying reconnaissance patrols. Like the SM-62, many M-18 were captured or lost during the failed invasion of Mallorca.

The Savoia-Marchetti SM.62 was an Italian single-engined maritime reconnaissance flying boat produced from 1926. It served with the "Regia Aeronautica" and with a number of foreign users, and was licence-produced in Spain and the Soviet Union. Some of the Spanish aircraft were still in service during the Spanish Civil War. The SM.62 flying boat was one of the main successes of Savoia-Marchetti, evolved from the SM.59 which first flew in 1925. The single-engined, single-spar wing, wooden biplane aircraft was powered by a single Isotta-Fraschini Asso 500RI, 500 hp engine mounted between the upper and the lower wings, and drove a thruster-propeller. It had a wingspan of 15.5 m, a maximum takeoff weight of 3,000 kg including fuel, bombs and four crew, and entered production in 1926. Apart from the two machine guns in the aft and forward fuselage, both mounted in uncovered positions, the possibility of fitting an Oerlikon 20 mm cannon was explored, but never put into service. The progress of the project was almost continuous, and the following year saw the SM.62bis development that had a more powerful engine. This aircraft, with a 16 m wingspan, formed the basis of the future SM.78. The new 750 hp Isotta Fraschini Asso engine produced 50% more power, which allowed a maximum take-off weight of 4,000 kg with a maximum speed of 220 km/h, while the range was 1,200 km. For those times, these were respectable performance figures for a single-engine aircraft. The SM.62 was one of the first Italian racing- and world-record attempting aircraft, competing in the 1926 New-York to Buenos Aires air-race and the 10,000 km air-race in northern Europe, in addition to setting the speed records of 190.537 km/h averaged over 500 km in 1926 – later augmented to 194.237 km/h – and the world records flying 500 km while carrying 500 kg, and finally 100 and 500 km with 1,000 kg.

Spain acquired 40 units, some of which were license-built. Despite their obsolescence, several Spanish examples fought in the Spanish Civil War. Most of them fell in the goverment hands, with approximately 30 for the republicans and six for the nationalist. In august 1936 the Republic prepared the invasion of Mallorca, using 6 of these seaplanes during the operations. However, the invasion failed and all the SM-62 were abandoned by their pilots or shot down by the italian Cr.32 that had been sent to reinforce the island´s defenses. All the republican SM-62 captured in Mallorca remained at the island, operating now for the nationalist as liaison aircrafts. Their operational life in the island was, in any case, very short, since many of them were destroyed during a republican raid on may 1937.

gekho · Aug 15, 2010

The increased German air traffic in the 1920s led to a requirement for a larger passenger transport aircraft. The G 23 was an enlarged further development of the F 13. It was originally designed by Ernst Zindel as a single-engine aircraft, but due to the requirement for more power, two more engines were added to provide the needed power for the aircraft. The aircraft was manufactured in three main batches, with different engine alternatives. Between 1925 and 1929, at least 72 aircraft were manufactured, with 26 for Lufthansa This aircraft managed to set a number of aviation records involving pay loads. Fritz Horn flew 2,020 km (1,560 mi) with a payload of 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) on 14 h 23 min, having an average speed of 140 km/h (90 mph), setting a new world record.

On 24 July 1926, two G 24s became famous after having flown the 20,000 km (12,400 mi) route between Berlin and Peking in just 10 stops. This flight ended on 8 September. It was initially meant that they would fly all the way to Shanghai, but they were prevented by military conflicts. On 26 September 1926, the two aircraft landed again in Berlin. Later during the year, a trans-Euro-Asiatic line is created. Junkers followed up this design with several reconnaissance designs e.g. the G1Sa 24 which was a modified G 24 with only a single engine. The next design, the G2sB 24 was also a bomber, directly derivated from the G 24he. This aircraft had a new center wing section and a new nose section, to allow an open shooting area to the forward areas. Junkers decided to produce this design as the general military version of the G 24 and gave it the designation K.30 in 1926.

In 1928 Spain decided to modernize its fleet of bombers and opened a competition to acquire new aircrafts. The winner of the competition was the Junkers K.30, that was evaluated for more than one year. For many different reasons, only this unit served in Spain and no more bombers were purchased. The K.30 received the military code 49-1 and was sent to the Instruction Squadron where it was usually piloted by the captain Gallego. In 1936 this bomber was still in flying conditions, having its base at Getafe. It fell in republican hands, being used in some raids over nationalist troops until it was destroyed on the ground in october 1936.

gekho · Aug 15, 2010

The Focke Wulf Fw 56 Stösser (German : Goshawk) was a single-engine, high-wing monoplane advanced trainer, built in the 1930s in Germany. It was developed, in accordance with a request by the Reich Air Ministry for an advanced fighter trainer, by Kurt Tank, chief engineer with Focke-Wulf. It was also considered for possible use as a home defence fighter. The first prototype flew for the first time in November 1933. A second prototype had some modifications made to the fuselage, and metal rather than wooden wings for flight testing. The third prototype, which flew in February 1934, reverted to the wooden wing and satisfied the technical designers. After comparison flights in 1935 against its two competitors - the Arado Ar 76 and the Heinkel He 74 - the Air Ministry ordered production to begin. About 1,000 aircraft where built, mostly used by Germany, though numbers were used by Austria and Hungary. A few were sold for private use, for instance to Gerd Achgelis, who later founded the helicopter company Focke-Achgelis with Henrich Focke.

The Fw 56 was a high-wing aircraft with a fuselage of steel tubes, clad in metal at the front, and canvas elsewhere. The wing was of wood, clad mostly in plywood, while the trailing edge was covered with material. The three-point undercarriage was fixed and possessed a tail skid. Six Fw-56 destinated to Ethiopia to fight the italian colonial troops in that country were finally sold to the Republic. The six trainers were transfer to the trainning school of El Carmoli at the end of 1937. Neither of them survived to the war.

gekho · Aug 16, 2010

During the war, the Republic captured at least 11 Fiat Cr.32; some of them were captured when the troops occupied anbandoned airfields, one more when its pilot deserted, three when italians pilots landed in enemy airfields and another one rebuilt at La Rabasa using wrecks. Two of these captured Fiat were sent to URSS to be evaluated, being later recovered by germans at the Kharkov university. The Cr.32 that stood in Spain were transfered to 71 Group, used to defend Alicante. One of these Fiats were later sent to El Carmoli Fighter School. The first two pictures show one of the captured Cr.32 at the URSS, and the third picture shows the republican ace Manuel Aguirre Lopez posing with the Fiat CX-001

gekho · Aug 16, 2010

Three Junkers were captured during the war in flying conditions; the Ju-52 coded EL D-ANIM, the Ju-52 piloted by Ananjas Sanjuan, who served with the nationalist 1a Escuadrilla and defected, landing at Alcala airfield, and another one captured at Guadalajara on 17-12-36. Two of these bombers were used as transports in the north of the republican territory to avoid confusions.

gekho · Aug 16, 2010

On 4 December 1937 a Bf.109B made an emergency landing on a road behind Republican lines (pilot Otto Polenz). The aircraft was recovered by the Republicans and test flown. In January 1938 the aircraft was also evaluated by a French delegation. This aircraft was later sent to the Soviet Union and also tested there. During the Great Patriotic War this aircraft aircraft served with special Soviet reconnaissance unit equipped with captured German aircraft, it was captured back by German JG27. Finally fate of this plane unknown.

VG-33 · Aug 16, 2010

gekho said:
On 4 December 1937 a Bf.109B made an emergency landing on a road behind Republican lines (pilot Otto Polenz). The aircraft was recovered by the Republicans and test flown. In January 1938 the aircraft was also evaluated by a French delegation. This aircraft was later sent to the Soviet Union and also tested there. During the Great Patriotic War this aircraft aircraft served with special Soviet reconnaissance unit equipped with captured German aircraft, it was captured back by German JG27. Finally fate of this plane unknown.

Nice pics!
Good quality...

If older sources quoting that Otto Polenz made an emergency landing due to a run out of petrol, soviet sources are quite different. On 4th december morning, 5 I-16 leaded by Alaxandr Goosiov faught over Bujalaros airfield against 30 bombers and 11 messers from I.J/88. Considering the unbalance of forces and weakness of I-16's fire against bombers, he -usnusualy for soviet/republican doctrine - engaged the fighters. From combat results two 109 were shooted down. One was damaged and failed on his own side. The secund one (probably with damaged engine feed) was catched in pliers made by Goosiov itself and his wingman. He was leaded inside republican territory where soviet pilots turning around the landed plane ( and certainly firing about 200 m from it) draw attention of republican soldiers on it.

From western sources, the plane was soon hidden and camouflaged by groud troops before and unknown soviet pilot braught it away to Sabadell the next day, where a soviet and anspanish technical commissions were awaiting for that.

Considering that was a soviet capture, soviets made reclamation on it. So did France, the plane having high interest and value. A solution was found then, frenchmen were allowed to test the plane in Spain, on the exchange of openning boarders for soviet weapons deliveries.

In 1938 the plane was send to USSR where it was tested by NII-VVS institute. The plane reached 380 km/h at SL and 422 km/h at 3 000m. Although the NII-VVS report was disparaging some aspects of the BF-109 B handling caracteristics and manoeuvrability, the team had obviously been impressed by what could be considered the more audacious aspects of the fighter desigh, such as automatic leading edge slats.

By general consnsus, the newly delivered and markedly more potent Type 10 version was prononced superior to the Bf 109 B on virtually every count and it was concluded that little urgency need to be attached to the provision of a successor.

Unfortunatly for the V-VS, the (technical) success enjoyed by the I-16 had not a salutary effect on Soviet fighter design effort and the apex of the development of Polikarpov's fighter monoplane had been reached (1939) long before it was to be called upon to oppose the Luftwaffe*

* W Green and G Swanborough "Soviet air force fighters".

I never heard about any special soviet reconnaissance unit from russian archives (probably an urban legend). The faith of the 109 B is unknown, but when first 109 E-3 reached the center, this plane lost any interest and was probably wrecked during evacuation, late 1941. It was not airwothy since a long time, then. Anyway, no mention about-it in soviet documents from late 1939, AFAIK.

Regards

You can browse some 109B/C photos here

http://avia-museum.narod.ru/germany/me-109b_add.html

VG-33 · Aug 16, 2010

Here's a picture of the captured Polenz's 6-15 aircraft.

With "Kostya Rozanoff" on commands, painted with republican colors. A russian, naturalised french but not soviet test-pilot. Went in spain early 1938 with Guy de Merle's mission.

Regards

Gnomey · Aug 16, 2010

Interesting shots!

VG-33 · Aug 17, 2010

gekho said:
During the war, the Republic captured at least 11 Fiat Cr.32; some of them were captured when the troops occupied anbandoned airfields, one more when its pilot deserted, three when italians pilots landed in enemy airfields and another one rebuilt at La Rabasa using wrecks. Two of these captured Fiat were sent to URSS to be evaluated, being later recovered by germans at the Kharkov university. The Cr.32 that stood in Spain were transfered to 71 Group, used to defend Alicante. One of these Fiats were later sent to El Carmoli Fighter School. The picture shows the republican ace Manuel Aguirre Lopez posing with the Fiat CX-001

Frankly i don't know where and when republican troops advanced (that was pretty rare) and moreover occupied airfields with aircrafts on it. At least 10 airworthy Fiat CR-32 failed in republican hands: 8 by accidents, combat damages or mistakes, and 2 by desertors.

Two were soon destroyed in accidents, 1 went to USSR, the others served within Grupo 71 de defensa de Costas. The CX-001 served for training of the 1st Mosca, in simulating dogfights.

The first soviet captured Fiat was so damaged after a forced landing, that no attemps were maid for it's restoration in april, 1937.. The secund one was captured on Alcala de Henares airfield on june the 6th and supposingly offered by republicans to soviet union, from Arraez Cerda.
This one was submitted to intensive trials from the 23th june to the end of august. It reached 329 km/h at SL and 341 at 2000 m only. Some 7-8% inferior to official italians specs, but it has some wear and was tested without wheel fairings. Normal loaded, it had a 1 984 kg weight. It was rather much compared to the I-15 (1370 - 1390) and the I-16 ( 1508 -1590) of its time. The power to weight ratio was also inferior. So the full turning circle was maid in 13.5 -15.5 s. A rather mediocre result. It took only 8-9s to the I-15, that could outmanoeuvre and outfight the italian plane with ease. And, only marginally better than last heavier I-16 with self sealing tanks and back armor, a device that CR-32 did not have.

In vertical plan, it was even worse for the CR-32, except on step dives...

In other hand, Fiat structure was considered as very rugged, the heavy 12.7 machine guns were allowing to open efficient fire from 300/400 m thus it was only 100 for ShKAS, the range was virtually twice longer than in soviet planes. Even if mainly considered as obsolete, there were founda lot of advanced technical solutions and other details that were later copied by soviet engeneers.

Regards

VG-33 · Aug 18, 2010

gekho said:
gekho said:

On July 17th 1936, a radio station in Morocco started broadcasting: "Above all Spain the cloudless sky". This phrase was a signal for the beginning of the fascist mutiny directed against the Spanish government. At the head of the revolt was general Francisco Franco, who had been a threat to the Spanish Republic. In the first few days it became possible to win the nationalists in larger part of the country as most of the population remained true to the government. However the fascist states, Italy and Germany, did not remain aside. They had started delivering Franco the newest arms: instruments, rifles, machine guns, fighters and bombers. Besides regular Italian infantry and aviation divisions participated in fights on the side of the rebels, the newly created "Condor Legion", a German air unit, started fighting as well. All this allowed the fascists to gain a number of victories over the army of the republicans that suffered from a shortage of arms and qualified officers. By November 1936, the nationalists were close to Madrid.

Government aircraft were almost helpless against faster and more modern Heinkels, Fiats, Junkers and Savoias. Madrid was left open to a barbarous bombardment. The situation was desperate.

England, France and the USA, being afraid that a victory by the republicans could induce Spain into becoming communist, conducted a policy of non-interference: they did not help the lawful government and influenced other states to do the same. Indignant of this connivance to the rebels, volunteers of many countries (the USA, France, England, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Germany and others) made their way to Spain to help in the fight. However, without modern weapons, their struggle against counterrevolution could not hope to stop the rebels.

The Soviet Union decided to support the Spanish government in its struggle against fascism. To Spain there had gone the Soviet volunteers: pilots, tankmen, cavalrymen. From the end of October, 1936 the Soviet arms began to arrive.

Click to expand...

Ok.

On November 4th, I-15 biplane fighters appeared.

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Not exactly , the 3th at evening.

However because of the quantitative superiority of their opponents, they could not achieve any form of parity.

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Is it from reports, or just your own supposals?

The Soviet government then decided to send their newest fighters, the I-16, to Spain. Among the cargo on the ship, "Kursk", which has arrived on October, 25, there were 16 I-16 type 5 fighters, with another 15 arriving the next day on the "Blagoev" ship.

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No; on October, 25, it had just left crimea ports. It reached spain on november, the 3 late in the cover of darkness.
It's seems idiomatic (just not to say idiotic) to imagine that soviets decided then and not before any I-15 results, to send I-16 to Spain...I-16 was just the standard fighter in VV-S inventory in november 1936; 1 400 of them were produced, and more than 900 serving in active units in previous summer account. VV-S was just the sole air-force in the world to use high speed cantilever fighter monoplanes with (semetimes) enclosed canopy and retractable carriage for full 2.5-3 years long.
So, it should have been absolutly abnormal, to not include them in the list of material send to spain.

Together with the planes there were pilots from the 1st (Bryansk) air brigade, aviation gasoline, oil, ammunition, as well as some refuelers and autostarters.

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No. From the 83th fighter air brigade of the Briansk militar district.

The pilots assembled in 3 squadrons under Captain Tarhov. In just 4 days after arriving the planes were assembled, tested and prepared for battle.

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This is rather true, but only for the first of them. Last assembled fighters did not reached Madrid sky until november, the 22th.

Your pics should be better with comments:

The first are I-16 tip 5 fighters of Baltic Fleet Air Arm. From a soviet 1939th film.

Secund is a tampered with picture, by censorship and published in papers of that time. Not very valuable indeed.

Third, is Ramon Castaneda a famous instructor at El Carmoli Escuela de Alta Velocidad (High speeds training school), in front of it's Mosca. He died some months later during training duties. The Mosca was a difficult, unforgiving, sometimes unstable and mainy dangerous plane to handle. Some republicans pilots as the frenchman William Labuissière (Ramon Ibanez) were later to claim that in Spain, there were as much Mosca losses by accident than by combat!

All fotographs are from an illegal copy, in russian edition of this book:

Polikarpov I-16

gekho · Aug 28, 2010

In 1929, Spain signed the Warsaw Convention, ratified four months later, on January 31, 1930. However, the consequences of the economic depression of 1929 made necessary that the state intervene to order the chaotic development of the first air links and prevent the failure of existing small companies. Thus, in 1929, Union Spanish Air, Iberia LAE, CETA and dirigibles Columbus Transaérea formed CLASSA (Concesionaria de Lineas Aereas Subsidiarias SA), whose name clearly shows his nature. However, the inadequate capitalization provided by partners CLASSA made necessary a contribution from the State, being CLASSA expropriated and their properties are transferred to a newly created corporation called LAPE (Spanish Airlines Postcards) at times of the Second Republic, with 55% of state capital. LAPE, which operated until the end of the civil war, held three different networks:

- Peninsula, linking Seville, Valencia, Barcelona and Mallorca (through Barcerlona) in Madrid.

- North African and Canary Islands, with the route-Madrid-Cape Juby Larache-Las Palmas.

- European with links to Paris, Lisbon and Berlin.

Shortly before the Spanish Civil War had a fleet of 18 aircraft. The basis of this fleet were the devices De Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide (8 seats) and Fokker F. VIIA / 3m tri-motor (15 seats). In addition, CASA cosntrucción contracted with two Dornier Do J Wal seaplanes similar to those used by the Spanish Military and Naval Aviation, a german tri-motor Junkers G-24. Later, when the war started, LAPE began to use all kind of airplenes, like some Douglas DC-1 and DC-2, four Spartan 7-W Executive, Northrop Delta, Airspeed Envoy, De Havilland Puss Moth, Ford 4-AT and many others.

Spanish Civil War: Republican Air Force (FARE)

Master Sergeant

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Globetrotting Surgeon General

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Globetrotting Surgeon General

Banned

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Master Sergeant

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