Spanish Republican Air Force: Difference between revisions

Innovative, and often lethal, aeronautical bombing techniques were tested by Condor Legion German expeditionary forces against loyalist areas on Spanish soil with the permission of Generalísimo Franco. The pilots of the Spanish Republican Air Force were unable to check these modern-warfare attacks. Their planes were mostly obsolete and often in a bad state of disrepair.<ref>[http://www.oocities.org/red_spain/ EL Potez 54 en la Guerra Civil Española]</ref> The ungainly French [[Potez 540]], a highly vulnerable plane that proved itself a failure in Spanish skies during the Civil War,<ref>[http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/italy_baschirotto.htm Biplane fighter aces]</ref> was labelled as 'Flying Coffin' ({{lang-es|Ataúd Volante}}) by loyalist pilots.<ref>[http://adar.es/index/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=89 Potez 540/542] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811034430/http://adar.es/index/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=89 |date=11 August 2011 }}</ref>

The rebel side, however, claimed that both air forces were almost equal, since the Soviet Union was helping the loyalist air force, but the fact was that:

 

The Spanish Republican Air Force was unable to counteract the deadly low-level attacks and close support of the infantry tactics developed by [[Wolfram von Richthofen]] during the Civil War.<ref>Edward Jablonski, ''Terror from the Sky: Airwar,'' Vol. 1, Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co. 1972, p. 15</ref> As an air force it became practically ineffective after the [[Battle of the Ebro]] in 1938, when the spine of the Spanish Republican Armed Forces was broken. Finally the Spanish Republican Air Force was completely disbanded after the decisive rebel victory on 1 April 1939.

*[http://www.sbhac.net/Republica/Imagenes/PersoFare/PersoFare.htm Republican pilots]

*[http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/vx0mqt Biography of Vicente Monclús Guallar, republican pilot imprisoned in the USSR]

 

[[Category:Spanish Air Force]]