Breguet 14, part five. European Users, part two.

 

The Breguet 14 was a French biplane bomber and reconnaissance aircraft of the World War I, that was mass produced during and after that conflict. France was its main user, but the type saw service with many other users all around the world, among them, the following ones:

• Estonia: Apparently the Estonian Aviation Regiment, belonging to the First Estonian Republic, had one Br.14 in service during the early 1920s. We couldn't, however, find further information, so both the and the registration, should be considered as speculative. 
  
  
• Finland: Finland bought a total of 22 Br.14A.2s between 1919 and 1921. They were assigned to Flying Division 1, based at Utti, for reconnaissance duties and Flying Division 2 for bomber duties based at Viipuri. In 1923 one machine was fitted with floats , acquired directly from France, and tested at a lake. By 1927 every Br.14 was already been phased out. As Finland's IVL company had a license to manufacture the Hansa-Brandenburg W.33, that was powered by the same Fiat A-12 model that the exported Br.14s were powered by, some few machines were fitted with Lamblin radiators, plus a modified rounder nose in 1922, however, it proved to be too problematic and it wasn't continued. As we couldn't find graphical information about the Lamblin-equipped Finnish Br.14, the colours should be considered as speculative. 
  
  
• Greece: The Greek Government bought enough Br.14B.2s to equip a squadron. They entered service in Greece in November 1917 with the 532 Mira Vomvarthismou ke Anagnorisseos (532rd Bombing and Reconnaissance Squadron) and saw action against Bulgarians during the Battle of Skra-di-Legen by bombing enemy positions along the Axios river. 
  A second squadron, 533 Mira Dioxes (533th Fighter Squadron) was formed in June 1918 composed by a mixture of Dorand A.R.1 and Breguet 14A.2s. By late 1918 the total amount of Br.14s serving with the Hellenic Army Air Service was 12, both A.2 and B.2s. In April 1919, following a reorganization, both 523 and 533 Miras, were renamed to "A" and "C" Miras and a detachment, brought from those two units, was sent to Turkey to take part in the Greco-Turkish War, together with the Royal Hellenic Navy's Airco DH-9s. "A" Mira remained in Orestias, which back then was part of Greece, and "C" Mira was sent to Turkey, where it flew various reconnaissance missions and tactical bombing missions over Ankara. However, due to fear of reprisals from local Turkish population, they saw limited action in the tactical bomber role.
  By late August 1919 both A and C Miras returned to mainland Greece, after providing aerial cover for the Greek withdrawal. Both Miras saw action again during the Revolution of Chios, in September 1922.
  Later, in 1923 another Mira was formed, "E Mira Dioxes" ("E" Fighter Squadron) and, among other types, it had a single Br.14A2 in strength. It was formed just in case the Greco-Turkish hostilities escalated again, but it was disbanded in July 1924. After these series of events, every Mira was regrouped into a single one, named "A Mira Aeroplanon and were equipped both with Nieuport Nighthawks and Breguet 14s, until 1925 when the Breguet 19 replaced the Br.14s.
  
  
• Italy: Some machines (the actual number is unknown) were sent to Italy during 1918, according to some photos. They received Italian Corpo Aeronautico Militare (Military Air Corps) markings and tested at Montecelio (nowadays Guidonia) before being assigned to 29a Squadriglia (29th Flight).
  They were powered by Fiat A-12 engines and it's known that Mario de Bernardi, famous Italian ace and racer, flew one Br.14 in April 1921
  

Sources:

1st https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bréguet_14

2nd Flying Machines Press - French Aircraft of the First World War

3rd Windsock Datafile Special - Breguet 14

4th https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breguet_Bre_14 (translated)

Further reading about the Breguet 14 in Finnish service

http://www.virtualpilots.fi/hist/WW2History-Bregue14.html

Marchetti MVT

The Marchetti MVT (Marchetti-Vickers-Terni) was an Italian fighter from the early interwar period
that was also known as SIAI S.50.
It was designed by Alessandro Marchetti and was a single seat all-metal biplane with the fuselage suspended between upper and lower wings with the after part serving as an airfoil. Its semi elliptical wings were very thin and used wing warping to allow lateral control and it had all-moving tail surfaces. It was powered by a single 220hp SPA 6a water cooled engine and was armed with two 0.303in Vickers machine guns.
It was built at Vickers-Terni factory in the Italian city of La Speziaand flew for the first time in the autumn of 1919 and in December of that same year it achieved the speed of 250km/h (155mph), which was a world speed record for the time but it wasn't declared official because there weren't any representatives of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (International Aeronautical Federation - the world governing institution for aeronautics of the time) present to certify the speed.
It was redesigned in 1920 to give it longer span wings and splayed interplane bracing struts, a new cabane structure and it was fitted with a more powerful 285hp SPA 62a engine. After that redesign it was tested in Guidonia (the Italian air force test centre) where it reached the speed of 275km/h (171mph).
Marchetti was hired by the Italian firm SIAI in 1922 as the chief engineer and it was renamed as the SIAI S.50, however, the MVT didn't match the minimum specs required by the Italian Regia Aeronautica for 1923 which specified that a fighter had to be powered by a 300hp Hispano-Suiza HS.42 but SIAI presented it for the contest anyway and it received a favourable impression from the Regia Aeronautica who adquired three airplanes for evaluation and had plans made to order 12 of them, although they were never ordered or constructed. It's also known that at least one of the three of those that were sold to the Regia Aeronautica was fitted with floats.
This airplane set the basis for the much succesful SIAI S.52 as it was based on this one.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marchetti_MVT
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of FIghters

Macchi M.41 & M.41bis

In 1927, the Regia Marina wanted to replace the M.7, that's why the M.41 was designed, based strongly on the previous M.26 of 1924. It was single-seat single-bay biplane made out of wood armed with two forward firing vickers 0.303 machine guns. It's skinning was made out of plywood and fabric and has equal span unstaggered wings.
It was powered by a 420hp Fiat A.20 engine set in a pusher configuration mounted on struts above the hull and below the main upper wing, just like the previous M.26.
It had an oblique radiator and it enjoyed of some very aerodynamically clean lines considering the type of airplane.
It competed against the SIAI S.58bis back in 1927 for the contest but Macchi didn't receive any production order, so they built only the very first prototype. Initially, the winner of the contest was the SIAI S.58bis and 97 production orders were placed, however in the last minute the Regia Marina broke the contract and decided to re-engine the aging M.7ter.
As the Regia Marina organized another contest in 1929 for another M.7ter replacement, Macchi redesigned the M.41 and named it M.41bis, which was basically a regular M.41 but with a vertical radiator. As it outperformed the SIAI S.58bis Macchi was finally granted with a production contract of 41 airplanes.
All the M.41bis entered into service in 1930 serving in the 88ª Gruppo Autonomo Caccia Maritima (88th Floatplane Fighter Autonomous Squadron) where they served until 1938 when they were replaced by the IMAM Ro.44.
Some of them were sent to Spain during the opening stages of the Spanish Civil War where they served from September 1936 until January 1937 at the base of Pollensa, in Palma de Mallorca, located in the Balearic Islands. They were assigned in the Escuadrilla Nº130 (Flight number 130) which was on charge of defending the port of Palma de Mallorca against possible Republican air raids. However, as the Republican didn't raid the port, they weren't used in combat.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macchi_M.41
2. http://fotosantiguasdemallorca.blogspot.com.es/2011/07/la-base-de-hidroaviones-de-pollensa-y.html (translated)
3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of FIghters

Macchi M.26

Back in 1924 the Italian Regia Marina was in need of a replacement for their aging M.7ter flying boat fighters so they issued a requirement for a new one.

As SIAI presented their candidature with their SIAI S.58 model, Macchi company presented the Macchi M.26 designed by their chief engineer, Mario Castoldi. It was a single seat biplane armed with two forward firing 0.303in Vickers Machine guns and was entirely made out of wood. It featured plywood and fabric skinning and had wings of equal span and unstaggered. It was powered by a single 296hp Hispano-Suiza HS.42 in a pusher configuration which was mounted on struts placed above the hull and below the upper ring. It was aerodynamically very clean.

It was completed in 1924 and made its first maiden flight that very same year. It showed good performance and Macchi built two prototypes, but the Regia Marina opted for re-engining the older M.7ter in order to save money. Therefore neither Macchi nor SIAI received production orders for their prototypes. However, it served as the basis for the more advanced Macchi M.41 which will be covered in a future post.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macchi_M.26
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Macchi M.7 & M.7ter

The Macchi M.7 was an Italian flying boat fighter that was designed both by Alesandro Tonini and manufactured by Macchi. It was similar in most aspects to the earlier M.5 but it featured an slightly modified hull and it was powered by an Isotta Fraschini V6 engine. The first airplane rolled out from the factory in mid-1918, so, due to the end of the World War I only 17 of them served with the Italian Navy.
As the war ended and they had a surplus of airplanes, they sold two to Argentina (who re-sold their ones to Paraguay), other two to Sweden in 1919 and some years later, in 1921 Brazil bought three of them.
In 1920 a new racing version, named M.7bis was designed, featuring a lighter structure and a smaller span-wings. It came foruth at the 1922 Schneider trophy that was hold in Naples.
There was also a third version, the M.7ter which featured a redesigned strengthned hull, a better wing configuration and a new tail. As it was thought to be an airplane designed to operate from seaplane tenders (in fact, it operated from the Giuseppe Miraglia seaplane tender) a version with foldable wings, named M.7terAR was built. It became the standard Italian flying boat fighter during the 1920s as, in 1924 six Italian naval squadrons were equipped with them and more of 100 of them were built, some of them serving until the early 1940s in private flying schools.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macchi_M.7
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Ansaldo A.C.4

Good morning, today we keep going with this shot saga of Italian fighters.

Today it's the turn for the Ansaldo A.C.4 which was an Italian single-seat fighter prototype which was a direct development of the Ansaldo A.C.2.

The Ansaldo A.C.4 was basically an Ansaldo A.C.2 powered by a 410hp Fiat A.20 engine which was already successful in Italy thanks to some successful biplane fighters like the Fiat Cr.20. It was armed, like the A.C.2 with a pair of 7,7mm Vickers machine guns.

It was flown for the first time in 1927, but only one prototype was built and, given the avaliability of better fighters, the project was abandoned.

Sources:
1. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansaldo_AC.2
2. http://www.aviastar.org/air/italy/ansaldo_ac-4.php
3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Ansaldo A.C.3

Today it's the turn for the Ansaldo A.C.3 which was a development of the A.C.2 and was the most used variant of the Ansaldo built Dewoitine variants.

The Ansaldo A.C.3 was heavily based in the French Dewoitine D.9 and it differed in having a slightly increased wing span area and being marginally shorter than the original D.9.

It was powered by a 420hp Alfa Romeo Jupiter , which was a license-built version of the French Gnome-Rhône Jupiter IV nine-cylinder radial. It was armed by two 7,7mm Vickers machine-gun mounted in the fuselage, and, sometimes, two wing-mounted 7,62mm Darne machine guns. However those wing-mounted ones were sometimes replaced by a single one mounted in the centre of the wing section in order to fire upwards in an oblique angle. They also introduced in Italy some new features for the time like radio equipation or smoke-bomb system.

The prototype was flown in early 1926 and a total of 150 A.C.3s were delivered between September 1926 and April 1927 and they gradually replaced the Ansaldo A.C.2 serving in the same squadrons that the A.C.2 had served with, the 93ª, 94ª and 95ª squadrons, all of them comprised inside the 8º Gruppo (8th group) of the 2º Stormo Caccia Terrestre (2nd land-fighter wing). They continued in active service during the early-to-mid 1930s performing the assault role in order to develop the theories of the Italian general Amedeo Mecozzi. After a first experimental stage where they served with the VII Gruppo Caccia (7th fighter group) in order to clearly define the specifications needed for a dedicated assault airplane, in 1930 the group was transformed into the VII Gruppo Autonomo Caccia (7th Autonomous Fighter group) and then, in 1931 into the VII Gruppo Auonomo Caccia e d'Assalto (7th Autonomous Fighter and Assault group) based in the airfield of Rome-Ciampino south.

In 1934 the VII Gruppo became part of the 5º Stormo Assalto (5th Assault wing) which kept in active the A.C.3 until 1936 when they were replaced by the Caproni A.P.1 or the Breda Ba.64 which were much adequate for the assault role, apart from being more modern.

Sources:
1. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansaldo_AC.2 (The parts about the A.C.3)
2. Salamander Books - The Complete book of fighter

Ansaldo A.C.2

Good morning. We start this week with another Italian fighter of the 1920s.

The Ansaldo A.C.2 was an Italian monoplane single-seat parasol fighter made manufactured by the Italian company Ansaldo during the 1920s.

When the Dewoitine D.1 was flown for the first time in November 1921, it was one of the most advanced fighters of that decade, that's why Ansaldo was very interested in producing it, so it bought a production license, in order to produce am improved sub-variant of it.

That's how in 1925 Ansaldo bought a Dewoitine D.1ter (named by the own company as the Ansaldo A.C.1) and made their own version powered by a 300hp Hispano-Suiza HS 42-8 eight cylinder water-cooled and was armed with two synchronised 7,7mm Vickers machine guns.

In 1925 it was assigned to serve with the Italian 93ª,94ª and 95ª squadrons (squadriglia) all of them belonging to the 2º Stormo Caccia Terrestre (2nd land-fighter wing). being in active service with the Regia Aeronautica until 1929 when they were progressive replaced by the Ansaldo A.C.3. Some sources claim that the French Aéronautique Navale (French naval aviation) used some of them in their Mediterranean base, as the only reference about that airplane that we could find was only in text format, the drawing should be considered as speculative.

Sources:
1. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansaldo_AC.2
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters.

Ansaldo A.1 "Balilla" - Italian Users

We finish the series of posts dedicated to this Italian fighter by covering its' native users.

The Ansaldo A.1 "Balilla" (which named after a Genoan folk hero) was an Italian fighter locally produced in Italy during the closing stages of the World War I.

The A.1 was the result from Ansaldo company to create a true fighter, given that the SVA proved to be not suitable for that role. The Ansaldo's designer Giuseppe Brezzi revised the design of the SVA in order to increase the size of the lower wing and redesigned the interplane strut configuration. Those two redesignments created more drag but at the same time the stiffness of the wing structure was increased and the stress in the airframe was reduced. It was powered by a powered-up version of the SVA engine, the SPA 6A piston engine and a safety system to jettison the fuel tank through a ventral hatch was installed.

The first prototype was completed in July 1917 but it wasn't accepted in the Corpo Aeronautico Militare until December. That reluctance to accept it was because the test pilots weren't enthusiastic when evaluating and, even if they found it to be better than the SVA.5, the type still wasn't as maneouvrable as the French fighter of those years. That's why the prototype was furtherly modified, in order to enlarge the wings,  the rudder and to increase slightly the power of the engine. Apparently that elevated the modified prototype to Corpo Aeronautico Militare standards and it was accepted, named Ansaldo A.1 bis. It was assigned in the 91ª Squadriglia to be evaluated.

The reports about its' performance were fixed, while some of them praised its' high speed, other deemed it difficult to manoeuvre and in general to control it. However as the Italian fighter pool was becoming obsolete, it was ordered anyway.

The first machine of the first 100 batch entered in service in July 1918 and most of them were assigned to second line duties performing home defense roles, as the first line fighters were performed by the better and much modern SPAD S.XIII. Before the war ended it only scored one aerial victory against an Austro-Hungarian reconnaissance airplane, and it was during those months that Ansaldo decided to promote the airplane, including the decission of nicknaming it as "Balilla", flying demonstration flights in the major Italian cities and gifting one machine to the Italian aviator Antonio Locatelli in order to perform stunts with it. However it backfired when Locatelli had to make a forced landing behind Austro-Hungarian lines due to a mechanical failure and was taken prisoner. Despite that negative propaganda, the Corpo Aeronautico Militare ordered another 100 of them to be produced, in order to be delivered before the end of the war and, at the date of the armistice, 186 were in service, of which 47 were used for training duties and the remainder were put into storage.

After the war, an Italian aviators association, the Cooperativa Nazionale Aeronautica (CNA) bought 40 of them together with other SVA, Hanriot HD.1, Fokker E.V and some unespecified Aviatik airplanes in March 1921.
When the Corpo Aeronautico was disbanded and replaced by the Regia Aeronautica in 1925, the Balilla was assigned to training duties, together with other outdated Aviatik and SVAs which were operated by the CNA, which in practice was a disguised pilot training association.
The CNA trained more than 400 pilots between 1925-1930 and it's reported that some Balillas were built (or rebuilt) by this association. With the next great reform of the Regia Aeronautica in 1933, the task of training the pilots was assumed by the Regia Aeronautica itself, 12 Balillas were kept in active until March-April 1940, but most probably they had dissappeared some years earlier.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansaldo_A.1_Balilla
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
3. Windsock Datafile 88 - Ansaldo A.1 Balilla

Ansaldo SVA - Italian users, Fifth Entry

We finish the series of entries dedicated to the Ansaldo SVA with an entry dedicated to the domestic users of this airplane.

Initially conceived as a fighter, it was quickly found to be inadequate for that role. However, given it's impressive speed, range and operational ceiling, it was an excellent reconnaissance and/or light bomber airplane. The production continued after the war and continued serving with the Aeronautica Militare (military aeronautics) and also with the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force) well into the 20s.

It's most famous action was the flight over Vienna, when the Italian poet Gabrielle D'Anunzio, flying in a modified SVA.10 (it was modified because the pilot and observer posts were exchanged so the pilot position was the observer's one and the observer's one the pilot's one) flew over Vienna on 9th August 1918 escorted by other SVA.5 of the same unit in order to drop propagandistic leaflets calling for the rebellion in the city. The leaflets consisted in three poems all of them written by D'Anunzio himself.

Another famous action of this airplane was the so called raid Rome-Tokyo, which featured a staged flight of 112 effective flying hours from Rome to Tokyo, passing through Italy, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iraq, British Raj, Thailand, French Indochina, China, and finally, Japan, using only Italian airplanes. The first stages were completed using Caproni Ca.40, but the rest were completed using SVAs.