List of aircraft of the Spanish Republican Air Force

This is a list of aircraft used by the Spanish Republican Air Force during the Spanish Civil War.

Introduction

The Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed in 1931 and very soon the republican authorities set up to reform an antiquated military structure that was a financial burden for the Spanish state following the Great Depression.Ignacio Hidalgo de Cisneros, Cambio de Rumbo, Ed. Ikusager, Vitoria 2001, pg. 273 The Spanish Republican Air Force inherited a great number of airplanes from the monarchy, most of which had been used in the Spanish Campaigns in Northern Africa during general Primo de Rivera's dictatorship in the 1920s.

While more than half of the aircraft of the Spanish Republican Air Force remained on the loyalist side, most of the materiel was obsolete. In the summer of 1936 the beleaguered Spanish Republic found itself direly in need of modern weapons, but the governments of the United Kingdom and France quickly led a policy of non-intervention in the Spanish Civil War.Antony Beevor, The Battle for Spain: the Spanish Civil War 1936–1939, Weidenfeld & Nicolson In defiance of the non-intervention pact some aircraft were sent to Republican Spain from France thanks to the efforts of personalities supporting the republican cause, but these consisted mostly in old material, including trainers, transport aircraft and planes without weapons that could not be used for attacks. Owing to the international blockade against the republic other planes of dubious value were acquired by the republican government through various sources, including Mexico, the Netherlands, Belgium and Czechoslovakia which included a motley combination of obsolete aircraft, prototypes and almost discarded single models. Some of the shipments of aircraft did not make it to the Spanish fronts owing to the sinking of the merchant vessels transporting them or having been seized by the customs at the ports of origin.A.D.A.R. - El desarrollo aeronáutico de los años treinta y su influencia en la Guerra Civil Española Armas en acción. Aviones de las Fuerzas Aéreas republicanas The most well-known Spanish Republican Air Force planes such as the 'Chato', 'Mosca', 'Natacha' and 'Katiuska' would come later in the same year and throughout 1937, when the USSR would decide to openly assist the Spanish Republic.Hugh Thomas, The Spanish Civil War; New revised edition (2011)

Documents Information, both written and pictorial, regarding the identification of the aircraft of the Spanish Republican Air Force is found in a variety of sources. These include press reports of the time, official republican government documents, as well as documents and reports from the rebel side.

Since republican aerodromes were restricted military areas, relatively few photographs are available. Most are pictures of aircraft taken with air force personnel posing near them in an informal way,Imágenes de la Guerra Civil española - FAREImágenes de personal de las Fuerzas Aéreas republicanas as well as photographs of crashed planes.Na španělském nebi - Blériot-SPAD S 51 a S 91Aviation Corner - Potez 540 (N) Except for the primary aircraft,ADAR - Los Aviones certain republican military plane types were never photographed, or if available, photographs have not been found, being only known from written documents or from pilot reports. This is often the case in the assorted —often obsolete and almost useless— aircraft of which only one or two units arrived in the first critical months at the beginning of the civil war.SBHAC - Aviones de la Fuerza Aérea de la República Española/Otros There are also aircraft which had been known only from written documents, such as the Spanish Republican Air Force Farman F.430, of which a picture has surfaced only recently.Aviation Corner - Farman F.430

Attack aircraft

Beechcraft Staggerwing Breguet XIXSBHAC - Aviones de la Fuerza Aérea de la República Española/Bombarderos Gourdou-Leseurre GL.32 Gourdou-Leseurre GL-633 Grumman G-23, nicknamed 'Delfín' Hispano-Suiza E-30 Potez 25 Vickers Vildebeest

Bombers

Bloch MB.200, photographic data are lacking Bloch MB.210 Breguet 413,Jean Massé, Des avions pour l'Espagne ! : La guerre civile aérienne en Espagne vue de France, Broché, 2006. Breguet 460 Vultur Fokker F.IX Hawker Spanish Osprey Latecoere 28 Macchi M.18 Polikarpov R-5, also known as 'Rasante'Michael Alpert, The Republican Army in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939, Cambridge University Press, , p. 250 Polikarpov R-Z, nicknamed 'Natacha' Potez 540 Tupolev SB, nicknamed 'Katiuska' Vultee V-1

Fighters

AEKKEA-RAAB R-29 Avia BH-33 Bristol Bulldog (1 only for evaluation) Blériot-SPAD S.51 Blériot-SPAD S.91 Boeing 281 (1 example only) Dewoitine D.27 Dewoitine D.53 Dewoitine D.372

Dewoitine D.510 Fokker D.XXI Hawker Hispano Fury Letov Š-31 Letov Š-231 Letov Š-331 (1 example only) Loire 46 Martinsyde F.4 Buzzard Hispano-Nieuport Ni-52SBHAC - Aviones de la Fuerza Aérea de la República Española/Cazas Polikarpov I-15, nicknamed 'Chato' Polikarpov I-16, nicknamed 'Mosca'

Patrol and liaison aircraft

Caudron C.600 Aiglon de Havilland DH.83 Fox Moth Dornier Do J Wal Fokker C.X Lockheed Model 9 Orion Macchi M.18 Miles Falcon Potez 58 RWD 9 Sikorsky S-38B, one unit was used in the Northern Front. Shot down by friendly fireSBHAC - Aviones de la Fuerza Aérea de la República Española/Hidroaviones Vickers Vildebeest

Reconnaissance

Aero A.101 Bellanca 28-70 Caudron C.59 Koolhoven F.K.51 Loring R-3, may have seen active service, but data are lackingAircraft that may have participated in the Spanish Civil War Savoia-Marchetti SM.62 Seversky SEV-3 Spartan Executive

Trainers

Avia BH-33 Avro 504, obsolete by 1936, but some Aeronáutica Naval Avros may have been used as trainers Avro 594 Avro 626 Avro 643 Cadet BFW M.35 British Aircraft Swallow Bücker Bü 133 JungmeisterSBHAC - Aviones de la Fuerza Aérea de la República Española/Aviones de Escuela y Enlace CASA III Caudron C.270 Luciole Comper Swift de Havilland DH.60 Moth Major de Havilland Tiger Moth Farman F.354 Farman F.480 Alizé Focke-Wulf Fw 56 General Aircraft Monospar ST-4 General Aircraft Monospar ST-12 González Gil-Pazó GP-1 González Gil-Pazó GP-4 Hanriot H.180 Hanriot H.437 Hispano-Suiza E-34 Loring E-2 Miles M.2 Hawk Trainer Morane-Saulnier MS.181 Morane-Saulnier MS.230 Morane-Saulnier MS.341 Moreau JM.10 designer murdered while trying to sell single aircraft, use and fate unknown. accessdate:June 2015 Romano R.82 Romano R.83 Romano R.92 S.F.C.A. Maillet 21 SAB-SEMA 12 Spartan Zeus, purchased but not delivered Stampe et Vertongen RSV.32

Transport aircraft

Many of the aircraft used for transport and liaison by the Republican Air Force had been requisitioned from LAPE, the Spanish Republican airline.El Transporte Comercial en España

Airspeed Envoy Airspeed Viceroy Avia 51 Blériot 111 Blériot-SPAD S.56 Breguet 26T Breguet 470 Fulgur, from LAPE British Aircraft Eagle Caudron C.440 Goéland Consolidated Fleetster Couzinet 101 De Havilland DH-80 Puss Moth De Havilland DH-84 De Havilland DH-89M De Havilland DH-90 Douglas DC-1 Douglas DC-2 Farman F.190 Farman F 402 Farman F.430 Fokker F-VII.3m/MSBHAC - Aviones de la Fuerza Aérea de la República Española/Aviones de Transporte also used as a bomber in Asturias. Fokker F.XVIII Fokker F.XX Ford Trimotor General Aircraft ST-25, from LAPE General Aviation GA-43, from LAPE Junkers K 30 Koolhoven F.K.40 Latécoère 28 Lioré et Olivier 213 Lockheed Model 10 Electra Lockheed Model 8 Sirius Lockheed Vega Northrop Delta, from LAPE Northrop Gamma Potez 560 from LAPE

Autogyros Cierva C.19 Cierva C.30A

Captured aircraft

Planes of the Nationalist Spanish Air Force that fell into the hands of the Republicans. Fiat CR.32, a number of these biplanes were captured and incorporated into the Republican Air Force. One of them was sent to the training facility at El Carmolí. Heinkel He 111B-1, one unit of the Condor Legion captured after a forced landing in Cuenca ended up being sent to the Soviet Union. Messerschmitt Bf 109B, another Condor Legion plane that was captured intact near Bujaraloz, Aragon, also ended up being sent to the USSR. Savoia-Marchetti SM.81A, a bomber of the Aviazione Legionaria, was incorporated into the Republican Air Force.

See also List of Interwar military aircraft Spanish Republican Navy Yankee Squadron

Further reading Gerald Howson, Aircraft of the Spanish Civil War, 1936-39,

References

External links

ADAR Asociación de Aviadores de la República La ayuda material a la República Spanish Civil War: Republican Air Force AC - Hilo sobre las aviadoras y los aviadores del socialismo