The largest military conflict of the 1930s (other than the start of WWII) was the Spanish Civil War. This lasted from July 1936 until April of 1939 and was the result of a coup d'état that did not go as smoothly as was hoped. In the end, it pitted two factions against each other, and ended up being a battle between fascism and socialism. A rather simplistic categorization, but it will suffice.

On one side were the fascist forces of Franco, the Germans and the Italians. On the other side were the Soviets and everyone else. However, 'everyone else' was not all that interested in getting involved and any support was, except perhaps from France, rather piecemeal. As is often the case today, the world governing body, the League of Nations, was unable to do anything about it other than to raise a fuss and most other industrialized nations simply refused the sale of war materials to either side.

From our perspective, it was an introduction to WWII and in this way, the military forces of Germany, Italy and the Soviet Union were able to test their equipment in combat. Regarding the air war, Germany used the experience to hone its battle tactics and to test new aircraft types for effectiveness. Effective they were and despite not being challenged by an equally effective opponent, it colored the way they used air power in the first years of the war.

While the Nationalists were equipped with the latest from Germany and Italy, the Republicans had only the Soviets for help and so they needed to get aircraft and materials from wherever they could find it. This resulted in a bewildering collection of types, few of which were truly effective, but were used as you fight with what you can get.

 In Airframe Edition #5 we get the usual superb mix of history, complete with some great photos, a set of profiles of the aircraft that took part on both sides of the war as well as full kit reviews. As is usual with the kit reviews, there are builds in both 1/72 and 1/48, these articles being written by the same two builders that Valiant Wings has been using for quite some time. As usual, one builder uses a lot of scratchbuilding  while the other builds pretty well out of the box. One somewhat unique aspect of the builds is that they are pretty much all from short run type kits, which vary widely in quality. The kits used are, in 1/72, the Azur I-15, Special Hobby Ju-87A, Azur Ro.37bis, Azur Vultee V.1A, and RS Models Do-17E.  Moving to 1/48 we have the F.M. Dewoitine D.510, and the Roden He-51.

In line with other books in this series, it is one that sends the modeler into his stash to see what is available to build, or to search the net for new projects. The Spanish Civil War is an excellent subject for all as it includes some very interesting types. In all, another outstanding volume and one you will be sure to want to add to your library.

August 2016

Copyright ModelingMadness.com

For more on Valiant Wings, including getting this book, visit www.valiant-wings.co.uk. Thank you for the review copy.

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly, please contact me or see other details in the Note to Contributors.