Historical Background

This book deals exclusively with the creation and development of aviation in Spain beginning in the early twentieth century. It mentions pre-World War I developments, and then progress during the twenties. For some reason, the period of the Spanish Civil War, between Russian backed forces and Germany is mentioned in very little detail, with no photos of any of the aircraft involved in that war that were taken during the war. The Spanish were also slightly involved in the action on the Russian Front as allies to the Luftwaffe, and this is only slightly covered.

Postwar developments were covered in much more detail, with lists of units, aircraft types, and even equipment used by the support units. These are mentioned and mostly illustrated with photos. The author goes into a great amount of detail describing the locations of installations, firing ranges, maintenance facilities, and other factors associated with the operation of an air force. After World War II, it took a while for the Spanish to get back into the picture as far as the European political scene went, and it wasn’t really until the 1950’s that Spain fitted into the European structure to defend against the Soviet Russian threat to Western Europe.

The latter half of the book deals with the development of units and organizations within the Spanish Air Force that took care of such things as training, maintenance, research and development, and other necessary functions included in air force activities.

Book Description and Features

The book is unlike anything I have ever seen in regard to its extensive coverage of some of the above topics. For the modeler, there are a fair selection of color profile drawings and photos, mainly of airplanes used from the 1950’s. There is no color from the Civil War period, although this information is available from other sources. But as a general resource of material on the aircraft, personnel, and facilities of the Spanish Air Force, it seems like a pretty complete coverage of the topic.

Recommendation

This book is certainly a one-of-a-kind, providing complete coverage of the modern Spanish Air Force. I’d like to see other authors do works on other air forces, as this would be very educational for us all. This book is definitely worth getting, especially since it is not really expensive considering the content. Don’t miss out on this one. Highly recommended,

Thanks To

Thanks to Helion Books, Casemate Publishing Co., and Bill O’Malley and Phil Peterson of IPMS.