Historical background

The Spanish Civil War was a conflict fought from 1936 to 1939. The long and bloody war, which caused a huge number of victims, was fought by Nationalists and Republicans. The Nationalists were supported, with a massive war effort, by Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy who sent expeditionary forces formed by numerous vehicles and volunteers . From the opposing front, The Stalin’s Soviet Union primarily provided material assistance to Republican forces.  The two major European countries, France and Great Britain, remained neutral although they encouraged participation in the war on the side of the Republicans by a massive media effort.

 

The Legionary Air Forces

The Legionary Air Forces, was the expeditionary air corps from Italian Regia Aeronautica and it  was set up in July 1936 to provide logistical and tactical support to General Francisco Franco in July 1936. To provide a solution to the first Nationalists need (the transportation of troops from North Africa to Spain), in accordance with Mussolini’s order, Regia Aeronautica sent 12 three-engines Savoia Marchetti SM 81 with the relative crews and ground specialists. After the first transportation duties, they were also used for the real purpose : bombing operations.  The national insignia  has been removed to avoid further diplomatic frictions between the Italian Government and the main European Countries, such as France and Great Britain, who supported the Republicans. The wing symbol became a completely black circle, able to cover the national insignia,  and on the tail-rudder a black cross on white field was put on all airplanes. On August 1936 the first Fiat CR 32 biplane fighters arrived in Spain by ships and they were rapidly assembled to be ready to fight.








The protagonist in Spanish Civil War skies: the Fiat CR 32 fighter

Designed in the early part of the '30s,  the Fiat CR 32 was powered by an V 12-cylinders, producing 600 hp. It was able  to reach, as maximum speed,  375 Km / h. Among the most famous biplanes of aviation History the CR 32  was characterized by an extraordinary maneuverability. It was also strong, very reliable and well armed for the historical period, with two 12.7 mm Breda-Safat machine gun located on the top of engine and firing through the propeller disc. The Fiat CR 32 had its baptism of fire with the Legionary Air Forces and soon obtained the air superiority against the  Soviet-made monoplane fighters, like the Polikarpov I-16, that formed the Squadrons of Republican Aviation.  Thanks to the extraordinary mobility and the training of pilots, the Italian fighters  prevailed even on from more modern enemy airplanes such as the Soviet-made Tupolev SB-2 bomber considered, thanks to its speed, impossible to be intercepted.

The cover artwork of the incoming 1/72 scale Fiat CR-32 "Chirri" 


The lesson learned.

The success of Legionary Air Forces during the Spanish Civil War, in terms of enemy aircrafts  shot down and in terms of overall effectiveness, provided to  Regia Aeronautica some wrong messages. The most critical evaluation mistake was to recognize the role and the effectiveness of biplane fighter against the more modern monoplane metallic fighters. Due to this, at the beginning of World War II, the most part of Italian fighter Squadrons were formed by obsolete biplane fighter such as Fiat CR 42. A lesson completely different had been learned  by  German Luftwaffe, through the volunteers of the Condor Legion. The Germans used the conflict to test the military and fighting effectiveness of new planes, such as the monoplane fighter  Messerschmitt Bf 109 or the twin-engine bomber Heinkel He 111, who played a key role in the early stage of Second World War. Furthermore, the biplane fighter Heinkel He 51, certainly less effective than equivalent Italian CR-32, were rapidly considered obsolete and relegated to second-line roles and duties.

Legionary Air Froce : SM 79 during a bombing action