The Spanish Civil War is often called a prelude to WWII. It is here that the Germans and Soviets tried out their various weapons by supplying the opposing sides with material and manpower. For the Replublican side (which was the side that was in power when the war began), it was the Soviet Union that provided supplies while the Italians and Germans provided for the Nationalists.

Now many think that most of the air fighting was done by foreigners, but that was very much not the case, especially on the Republican side where there was an air force already in place. Sure, there were defections of pilots and planes over to the Nationalist side, but it seems that the majority stayed loyal to the regime in power.

At the time of the war, the Republican forces were flying mostly French aircraft such as the Breguet 19 and the Nieuport-Hispano 52. These were relatively obsolescent aircraft that were enhanced by Hawker Spanish Fury fighters and a number of other types. With the inclusion of the Soviets, more modern aircraft such as the I-15 and I-16 were brought into service. These were also license built in Spain. Now most of these planes were flown by Soviet pilots and the units were pretty much under Soviet control. However, Spanish pilots were trained in the USSR and soon began to take a larger share of the flying responsibility as well as greater control over the units.

Republican pilots were pretty successful against the Nationalists, even after the Italians and Germans got involved. The real issue facing the author was a lack of official documents to help in his research. While he was able to find some material, there are rather large gaps where there is no information. I am thinking that some of this was due to the Franco regime expunging some of this once they took power. After all, anyone who fought on the Republican side lost their citizenship and were imprisoned if they stayed in Spain after the war. It was not until the death of Franco that their citizenship was restored, by which time most had already been living successful lives overseas.

Anyway, the author has done his best and divided the book into several sections. This includes parts on the fighter force in the first year or so of the war, the 11th fighter squadron, units operating in the north as well as separate chapters on the I-15 and I-16 units. There is also coverage of night fighting operations, which did have several successful pilots. The back of the book has a full listing of pilots with their total scores and what documented victories have been found. Each section contains a biography of the pilots involved.

As is usual, there are a lot of very nice period photos of the pilots and planes as well as the usual selection of well drawn color profiles and an explanation of each of the profiles in the back of the book.

It all makes for a fascinating look into a subject for which there has been little written. A book that I know you will find as interesting a read as did I.

July 2012

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