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Informationen zum Autor Rafael A Permuy López , a Reserve Artillery Major, is a member of the Spanish Instituto de Historia y Cultura Aeronáutica and a journalist with a long career in newspapers and military history magazines. A researcher of both Spanish Republican and Nationalist aviation for nearly 40 years, some of his books include Ases de la Aviación republicana (2008), As de Picas (2009) and Air War over Spain (2010). Klappentext 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 García Lacalle and Alonso Santamaría 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. Vorwort This will be the first book published in English to focus exclusively on the exploits of the fighter aces of the Aviación Militar in their fight against the elite pilots of the better armed Nationalist force. Zusammenfassung The first book published in English to focus exclusively on the exploits of the fighter aces of the Aviación Militar in their fight against the elite pilots of the better armed Nationalist force. Inhaltsverzeichnis The Republican Fighter Force in 1936-37 The Escuadra de Caza nº 11 Fighter Pilots in the North Chato Pilots Mosca Pilots Nightfighter Pilots Appendices -Technical specification and performance tables for all fighter types serving in Spain -List of Top Scoring pilots in the Spanish Republican Aviation -Colour Plates Commentary -Selected bibliography ...
