The Spanish Civil War lasted from 1936 until the eve of WWII in early 1939. Many saw it as a battle between fascism and communism with interested parties on both sides offering help in the way of men and materiel. The countries that probably supported the war more than anyone else were Germany and Italy, sending large quantities of war materiel as well as troops to help the side of Genera Franco, who eventually won the war.

Among that materiel were several squadrons of aircraft and the pilots to fly the planes. This was basically a testing ground for new weapons and many lessons were learned; some of them to do Germany well in the early months of WWII, and some giving false impressions.

ABT decals produced several sheets covering certain themes and one was this one. On the sheet you get markings for four aircraft; two in post war markings.

The first is a Bf-109B-2. The advance in camouflage research since these decals were produced has shown that the colors given in older sheets is often inaccurate so I'll leave off any comments regarding paint schemes.

The next aircraft is a J-87B that flew in the closing months of the war. Most Condor Legion Stukas were the A model.

An Italian Fiat G.50 is the next subject. This particular version is one of the initial production types with a fully enclosed canopy and other differences from the later bis version. AML currently does an early G.50.

Finally a captured Polikarpov I-16. A number of these planes fell into Franco's hands at the end of the war and were used into the early 1950s as fighter trainers and general hacks.

This review and others on ABT decals are more for historical and general interest, as I have found these old ABT decals to be rather stiff and brittle after all the years they have been around.

Review copy courtesy of your editor.

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