Breguet 14, part seven. European Users, part four.

 

The Bréguet 14 was a French biplane bomber and reconnaissance aircraft of the World War I that was widely used during and after that conflict. France was its main user, but the type also saw service abroad, in the following countries:

• Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic: Six Bre.14B.2 were captured by Bolshevik troops in 1919 in Yekaterinodar, Kuban region, during the Russian Civil War. Almost all of them were damaged, but its known that at least three were used operationally in Southern Front, at the Caucasus. After the war, the surviving machines were assigned to a reconnaissance regiment based in Moscow. 
  
  
• Spain: In July 1919 a first batch of Br.14A.2 arrived in Spain as part of a French military mission. A total of eight machines were purchased, all of them powered by the Renault 12F engine.
  The first two Br.14A.2s were assigned to the Tetuan Escuadrilla (Tétouan Flight), where both machines were employed in combat missions. In 1921 one Br.14A.2 powered by a Fiat A.12bis engine was bought. This new engine was preferred as it was cheaper than the Renault 12F. These new machines arrived in time to take part in the initial stages of the Moroccan campaign, where they operated from Seville. 
  Later, in 1921 there were two Grupos (Groups - Squadron-sized units) operating the Br.14 from African soil. The Grupo Nº1 (Group No.1), based at Tétouan and the Grupo Nº2 (Group No.2) based at Larache, south of Tétouan. Each Grupo had one Escuadrilla (Flight) equipped with a Fiat-powered Br.14. In 1923 a third Escuadrilla was added to Grupo Nº1 and was stationed at Larache.
  Later, in 1923 the Grupo de Sevilla (Seville Group) was formed with Fiat-engined Br.14s and was redesignated as 22º Grupo (22nd Group) in February 1927. This unit employed the Br.14s until 1931 when they were replaced by the locally-built Loring R-III.
  An independent Grupo Expedicionario (Expeditionary Group) composed entirely of Br.14s operated in the Melilla and Tétouan areas, but, in 1926 it was assigned back to Grupo Nº1. That same year, Grupo Nº2 returned to Larache and a detachment was created to be sent to the Ifni province. This detachment was later assigned to Grupo Nº3. In October 1926 an unknown number of Fiat-engined Br.14s was sent to Armilla airfield, in Granada, to be assigned to Grupo Nº1 in February 1927, where they remained until 1930 when they were replaced by Breguet 19s. 
  The Fiat engine, although cheaper was unsatisfactory and some machines were modified to fit the 360hp Rolls-Royce VIII engine. These conversions were carried out at the aircraft park in Seville. The two Escuadrillas of Grupo Nº3, based at Larache, were the first ones to receive such modified machines in 1927.  This unit employed those Br.14s just in time to take part in the last aerial operations of the Rif War. 
  Overall the Br.14s remained in service until 1931 when they were replaced by either the Loring R-III or the Breguet 19. From 1928 to 1931 the Escuadrilla Sahariana (Sahara Flight) was equipped with the Rolls-Royce-powered Br.14s. 
  A single Br.14 was also fitted with a 300hp Hispano-Suiza 8F engine. This modification also took place in Seville but, on 17th November 1929 the prototype crashed killing its pilot.
  A total of 140 Br.14s were employed by Spain, and none of them seem to have been built locally.
  
  
• Sweden: In 1923 Swedish Prince Carl bought a Breguet 14Tbis that was refitted in France to be used as an aerial ambulance. This machine, registered as S-ASAA, could be fitted with both floaters or wheels and was donated to the Swedish Red Cross, it was flown by Ferdinand Cornelius (famous Swedish pilot of the time) and it was based at the town of Boden, north of Sweden where it was employed to save lives of the many people living in difficult-to-reach areas in the Swedish Northern Wilderlands.
  
  
• Yugoslavia: When the Yugoslav Royal Army Aviation Department (YRAAD - forerunner of the Royal Yugoslav Air Force) was created in November 1918, twenty-four Br.14A.2 and Br.14B.2s were inherited from the French Escadrille BR.525, which was disbanded and its machines passed on to the Serbian Army, which was also the forerunner of the YRAAD. Twelve additional machines were also acquired when the French Armée de l'Orient left the region. These were followed by 25 more, bought directly from France, in the early 1920s. 
  This last batch included not just Br.14A.2/B.2s but also the Br.14E2 trainer and the Br.14S ambulance variants. In 1923 one aircraft was locally converted into the transport variant with an enclosed cabin and provision for two passengers.
  The Br.14s were powered by the Renault Fcx engine, yielding 300 hp of power. One aircraft was locally fitted with a Fiat A.12 engine and another one with a 260 hp Maybach MbIVa . They were progressively replaced from 1923 onwards, mainly by the Breguet 19. Some machines made it to the year 1932, when their engines were replaced by the Lorraine-Dietrich engine, rated at 400 hp, hoping to enlength their operational life. However, they could only last until the early-to-mid 1930s, when they were definitelly withdrawn from service.

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 http://www.avrosys.nu/aircraft/Flygkomp/21Breguet.htm

5th http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/waf/yugo/jkrv/types/breguet_14.htm

Aviatik (Berg) D.I - Foreign Users

The Aviatik-Berg D.I saw also postwar service with various nations after the war.

• State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs & Kingdom of Yugoslavia: After the armistice of 1918 many airplanes were left-over by the Austro-Hungarian troops and were seized by the forces of the newly created State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia later. They were employed by the Slovenes in the Austro-Slovene conflict in Carinthia of 1918-1919.
• Romania: Apparently the Kingdom of Romania incorporated some D.I after the war. They were most probably MAG made. However any further detail is unknown, so the pic should be considered as purely speculative.
• Hungarian Soviet Republic: Some MAG made Aviatik-Berg D.I were used by the Red Hungarian Air Corps during the revolutionary period of 1919.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviatik_(Berg)_D.I

2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Oeffag Va.253 - Foreign Users, first entry

And we keep going with the Albatros D.III variants. This time we are covering some of the foreign users of the Austro-Hungarian most advanced variant, the Oeffag Va.253.

Note: As the Polish air force 7th squadron used a lot of these airplanes, they'll have their own dedicated entry. The Polish airplanes represented here are those not belonging to that squadron.

Powered by a 225hp Austro-Daimler engine, the Va.253 was basically a license-built Albatros D.III featuring some changes which we will explain later.

The countries covered in this entry:

• Austria: After the World War I, the newly created Austrian Republic was banned from having a military air force and therefore most of the former Austro-Hungarian airplanes were scrapped. However some were saved and were owned privately. 
• Czechoslovakia: On 22nd November 1917 the Czech pilot Adolf Blaha, defected to Switzerland where he performed acrobatic shows for living until the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed. Then he flew back to Prague and became the first Czechoslovak pilot of the newly created Czechoslovak Army Air Force.
• Poland: After the war the Polish army bought 38 Oeffag Va.253 and employed them in the Polish-Soviet war mainly in ground attack roles. The main user was the 7th squadron, but in this entry we are covering those which didn't serve on the 7th squadron.
• Yugoslavia: The newly created State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, seized some leftover Austro-Hungarian airplanes and used them in the Austro-Slovene conflict lasting from November 1918 up to July 1919.

Ansaldo SVA - Foreign Users, Third Entry

We finish the foreign users for this airplane, by adding the remaining users:

• Poland: It is known that the Polish Wojska Lotnicze employed some of them in the Polish-Soviet war as scouts.
• USSR: It is known too, that the Soviet Air Regiment used some (apparently captured from the Polish front) SVA as scouts also.
• Spain: The Spanish Aeronáutica Militar (Military Aeronautic) employed some SVA.5 in the scout role in North Africa, during the Rif War.
• Uruguay: The Uruguayan Escuela Militar de Aeronáutica (Military School of Aeronautics) employed some SVA.10 in order to teach their pilots. They remained active until 1932.
• USA: The USAAS and later, the USAAC, employed an SVA.5 and, weirdly, the military attache in Rome, had an Ansaldo A.202 as his personal airplane. It's not very common to own a prototype as your personal airplane.
• Yugoslavia: The Royal Yugoslavian Army Aviation Detachment employed some SVA.5. As we couldn't find info about those airplanes. All we could do, was to speculate.

SPAD S.VII - Fourth entry, foreign users vol. 4 *UPDATED*

We keep going with our SPAD S.VII compilation, this time a little bit shorter than usual:

• Red Army/USSR: The Russian Red Army, employed them widely during the Russian civil war and Polish Soviet war and was among the very first fighters used by the Workers' and Peasants' Air Fleet (the precursor of the Soviet Air Force). They were ex-Imperial units or captured ones. 
• Siam/Thailand: The Thai king Rama VI, ordered the creation of an aviation division for the Siamese army, and the very first fighter squadrons were equipped with French built SPAD and Nieuport fighters. Please note that those two profiles are somewhat 'semi-speculative' as we only could find black & white references that were often unreadable.
• Ukraine: The Ukrainian People's Republic got two ex-Russian SPADs and used them in the Polish Soviet war. They were integral part of the Ukrainian first air regiment.
• Uruguay: The Uruguayan military school of aeronautics bought some S.VII together with some S.XIII and used them as trainers but they were also part of their first fighter squadron. However we couldn't find graphical evidence on this, so the colours must be considered as speculative.
• USA: Previously used by American pilots in the famous 124th squadron (Lafayette Squadron), the S.VII was among the very first airplanes used by the USAAS (United States Army Air Service), the precursor of the USAF.
• Yugoslavia: Ex-Serbian airplanes were used as trainers in the first flying schools of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

*UPDATE: We felt that the American users were... incomplete, that's why we decided to expand the USAS users and, in order to be consequent with our own criterions, we decided to treat the Lafayette Squadron as part of the French Aéronautique Militaire (as it was in reality) and therefore take them out of this drawing, only to replace them with more USAS airplanes, but don't worry because you can find the Lafayette squadron one's here..

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**UPDATE: About the Spanish Pujol Comabella: In 1917 SPAD society granted to Pujol Comabella Society of Barcelona (which was shortly after absorved by the Hereter society) some blueprints and incomplete specifications of their best product, the S.VII fighter. The Pujol Comabella society started to make a replica of it as best as they could, getting a nice replica of the original and named as 'España'. However, given the quality of the employed materials or because the blueprints and specifications were incomplete, the performance was inferior to the original. 
That factor and the lack of need of a fighter, because up to that date the only role the Spanish Military had performed was to bomb and strafe Rifean positions in the Spanish protectorate in Morocco, made the project to fail given the lack of interest. 

Neither political scenario was favourable, it was in the middle of a great political crisis and at the edge of a revolution which was easily put-down by the army without any help from the aviation, which was highly concentrated in the protectorate of Morocco. 

It is interesting to point out how, the differences. It lacks windshield, the upper nose panel is lifted and the tail has two supporting wooden bars instead of just one, probably changes suggested by the engineer Eduardo Barron who was supervising the construction of the replica. Also it's interesting to see how on the presentation model, the characteristic bird of Georges Guynemer was copied. 

Only 12 of them were built and were declared obsolete and scrapped in 1922.