Tuesday 19 December 2017

Messerschmitt Bf.109E - Spanish Civil War

The Condor Legion was an unit composed of military personnel from the Air Force and Army of the Nazi Germany which served with the Nationalist side in the Spanish Civil War from July 1936 until March 1939.
Their fighter Jagdgruppes (fighter groups) saw the first operational deployment of the Bf.109A/B/C and D but also the Bf.109E 'Emil'. The Emil was supplied to the Condor Legion late in the conflict when a large number of them, 44 to be more precise, were supplied to their different squadrons from autumn 1939 until early summer 1939 when the war was already over.
They proved to be no match for the main Republican fighters, the Polikarpov I-15 and I-16 and they received heavy losses from the Condor Legion's Bf.109Es. However, their operational career was mainly uneventful and short as they came late in the war. They supported the conquer of Catalonia by the Nationalists during January and February 1939 which was the last great military operation of the Civil War and by that time the Republican Air Force had de facto, ceased to exist, so they barely met any opposition in the skies.
When the war was already over, in summer 1939 the Condor Legion was disbanded and their personnel returned back to Germany leaving some Bf.109Es left to be used by the, soon to be created Spanish Ejército del Aire (Army of the Air).
After the war all of them were assigned to the Pyrenean Military District and assigned to the 25º Grupo (25th Group) based in Agoncillo's airfield, close to the town of Logroño. They remained there in active service until 1951 when they were replaced by the Hispano Aviación HA-1109 J-1L.










Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Bf_109_operational_history#Combat_service_in_the_Spanish_Civil_War
2. http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2006/05/stuff_eng_waligorski_bf109e.htm
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condor_Legion
4. https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historia_del_Ejército_del_Aire_de_España (translated)
5. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
6. Signal Squadron - Aircraft In action 44 - Messerschmitt Bf-109 in Action Pt.1

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