Caproni Ca.310, foreign users, part one

 The Caproni Ca.310 'Libeccio' (Italian word for "south-western wind") , was an Italian twin-engined reconnaissance monoplane used during World War II. The aircraft itself was a derivation of the previous Ca.309 and it was employed by many users around the world. Among them, the following ones:

• Independent State of Croatia: The Air Force of the Independent State of Croatia (whose acronym was ZNDH) employed 6 (seven, according to some other sources) Ca.310. Five of them were bought from German stocks, which were ex-Yugoslav machines and one machine captured by themselves, plus one Ca.310bis (which was a variant with an unstepped glazed nose, which would eventually become the prototype for the Ca.311). 
  A single ZNDH Ca.310 fleed to Italy on 31st October 1943 and landed at Tortorella airfield, controlled by the South African Air Force. That airplane was loaded with 7 Yugoslav and one Gestapo officer. Of those people, the most important was Cpt. Janko Dobnikar a Slovene pilot working for Zemun WNF (ex Ikarus) who was arrested the previous day by the Gestapo for cooperating with partisans but the flight was hijacked and sent to Italy.
• Hungary: Hungary bought a total of 36 Ca.310 in 1938. Three of them were soon lost to accidents and the Hungarians were not satisfied with the type's performance, so during the next year (according to some other sources it was in 1940) the remaining 33 machines were sent back to Caproni. They were taken into account for the MKHL's (Hungarian acronym for Magyar Királyi Honvéd Légiero - Royal Hungarian Air Force) purchase of the Caproni Ca.135bis medium bomber. Returned aircraft were refurbished and assigned to the 50º Stormo Assalto, to replace the Breda Ba.65 as part of the 12º Gruppo of the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force)
• Norway: Norway ordered 24 Ca.310 as part of a dried and salted cod barter between Norway and Italy. After the delivery of the first four aircraft, testing revealed that flying characteristics weren't as satisfactory as Caproni had promised and build quality fell way behind too. Therefore, Norwegian authorities cancelled the order and any further Ca.310 wasn't delivered. The four Norwegian machines received the following serial numbers: 501, 503, 505 and 507. Aircraft No. 503 was bought by the Norwegian national airline Norske Luftfartselskap and was employed as a fast mail aircraft in the Oslo-Göteburg (Sweden)-Copenhagen (Denmark) night route during summer 1939. By the start of the war it was recalled by the Haerens Flyvevaaben (Norwegian Army Air Service) and was put back into military service.
  When Germany attacked Norway on 9th April 1940, all four Norwegian Ca.310 were based at Sola airfield, where they were called to move to Oslo, to defend the capital, but two of them, numbers 503 and 507 were destroyed on the ground by the Luftwaffe. One Ca.310, number 505 managed to take off, but it was destroyed by its own crew after having to perform an emergency landing at Opstad. The other surviving machine, number 501 managed to take off from Sola, although having been damaged, but eventually it crashed in lake Vangsmjosa, in the region of Valdres on 19th April 1940. This aircraft was recovered and restored and is nowadays on exhbition at the Sola aircraft museum.

Sources:

1. https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235096763-caproni-ca310/

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caproni_Ca.310

Junkers Ju.52/3m in Hungary, part one

 

The Junkers Ju.52/3m is a German transport airplane that saw service all around the world. One of its main foreign users was Hungary.

The Hungarian national airline Magyar Légiforgalmi R.T. (MALERT) was until the early 1930s equipped with Junkers F.13 and many Fokker passenger planes which were becoming obsolete. The first Junkers to arrive in Budapest was a Ju.52/3m registered as HA-DUR in 1931 which served as the personal transport of Miklós Horthy, the regent of Hungary during the interwar period and most of the World War 2. This Junkers was beautifully decorated with the coat of arms overpainted over the Hungarian flag at the tail.

In order to expand and modernise its fleet, the Hungarian government donated the HA-DUR in 1936 to MALERT to be used in their network with an additional 6 ones purchased from Germany. They were put into use in the line Budapest-Vienna- Salzburg -Munich - Zurich which served jointly with Deutsche Lufthansa and ÖLAG. In 1937, thanks to big increase in numbers of MALERT, a new airport was built in Budapest, named Budaörs, which served as the company's new hub. In April 1939 two additional Ju.52/3m were ordered which were delivered in the summer but, the start of the World War 2 interrupted some aerial routes for a brief period of time. In February it was sought to open a new route to London and Paris via Venezia and Marseille and even another one to Moscow, via Sofia, in Bulgaria, however those were established because of the war.

The most important route MALERT served during this period was Berlin-Budapest-Bucharest between January and 31st March 1940. The Ju,52/3m served with MALERT until they were requisitioned by the Royal Hungarian Air Force (MKHL) to serve in the invasion of the USSR.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Junkers_Ju_52_operators

2. http://www.europeanairlines.no/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/A_Maefort_Malert_020209.pdf

3. http://airliner.narod.ru/airliners1931-ju52/ju52-1europe.htm (translated)

4. Hikoki Books - Hungarian Eagles - A Magyar Királyi Honvéd Légieró 1920-1945

Messerschmitt Bf.108, part one

The Messerschmitt Bf.108 was a German single-engine sport and touring aircraft that was used for military liaison purposes during the World War 2. It was designed and developed by the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke in the 1930s and was exported to many countries:

• Austria: A single Bf.108 was ordered by the Austrian government on 22nd April 1937 and was delivered on 27th July. It was the only Bf.108 to serve with the Austrian Air Force and when Germany annexed Austria, it went back to serve with the Luftwaffe.
• Bulgaria: During the war Bulgaria bought a total of six Bf.108 in 1941. They were assigned to the 1st Courier Squadron but were used mainly for training purposes.
• Independent State of Croatia: The 15.(Kroat)/JG.52 squadron composed by Croatian pilots who fought in the Eastern Front, used some Bf.108 for liaison purposes outside combat zones. The one depicted below was used by four Croatian pilots on 19th September 1942 to fly to Uman, in the USSR, where they were based.
• Hungary: In 1937 the Royal Hungarian Air Force bought a total of seven Bf.108 which were used in a wide range of duties. From liaison, communications and even trainer. They served through the war on the Eastern Front and until the end of the war.
• Romania: The Royal Romanian Air Force had at least one Bf.108 at the beginning of the war. It was assigned to the 11th Courier Squadron which belonged to the 1st Air Corps. During 1943 and 1944 it was still in service.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Bf_108

2. http://www.warbirdalley.com/bf108.htm

3. Wydawnictwo Militaria 149 - Messerschmitt Bf-108 Taifun

Avis III

The Avis III was developed in parallel to the Avis II and flown for the first time in 1935. It was powered by a 550hp Manfred-Weiss built Gnome-Rhône 9Krsd Mistral engine and was equipped with a three-bladed adjustable-pitch Hamilton standard propeller.

Unlike it's predecessors, which were all of them made entirely out of metal, this one had wooden wings with a combination of plywood and fabric skinning in order to make it lighter. Four prototypes were built and they performed better than the preceding ones, but they lacked the agility of the Italian Fiat Cr.32, which was under evaluation by the Légüyi Hivatal. It was adopted into service but didn't enter into production.
It was armed with two 7,62mm Gebauer machine guns and, apparently one of the prototypes was completed with some minor modifications as the Avis IV. Unfortunately, we couldn't even find textual descriptions of these changes.

Sources:
1. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
2. Hikoki Publications - Hungarian Eagles 1920-1945

Avis II

As the Avis I showed poor performance, the designer, prof. Abody-Anderlik were prompted to redesign the aircraft in spite of the decision taken by the Légüyi Hivatal of purchasing 21 Fiat Cr.20bis fighter airplanes from Italy.

The design held to the Jupiter VI engine and, as redesigned it featured a slimmer, slab-sided fuselage as well as redesigned vertical tail surfaces. It also featured narrower interplace bracing struts and an increased gap.
The overall empty weight was reduced by 100kg and, after some initial testing the engine was enclosed within a Townend ring.
It was flight tested in 1935 but it turned to overweight and it wasn't as agile as other contemporary two-winged foreign fighters. It was to be armed with two 7.62mm Gebauer machine guns but the development was abandoned in favour of the Avis III. Unfortunately we haven't found any blueprint or side-drawing of it, so it remains undrawn.

The only known pic of an Avis II fighter

Sources: 
1. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Avis I

In 1931 the Central Repair Workshops located in Székesfehérvár-Sóstó started to build the AVIS (Anderlik-Varga-Iskola-Sport) airplane which apparently looked like a sports and single-seat trainer airplane.
In fact, it was a fighter airplane intended to be used by the Légüyi Hivatal (Aviation Department) which was the clandestine Hungarian Air Force.

It was an all-metal, single-bay staggered biplane designed by the prof. Elöd Abody-Anderlik, László Varga, István Liszt and Deszö Fridrik. The first airplane was completed and flown in 1933 and was powered by a 420hp Manfred-Weiss-built Jupiter VI engine. The expected armament were two synchronised 7.62 Gebauer machine-guns. This airplane proved to be seriously underpowered, which lead to the development of the AVIS II. The only prototype was assigned to the flying school at Szombathely where it served until 1936.

Sources:
1. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
2. http://www.aviastar.org/air/hungary/avis-1.php