At the start of the civil war; most young fighter officers joined the rebels (Nationalists). It was the high ranking officers; grupo or escuadrilla commanders; and the NCOs; sergeants and corporals who remained loyal to the government. The obsolete Nieuport Ni.52s and the three rare Hawker Furies were soon outpaced by the opposing more modern Fiat CR.32s and Heinkel He 51s. However; at this early stage of the war; there were several Republican airmen who became aces and famous in the process; despite the small numbers of enemy aircraft shot down. Subsequently; a relative handful ex-French Dewoitine D.372 and Loire Nieuport 46 fighters flown by foreign mercenaries and Spanish pilots managed to turn the aerial balance in favour of the Republicans. With the arrival of the Soviet Polikarpov I-15 Chato and I-16 Mosca fighters; the Republicans consolidated this superiority; but most of the fighter pilots flying these modern types were Soviet. Some Spaniards started to fly Chatos from February 1937 with the establishment of the first two Spanish I-15 escuadrillas; commanded by capitanes GarcÃa Lacalle and Alonso SantamarÃa respectively. They made their debut in the battles of the Jarama and Guadalajara. In the north; by the spring and summer of 1937 most Chato pilots were now Spanish. During the battle of Brunete; in July 1937; the first pilots trained in the USSR to fly the fast I-16 Mosca monoplanes arrived in Spain; and they quickly began to take a toll of enemy aircraft. Widely speaking; the Republican military aviation did not keep an exhaustive record of individual shooting claims. However; sufficient documentation exists to make a reasonable assumption as to which pilots fall into the ace category. This volume details the exploits of those pilots; complimenting previous works in the Osprey Aircraft of the Aces series on Nationalist CR.32 Aces and Polikarpov I-15; I-16 and I-152 Aces.
#399338 in Books imusti 2013-09-19 2013-10-03Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.75 x 6.25 x 1.00l; .0 #File Name: 1848845707352 pagesPen Sword Books
Review
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Great amount of information for trip planningBy Stay GoldI bought this book in preparation for my trip to the Normandy beaches. The book is amazing. It gives information a practically every museum; battery; marker; etc. I really found useful the coordinates that I will use in my GPS as I will be driving the area. It is organized using suggested itineraries for six different areas of the invasion locations. While I have created my own routes; these suggested tour routes helped my in planning my three day visit. These suggested are so detailed that each of the six would require approximately 6-7 hours. This book is a great resource if you are planning a trip to the D Day invasion area.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. A lengthy work and covers the D-Day events wellBy Dennis BlanchardI found this book when I was at the Portmouth; UK; war museum. I ordered the Kindle version since I was backpacking around Europe and didn't want to carry all that paper. The book is thick and heavy. It is a pretty conclusive work and has some new material that I had not seen before; but much of it can be found in other publications as well.If you've never read about D-Day; it is a good book to start with. There are plenty of personal stories and it is a good overview of the hell that was D-Day.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy CustomerBob MacoubrieExcellent book for seeing WWII memorials for D-Day Normandy.
