Bréguet 14, part three. Asian Users.

 

The Breguet 14 was a French bomber and reconnaissance biplane of the World War I era, which was built in very large numbers during and after the conflict. With more than 8.000 machines built, it was exported all around the world. 

The type was widely used in the Asian continent being employed by the following countries or factions:

• China: The Nationalist Chinese Air Force of the Central KMT government, lead by Chiang-Kai-Shek, was established in 1925 with, among other types, approximately 50 Breguet 14A.2s. They were used during the many offensives the KMT held from 1926 onwards to bring local warlords down. 
• Beiyang Government: One Manchurian warlord, Chang Hsueh-liang had 16 Br.14A.2 as part of his private air force. Both these, plus the KMT's ones, were most likely destroyed in 1931-1932 when the Japanese invaded.
• Japan: One Breguet 14B.2 was acquired by the Japanese with evaluation purposes from the French Military Mission that visited Japan in 1919. It was employed by the Imperial Japanese Army's Mikatagahara Bombing team for research on new bombing techniques. This B.2 became also the first aircraft to fly over the Mount Fuji. 
  In 1922 Nakajima completed the Nakajima B-6 "Kei-Gin Go" (light silver) as it was made out of duralumin and was modelled after the Breguet 14. The Kei-Gin Go was revealed at the Peace Memorial Exposition in Tokyo and was highly praised. However, the army never requested the type, so it was used only for long-distance flights. 
  The B-6 was powered by a water-cooled Rolls Royce Eagle VIII engine driving a four-bladed propeller and yielding 356 hp of power.
  Apparently one Breguet 14T transport was also acquired by the Imperial Japanese Army.
• Persia: In 1924 the Air Officer of the Imperial Iranian Army bought various French airplanes, among them three Breguet 14A.2. It's unknown how long they served, but they were most likely replaced in the late 1920s/early 1930s.
• Siam/Thailand: As Siam was part of the Allied Occupation Force of the Rhineland, some Siamese pilots flew the Breguet 14 during the war, in French squadrons. Those pilots returned to Bangkok in August 1919, taking some Br.14A.2 and B.2 with them. The Siamese Br.14s were based at Don Muang and were assigned to the 2nd (General Purpose) Group of the 1st and 2nd Wings of the Siamese Army Aviation Division first and the Royal Siamese Air Division later. The 1st Wing was employed for reconnaissance and topographic works, and the 2nd was used for passenger and air transport over north-eastern Thailand. 
  Some few Br.14s were produced locally with Renault engines in 1924, however, as the prices of those engines raised, the Royal Siamese Army considered the production of a new bomber, which was eventually built as the Boripatra bomber, based indirectly on the Br.14B.2.
  The production of the Br.14 was resumed when the prices of the Renault engines were reasonable again and they were kept in active until 1933, when the American Vought V.100 was produced locally. 
  The 2nd Wing, equipped with Br.14T transports, flew scheduled air-mail flights on the north-eastern regions of the country, leaving the city of Ubon every Tuesday and returning every Thursday. Although being a mail service, some individuals in need of medical care were also carried, as well as medicines. The Royal Siamese Family was so impressed by these flights, that they assisted in raising the funds to purchase a Br.14S ambulance airplane which remained in active service until 1936 (though some sources claim it was until 1937 or even 1938) and by the year 1940 they were still being used as target tugs, making them the last operational users of the Br.14 anywhere in the world.
• Turkey: During the Greco-Turkish War (AKA Asia Minor Campaign, AKA Turkish War of Independence) two Br.14A.2s were captured from the Greeks in September 1921 and August 1922 and employed by the Turkish National Movement.
  After the war, Turkey bought sixteen Breguet 14A.2 plus other 16 Breguet 14B.2s in 1923. The machines were shipped disassembled, so they had to be reassembled at Gaziemir in December 1924.
  The B.2 bombers were assigned to two bombing companies, and served until 1933 when they were replaced by Breguet 19s (though some sources claim it was in 1926), while the A.2s were assigned to other two recon companies and served until 1935 when they replaced by French-built Potez 25s and Czechoslovak Letov S-16Ts.

Sources:

1st Flying Machines Press - French Aircraft of the First World War

2nd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bréguet_14

3rd https://www.iiaf.net/history/iiaf.html

4th https://www.ne.jp/asahi/airplane/museum/nakajima/nakajima-1e.html

5th http://www.tayyareci.com/digerucaklar/turkiye/kurtulus/breguet14a2.asp

6th http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/waf/aa-eastasia/thailand/thai-manu-history1.htm

Avro 504K - Asian Users

A little bit later than usual but here it is, our post for the Asian users of the Avro 504K:

• Afghanistan: The King Amanullah Khan of Afghanistan bought some Avro 504K in order to equip the newly formed Royal Afghan Air Force during 1924. They were destroyed while on delivering process in a storm at Peshawar, nowadays Pakistan. 
• British India: Some units of the postwar RAF stationed in the British Raj, used the 504K for training purposes. Further details are unknown.
• Dutch East Indies: The first Dutch Avro 504K was bought after World War I by the Dutch East Indies in order to equip their newly created flying division of the army. They arrived in August 1919 together with some other Airco DH.9. Further twelve 504K were delivered in 1922. It was used as a training airplane. During 1924 it was tried to make an improved version of this airplane at Andir and later at Soekamiskin. It had Plywood fuselage and an improvised fuel tank. They were replaced during late 1920s and early 1930s by the Fokker S.IV and one French Morane-Saulnier AR.35
• Republic of China: The early Republic of China bought some Avro504 which were theoretically used for training. In reallity they were used as improvised against the warlords where the pilot dropped hand grenades and modified mortar shells.
• Japan: After the Great War, the Japanese empire bought an undetermined number of 504Ks both for the Imperial Japanese Navy and the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force in order to train their pilots. They were replaced by the newer Yokosuka K2Y1 in 1928 which was a locally built version of the Avro 504N.
• Turkey: The Turkish forces captured a Greek Avro 504k in the city of Izmir during their war of independence back in 1920. It never flew due to the lack of spare parts. Apparently a second one was found deserted in 1922 at the Gaziemir airport when the war ended.

Sources:

1. http://www.findmodelkit.com/content/afghan-air-force-1924-1928

2. http://www.skytamer.com/Avro%20504.html

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

4. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
5. http://kw.jonkerweb.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=735:avro-504-uk&catid=82&lang=en&Itemid=544&showall=1&limitstart=

Albatros D.V - Foreign users

We keep drawing the Albatros airplanes until it was eventually incorporated into Focke-Wulf, and now it's the turn for the Albatros D.V. This time focusing on the few foreign users.

The Albatros D.V was a German fighter airplane widely used by the Imperial German Air Service (Luftstreitkräfte) during the World War I. It was the final development of the Albatros D.I and the last Albatros fighter to be operationally employed. In spite of its obsolescence and faults in many aspects, approximately 2500 D.V were manufactures in both of its variants, the D.V and D.Va.

As this post is dedicated to the foreign users, those are:

• Ottoman Empire: The German Jasta 1F, which operated under Ottoman markings, received at least six airplanes in mid-to-late 1918. As we couldn't only find text references to those airplanes, the drawing must be considered as speculative.
• Turkey: Those ex-Ottoman airplanes were taken over by the Turkish Army which used to equip some fighter squadron which took part in the Turkish Independence war.
• Poland: The Polish authorities bought an Albatros D.V from a German pilot in Gdansk on 13th May 1920 and it was assigned to the newly created Polish Naval Air Squadron based on the city of Puck. It served until November 1922 when it was written-off.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albatros_D.V

Albatros D.III - Foreign Users

We come up with this new airplane that played a very important role during the World War I. In this post we are centering into the foreign users.

The Albatros D.III was a German biplane fighter that was widely used by many German aces and it was the preeminent fighter during the period of time that Germany ruled the skies which was known as the "Bloody April".

As this post is about the foreign users for this one, the nations covered in this post are:

• France: On 21st April 1917 the German pilot Lt. Friedrich Wilhelm tried to attack a French artillery observation balloon, but he was shot down by the French lieutenant Languedoc which managed somehow to capture the airplane intact. This airplane would later be sold to the United States which sent it to McCook airfield in Dayton, Ohio in order to perform aerial experiments between 1917 and 1927.
• Lithuania: The Lithuanian air force used many German leftovers in order to equip their newly created air force.
• Ottoman Empire: The Albatros D.III started to be delivered to Ottoman Empire in March 1918 and, in October 1918 a total of 29 D.III had been delivered, 10 of which had no engines at all.
• Turkey: Some of the Albatros employed by the Ottoman Empire were employed by the newly created Turkish Army which used them in their independence war. They were writen off in 1922. The colours of this one are speculative.
• Bulgaria: Some few Albatros D.III were seized from retreating German forces in late 1918. Some sources claim that it was just a pair of airplanes, however it's very hard to know considering that they never were officially  'taken on charge'. It's known, however, that they were used by some Bulgarian pilots for training after some reparations, performed at the workshop of the Bojurishte airfield, were made. As there aren't graphical evidence on these airplanes, the colours should be considered speculative.
• United Kingdom: Originally piloted by the German lieutenant Georg Simon, it was shot down by a Nieuport belonging to the Royal Flying Corps on 4th June 1917 and he was made prisoner. After that his airplane was repainted and showed as a war prize even if the radiator water pipe was missing.
• Poland: The newly created Polish government employed many German leftover airplanes, and also bought some of them, specially those manufactured by OAW and used them in the Polish-Soviet war of 1919-1920, mainly in ground attack duties. Some of them were used by the famous Kosciuszko Squadron which was mainly equipped with the Austro-Hungarian improved variant, the Oeffag Va.253.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albatros_D.III
2. http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/waf/bulgaria/af/types/albatros.htm
3. http://www.traditions-air.fr/unit/avion/avions_ww1_02.htm