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

Martinsyde A.D.C. 1, Martinsyde A.D.C. Nimbus & Martinsyde F.4A

The Martinsyde A.D.C.1 was a development of the Martinsyde F.4 Buzzard made by the Aircraft Disposal Company that bought Martinsyde's stores when it went into bankruptcy in 1922.
John Kenworthy decided to fit an Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar engine delivering 380hp of power into the airframe of a regular Buzzard and retaining the original armament of two 0.303in Vicker Machine guns in the front. The first prototype flown for the first time on 11th October 1924 and it took part in the 1925 and 1926 King's Cup Races. It attracted some foreign interest when Latvia's Air Force ordered eight airplanes in 1926 that were delivered the same year. At least two of them were still active in 1938.
The Martinsyde F.4A was a two-seater conversion of the Buzzard that most of them served with the Spanish Aeronáutica Naval and Aeronáutica Naval Republicana (Naval Aeronautics and Republican Naval Aeronauticrespectively). They were bought in 1921 and assigned to the El Prat pilots school, in Barcelona and later, they were assigned to the San Javier aeronaval base, in south-eastern Spain. They were in active trainer role until 1936 when the Spanish Civil War started.
The Martinsyde A.D.C. Nimbus was a further development of the A.D.C.1 made by John

The Martinsyde ADC Nimbus

Kenworthy using a 330hp Nimbus six-inline water-cooled engine. It was basically the same airframe of the Buzzard with a modified vertical tail, a horn-balanced rudder and revised aft fuselage decking. It was going to be armed with the typical pair of 0.303in Vickers Machine guns but they never were installed. Two prototypes were completed in 1926 which took part in the King's Cup race of that same year and, one year later the first prototype was modified with faired undercarriage legs and cylinder head fairings. It didn't attract any interest and therefore no orders were placed. As we couldn't find any side drawings of blueprints of this airplane, we left it undrawn.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martinsyde_Buzzard
2. http://www.aviastar.org/air/england/martinsyde_adc-1.php
3. http://www.aviationcorner.net/gallery.asp?pg=45&fp=37&airline=Espa%F1a%20-%20Arma%20A%E9rea%20Armada&sort_order=votes&set_lang=true (translated)
4. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Martinsyde F.4 Buzzard - Part three

The Martinsyde F.4 Buzzard was a British fighter designed in 1918 that was planned to enter service in the Great War. It was powered by a 300hp Hispano-Suiza 8Fb inline engine and was armed with two 0.303 Vickers machine guns placed in the front of the fuselage.
The type was expected to equip the French Aéronautique Militaire, the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Service with more than 1500 airplanes ordered.
They served with the Spanish Aeronáutica Militar from 1922 when  10 or 12 were bought. Eight of them were sent to the African city of Melilla, while the rest were used to train pilots in Los Alcázares aerodrome, in the south of Spain. Those serving in Melilla formed the "Escuadrilla Martinsyde" until they were replaced by the Nieuport-Delage NiD.29 in 1924. After being retired from service they were used as trainers serving with the training squadron in Cuatro Vientos, in Madrid. They served there until 1931 when the Spanish Republic was declared and, as they were really outdated, they passed on to the Republican Aeronáutica Naval were they served in the base of San Javier, at the southern of Spain until the beginning of the Spanish Civil War in 1936.
Apparently one-hundred of them also served with the Soviet Workers' and Peasants' Air Fleet in 1919 until some date in the mid-late 1920s when they were retired from service.
The type also served with the Uruguayan Escuela Militar de Aeronáutica (which was the name of the predecessor of the Uruguayan Air Force) in 1925.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martinsyde_Buzzard
2.http://www.ejercitodelaire.mde.es/stweb/ea/ficheros/pdf/229800650173ACD6C1257C99003F6930.pdf (translated)
3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters.

Avro 504K European Users, part four

Now it's the turn for the penultimate post about the European users of this excellent airplane.

• Spain: Avro gifted the Spanish King Alfonso XIII a single Avro 504K in 1919 which he handed it over to the army. As the Spanish Military Aviation judged it to be an excellent airplane, they ordered fifty of them. In 1923, they were delivered second hand machines which had previously served with the RAF and RFC. They served in the Spanish flying schools of Getafe, Cuatro Vientos, Alcalá and Albacete.
• Republican Spain: When the Spanish was proclaimed in 1931, the Avro 504K were transferred to the Republican Naval Aviation, which used them in their air-sea base of San Javier, in the provice of Murcia. They were kept there in the training role until 1938, when, due to the Spanish Civil War newer and better trainer airplanes arrived.
• Sweden: The Royal Swedish Naval Aviation bought some 504K during the early 1920s in order to use them in the training and school roles. They had the peculiarity of removable wheels in order to be replaced by skis during the winter months.

Sources:

1. http://www.ejercitodelaire.mde.es/ea/pag?idDoc=6D5611FEEB41557EC12570D700464507&idRef=C7B461BC45A0A4CFC12576AB002C9667&idImg=D6867819143F567CC12576AB002CB141 (translated)

2. http://avgce.blogspot.com.es/2015/04/avro-504k-aeronautica-naval.html (translated) 

Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 - Foreign Users part two

Note: Just another post to cope with the new nation tags. Nothing new.

• South Africa: The SE.5a was the backbone of the newly created South African Air Force in 1921. It may have taken part in the suppression of the Second Rand Rebellion in 1921.
• Soviet Union: Apparently the Bolshevik forces captured the Polish airplane and it was used in the Russian Civil war.
• Spain: The Spanish government bought at least one (some sources claim that they were two) SE.5a from the surplus of the Great War.
• USA: The SE.5a served with the USAAS (United States Army Air Service) and was locally produced by the Austin aviation company who manufactured 1650 exemplars of it. Curtiss also manufactured one of it out of 1000 planned. Eberhart company also manufactured it's own trainer version out of spare parts and they served as advanced trainers well into the late 20s.

Hispano Barron

Today we show you a rare Spanish native airplane.

In 1919 the Hispano company wanted to take part on the fighter airplane contest to be held that same year and they hired the designer Eduardo Barron (the same who designed the Barron W) to design their airplane.

Barron, who, back in 1917 had supervised the construction of a copy of the SPAD S.VII at Hereter workshop, called Pujol Comabella España took inspiration from that airplane. The fighter designed by Barron was a single-bay unstaggered wooden biplane with fabric skinned and powered by a 180hp Hispano-Suiza 8A eight cylinder water cooled engine.

It was armed with a 7,7mm machine-gun in the upper-wing. (The drawing depicted below is unarmed because that's how it took part on the 1919 contest).

During the contest it was flown by the Chilean pilot Luis O'Page and competed against two other native fighter designs: The Hereter T.H. (AKA Alfaro 8) and the Diaz Type C. This last one eventually won the contest. Contest which proved to be pointless because it resulted cheaper to buy surplus better airplanes from the already over Great War.

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.