Spanish Civil War: Republican Air Force (FARE) (2 Viewers)

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The González Gil-Pazó GP-1 was a single engine, two seat open cockpit training aircraft, built in Spain in the 1930s to compete for a government contract. Declared the winner, production was curtailed by the Spanish Civil War. Two cabin variants, the González Gil-Pazó GP-2 and GP-4, were also built. The first aircraft produced from the collaboration between Arturo González Gil y Santibañez and José Pazó was the Gil-Pazó No.1. It was, like all of their aircraft, a low wing cantilever monoplane. It was built of wood and metal with plywood skinning, seated two and had an unfaired conventional undercarriage. Reportedly similar to a Miles Hawk, it was powered by an ADC Cirrus engine. Almost no specifications are known, apart from a loaded weight of 778 kg (1715 lb). It first flew in June 1932 and was last recorded at Cuatro Vientos, Madrid in July 1936.

In 1934 the Director General de Aeronáutica issued a specification for a two seat trainer and Gil-Pazó's response was the GP-1. This "supremely elegant" aircraft, with two open cockpits and a trousered undercarriage was reportedly somewhat like the Miles Hawk Major in appearance. Its wings, of semi-elliptic plan, had a wooden structure and a stressed plywood skin. Flaps were fitted. The fuselage was a steel tube structure, fabric covered at the rear with dural skinning forward. For its first flight in June 1934 it was powered by the same Cirrus engine as the No.1 but this was replaced by a 145 kW (195 hp) Walter Junior inverted in-line engine for the trainer contract competition.

The competitive trials, against the Loring X, the Hispano HS-34 and the Adaro 1.E.7, assessed the Gil-Pazó GP-1 as the clear winner, so in 1936 González Gil and Pazó received an order for 100 aircraft. These were to be built by AISA, the Talleres Loring factory at Carabanchel Alto, Madrid. None of these had been completed by July 1936 at the start of the Spanish civil war, and with rebel forces approaching Madrid in October, AISA retreated to Alicante. About forty GP-1s were built here during the war in a collaboration with Hispano-Suiza. In 1935-6 the open cockpit GP-1 was developed into two cabin types, the González Gil-Pazó GP-2 and GP-4. Both had raised rear fuselages faired into the cabin tops. The GP-2 was powered by a 97 kW (130 hp) de Havilland Gipsy Major engine and had two seats in tandem. Only one two-seater was built. A second GP-2 was built as a single seater with one, rather than two, cabin side windows each side. The GP-4 was powered by a 97 kW (130 hp) Walter Major engine and carried four people. Only one GP-4 was constructed.

Two notable flights were made before the Civil War. In January 1936 Ramón Torres and Carlos Coll set a record with their flight from Barcelona to Agadir, Morocco in the two seat GP-2. The single seat GP-2 was flown by Lorenzo Richi in March 1936 from Madrid to Bata in what was then Spanish Guinea at an average speed of 187 km/h (116 mph). About thirty of the forty GP-1s built at Alicante were captured by the Nationalist forces, given military serials and incorporated into Grupo 30. After the war at least twelve of these were given Spanish civil registrations; one remained on the register until 1961. One GP-2 and the sole GP-4 were also on the Spanish civil register until about 1960. The GP-4 had been flown into Nationalist hands by Pazó in September 1936, where it was used for liaison and transport duties.

Source: González Gil-Pazó GP-1 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 

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The Hispano Suiza E-30 was a trainning aircraft made in Spain for Navy Air Force. The first five units were sent to the San Javier´s Trainning School in 1933. When the Civil War broke out, only 20 examples had been delivered, falling 10 of them in the hands of the Republic. At the beginning they were used as light bombers over the Aragon front, but due to its lack of speed and limited bomb load, they are reasignated to the Observer School of Los Alcazares, that already owned 20 more units built in Albacete. With the end of the war, only 13 units are recovered, joinning those that were on service with the Nationalist Air Force. In the newborn Spanish Air Force (Ejercito del Aire), they were used as liaison and trainning aircrafts, wearing the military code EE-2. They spent the rest of their lives at the Trainning School of Leon, being retired in 1952.
 

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The Fleetster received Approved Type Certificate Number 369 on 29 September 1930. It was designed to meet a requirement of the New York, Rio, and Buenos Aires Line (NYRBA) for an aircraft to serve the coastal routes in South America. The Fleetster had a streamlined all-metal monocoque fuselage with a wooden wing. The powerplant was a 575 hp (429 kW) Pratt Whitney R-1860 Hornet B radial engine. It was available as a landplane or seaplane and could accommodate up to eight passengers, although the three NYRBA aircraft were fitted with two full-width seats each for three passengers.

A parasol-wing version (the Model 20 Fleetster) was also developed with the wing supported by four short struts. The open cockpit was moved to behind the passenger cabin and the space used as a cargo compartment. Three aircraft were built for NYRBA and a private Canadian customer.
In 1932 a carrier-borne dive bomber version (Model 18) was evaluated by the United States Navy as the XBY-1, it was not ordered but was the first stressed-skin aircraft; and the first aircraft with so-called "wet wing" integral fuel tanks in the wings; operated by the Navy.

During the early stages of the SCW, the Republican goverment try to buy desperately aircrafts for it´s airforce. One of it´s suppliers was Mexico, that managed to send some airplanes through the United States. First American shipment sailed from New-York for France on the 28th of December 1936 and consisted of the complete stock of American Airlines Vultees, except for NC-13767 that had crashed in January 1936. These Vultees were accompanied by 3 Consolidated 20A Fleetsters, 5 Lockheed model 9 Orions and 1 Northrop Delta.

Source: Consolidated Fleetster - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 

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Gekho, here's a passage out of Aircraft of the Spanish Civil War 1936 - 1939 by Gerald Howson about the Vega:

"Only one Locheed Vega flew in the Spanish Civil War. This was a seven passenger Model 5B, NC534M (c/n 103), powered by a 450 hp Pratt Whitney Wasp radial engine. It was sold in 1929 to the Mexican airline CAT (Corporacion de Aeronautica de Transportes) and re-registered XA-BHI. In 1934 it was sold to Coronel Roberto Fierro Villalobos, then Mexico's foremost pilot, re-engined and re-registered XA-AAD. In December 1936, Fierro, who was by then Director General de Aeronautican in Mexico and a strong supporter of the Spanish Republicans, sold it to the Spanish ambassador in Mexico. Together with a Lockheed Sirius and an Orion, both likewise supplied by Fierro, it sailed for Spain on board the Sil on 22 December 1936, reaching Santander on 12 January 1937. After serving with the Basque air arm for some weeks, the Vega was flown across Nationalist territory to the main Republican zone, where it joined the ranks of LAPE. Its Spanish registration and LAPE fleet number are not recorded. The LAPE pilot Joze Maria Carreras, who flew it frequently, told the author that it had neither engine cowling nor undercarriage spats, and that blotches of green and ochre had been painted on its original red finish by way of camouflage."

The two aeroplanes in the photo you supplied are not Vegas, but Consolidated 20A Fleetsters. Great thread.
 
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Identification of the aircraft in the LAPE section illustrations. Airspeed AS.6J Envoy EC-AGE, Douglas DC-2 EC-AAY, Junkers G 24 M-AJAJ, Dougls DC-1 EC-AGN, B.A. Eagle 2 EC-CBC x 2, Ford 4-AT-F Trimotor EC-RRA, Northrop 1C Delta EC-AGC, Spartan Executive EC-AGM, D.H.89 Dragon Rapide EC-AZZ.
 
Gekho, here's a passage out of Aircraft of the Spanish Civil War 1936 - 1939 by Gerald Howson about the Vega:

"Only one Locheed Vega flew in the Spanish Civil War. This was a seven passenger Model 5B, NC534M (c/n 103), powered by a 450 hp Pratt Whitney Wasp radial engine. It was sold in 1929 to the Mexican airline CAT (Corporacion de Aeronautica de Transportes) and re-registered XA-BHI. In 1934 it was sold to Coronel Roberto Fierro Villalobos, then Mexico's foremost pilot, re-engined and re-registered XA-AAD. In December 1936, Fierro, who was by then Director General de Aeronautican in Mexico and a strong supporter of the Spanish Republicans, sold it to the Spanish ambassador in Mexico. Together with a Lockheed Sirius and an Orion, both likewise supplied by Fierro, it sailed for Spain on board the Sil on 22 December 1936, reaching Santander on 12 January 1937. After serving with the Basque air arm for some weeks, the Vega was flown across Nationalist territory to the main Republican zone, where it joined the ranks of LAPE. Its Spanish registration and LAPE fleet number are not recorded. The LAPE pilot Joze Maria Carreras, who flew it frequently, told the author that it had neither engine cowling nor undercarriage spats, and that blotches of green and ochre had been painted on its original red finish by way of camouflage."

The two aeroplanes in the photo you supplied are not Vegas, but Consolidated 20A Fleetsters. Great thread.

Uuuuups, it´s true... sorry, my fault.
 
No worries, very much enjoying this thread, Gekho; the Spanish Civil War holds a particular fascination for me.
 

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