Junkers Ju.52/3m in Spain, part two

 

The Junkers Ju.52/3m was widely used during the Spanish Civil War by the Nationalist side and the subsequent Spanish State.

During the initial part of the conflict, a single Ju.52/3mg3e defected on 10th November 1936 to the Republican Side. This aircraft was piloted by Ananías San Juan Alonso, Sergeant of the Nationalist Grupo 22 de Bombardeo (Bombardment Group 22), who flew the Ju.52/3m from Escalona airfield, in Toledo, under Nationalist control to Alcalá de Henares airfield, in Madrid, under Republican control. This defection was made popular at the time by the Republican authorities and the captured Junkers was repainted to show loyalist colours. The fate of this machine is unknown, but was most probably destroyed on ground during a bombardment. San Juan was incorporated to Grupo 12, 1a Escuadrilla (Group 12, 1st Squadron) and flew Tupolev SB-2 bombers until the end of the conflict. After the war, he moved to Mexico where he lived until the end of his days in 1985.

The German Condor Legion, which served to the Nationalist side, had two Ju.52/3mW floatplanes. They were based at Pollença, close to the city of Mallorca, in the Balearic Islands and were used mainly in the transport and observation roles. One of them was destroyed in an accident during a vicious storm and the other one suffered an uncertain fate. Its known that one of them was involved in an aerial fight between two captured Republican Fiat Cr.32 when returning from a reconnaissance flight from Cadiz to Pollença.

After the Spanish Civil War, Iberia (the main Spanish Airline) was refounded in Madrid and in Autumn a new route with Lisbon was opened, served with Ju.52/3m. One year later, Iberia was granted by the Francoist authorities the monopoly of aerial transport of goods and persons inside Spanish lands for the next 20 years. Most of those routes were served by the Ju.52/3m which, although its exact number is unknown, it's estimated that around 75 machines (Iberia's official source places the number between 69 and 90) served with Iberia until 1960.

The Ju.52/3m was still under production after World War 2 in Spain, under the denomination of CASA C-352, but this aircraft will be the subject of its own post in the future.

Sources:

1. http://dbe.rah.es/biografias/95068/ananias-san-juan-alonso (translated)

2. https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php?topic=23496.0

3. https://www.facebook.com/fotosiberia/posts/1584431005125652:0 (translated)

4. https://www.iberia.com/es/flota/aviones-historicos/Junkers_JU-52/ (translated)

5. http://falkeeins.blogspot.com/2010/12/spanish-civil-war-ju-52-floatplane.html