Bréguet 14, part one. South and Central American users.

 

The Bréguet 14 was a French bomber and reconnaissance biplane of the World War I. It was manufactured in large numbers during and after the conflict. It was used by the French Aéronautique Militaire (French Aeronautical Corps) but it was also exported to many countries all around the globe, among them, the following ones:

• Argentina: The Aeroposta Argentina (Argentine Air Mail) employed three Breguet 14 built by Latécoère for aerial mail duties. They arrived at Buenos Aires in late 1925 and served mainly in the Buenos Aires-Asunción  and Buenos Aires-Montevideo aerial routes. They were reported to be still in active in December 1934 when they were written off.
• Brazil: Brazil bought 16 Breguet 14 A.2 and B.2 in 1919. Four Breguet 14 B.2 served with 1a Esquadrilha de Bombardeio (1st Bombing Squadron), based at Santa María, Rio Grande do Sul, and six Breguet 14 A.2 served with the 3a Esquadrilha de Observaçao (3rd Observation Squadron), based at Alegrete, Rio Grande do Sul. Apart from those machines, six more Breguet were locally assembled. 
  They served until 1928 when those squadrons were disbanded and their aircraft sent to the Escuela de Aviaçao (Aviation School) at Campo dos Alfonsos, in Rio de Janeiro. 
  Another unit, Esquadrilha de Aperfeiçoamento (Operational Conversion Squadron) was based at Mogi das Cruzes, Sao Paulo, with six Breguet 14 A.2 in strength. This unit saw combat action during the Paulista Revolt of July 1924. During that month that squadron flew 11 bombing and reconnaissance sorties losing one aircraft to an accident. The Breguet remained there from August to September 1924 , this time as part of the Destacamento de Aviaçao (Air Detachment), of the Brazilian Army. 
  In 1927 every Brazilian Breguet 14 were withdrawn.
• El Salvador: One Breguet 14 B.2 was acquired from France in the mid-1920s. This machine was used for good will flights to both Honduras and Nicaragua in 1926. Unfortunately, it crashed in March 1927 while delivering smallpox vaccine to Managua.
• Guatemala: Three Breguet 14 were shipped to Guatemala by a French air mission in 1918. Anyway the main instructor with the mission died and the crates where the aircraft were, they were sent back to France unassembled. However, we drawn a what-if looking Breguet 14 in Guatemalan colours.
• Paraguay: One Breguet 14A.2 was employed by the Governmental Forces during the Paraguayan Civil War of 1922-1923. It was destroyed during a forced landing at the Ñu-Guasu airfield in the city of Luque, close to the capital, Asunción.  
• Uruguay: The Uruguayan Escuela Militar de Aeronáutica (Military Aeronautical School, forerunner of the Uruguayan Military Aviation) bought six Breguet 14A.2 in 1921. Three Breguet 14T Sanitaire (AKA Breguet 14TS. It was the aerial ambulance version) were acquired in 1927 and one additional 14TS was acquired in June 1928. The 14.A.2 served with the Escuela Militar de Aeronáutica until 1928 when they were replaced by the Potez 25. 
  The 14TS were regrouped in their own unit, named 'Aviación Sanitaria' (Sanitary Aviation), the first of that kind in South America. They served until 1931 when they were replaced by the Farman F.190

Sources:

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

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

3. http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/user/every/paraguay-af-all-time-aircraft-used-listing.htm

4. https://www.histarmar.com.ar/AVIACION/EloyMartin/LOS-COMIENZOS-DE-LA-AVIACION-POLICIAL.pdf (translated)

5. https://www.fau.mil.uy/es/noticias/69-los-aviones-ambulancia-al-servicio-del-estado.html (translated)

6. Helion - 08 Aerial Operations in the Revolutions of 1922 and 1947 in Paraguay The First Dogfights in South America

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

Avro 504K - Latin American users, part one

Now it comes the turn for the various latin-American users of this trainer airplane.

• Argentina: The government of the Argentinean president Hipólito Yrigoyen authorised on 31st July 1920 the purchase of various airplanes, among them there were twenty-two Avro 504K powered by a LeRhône 9J engine. They served in the trainer role until 1928 when they were being replaced by the domestically produced FMA version of the 504R Gosport airplane.
• Bolivia: Apparently, Bolivia had some 504 in their Air Corps during the 1920s, however we couldn't find graphical info and the drawing should be considered as speculative.
• Brazil: In 1920 the Brasilian authorities adquired 17 Avro 504k, five of them powered with the Gnome engine and the rest with the LeRhône engine. It was the first airplane adquired by the Brasilian navy destined to operate from land airfields. They were retired in the year 1928 when the government bought the newer N/O version.
• Guatemala: Guatemala funded their Escuela Militar de Aviación (Military Aviation School) back in 1913 and, on 1st May 1920 they renewed their airplane fleet by adquiring some 504Ks.
• Paraguay: There it seems that at least one Avro 504K served with the Paraguayan flying school and some sources claim that it crashed. Anyway we couldn't find any graphical evidence of how it looked like, so the drawing should be considered as speculative.

Sources:

1. http://www.amilarg.com.ar/avro-504.html (translated)

2. https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_504 (translated)

3. https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escuela_Militar_de_Aviación_(Guatemala) (translated)

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_504

5. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Hanriot HD.1 - Foreign users

Today, we are altering our criterion a little bit. Despite being a French design, it wasn't produced for French users but for foreign users, Italy and Belgium, mainly. That's why we consider France as a foreign user, despite it was manufactured in France, but also in Italy by Macchi, which manufactured more exemplars than the parent firm. Also, given the importance this airplane had in the Belgian army, we are going to reserve entries exclusively for Belgian and Italian ones.

The Hanriot HD.1 was a French single seat biplane fighter aircraft. It was rejected to serve in the French army in favour of the SPAD S.VII and thus, it was offered to both Belgian and Italian armies where it served successfully. In fact, it became the standard Italian fighter of the Great War. Of a total of 1200 airplanes built, 831 were manufactured under license by the Italian Macchi company.

This airplane, influenced by the Sopwith designs, mainly because Hanriot had produced under license the Sopwith 1/2 Strutter, was produced in 1916.

It was powered by a 110hp LeRhone rotary engine and, although it wasn't very fast, it was highly maneouvrable and was very popular among the pilots due it's easiness to control. In order to keep the good climbing and altitude numbers, it's armament was oftenly restricted to a single synchronised vickers machine gun, althought there was place for a second one. This airplane introduced a new feature (for the era): The machine guns were at the side of the cockpit and not in front, providing more safety in the case of a crash. However in the Italian built versions the machine-gun was fitted on the front of the cockpit and not at the sides.

The users covered in this entry are:

• Ecuador: The newly created Ecuadorian military aviation school bought their second airplane which named it 'Telegrafo Iº' (Telegraph 1st). It achieved renown within that country when the Italian born pilot Elia Liut crossed the Ecuadorian Andes flying that airplane.
• France: Apparently the French naval aeronautics employed some floatplane sub-variant of the HD.1 in order to defend their naval bases. It seems that they sold all their exemplars to the US Navy. As we couldn't find reliable info about how they looked like, the drawing should be considered as speculative.
• Paraguay: The Paraguayan National Air Force bought three airplanes from Italy. As we couldn't find graphical information about their colours under Paraguayan command, the drawing is speculative.
• Switzerland: The Swiss Army Aviation bought some HD.1 in order to equip their fighter squadron based in Dübendorf, near Zürich. One of them is still displayed in the Dübendorf aviation museum.
• United States: The US Naval Aircraft Factory adquired 10 HD.1 which used them to make trials on take-off platfroms from warships in the post-war years. They were also employed as advanced trainers. 
• Venezuela: The Venezuelan Military Aviation School adquired some French made HD.1 during the late 10s/early 20s in order to equip their fighter squadron.
• Austro-Hungarian Empire: It is known that at least one ex-Italian aircraft performed a forced landing in Austro-Hungarian soil and they captured the airplane and pushed it into service with their air corps. 

Ansaldo SVA - Foreign Users, Second Entry

We continue with the Ansaldo SVA, this time with more foreign users of this multi-role airplane.

• Lithuania: Lithuania kept some SVA.10 used in observation role during the 20s. There's not much more many information.
• Paraguay: As many of you have already guessed, the Ansaldo SVA played an important role in south American countries not just for being one of the first airplanes in many of these countries air force's, but also for being the protagonist of the first aerial combat ever in that territory when two opposing SVA.5 faced together in a dogfight. It was also used as a trainer, and not just as a fighter.
• Peru: Peru had some SVA.5 in active during the 20s. Their fate or where they were based is unknown.
• Poland: The newly created Wojska Lotnicze (Polish Air force) adquired some trainers in order to equip their flying schools. The one that employed the SVA was the advanced pilot's school, based first at an ex-German airfield in the city of Poznan but moved to Grudziądz in December 1920.