Czechoslovak Arms for Republican Spain
In the 1930s, Czechoslovakia was one of Central Europe’s largest sellers of weapons and ammunition. Naturally, the Civil War in the Pyrenees could not leave Czechoslovak “merchants of death” indifferent. Rifles, machine guns, ammunition, and of course, aircraft were supplied to Spain both legally and illegally.
In late 1936, the Spanish government began negotiations for the sale of S-231 fighters and Aero A-101 light bombers. However, at that time an arms embargo already existed, and it was decided to circumvent it. The method was as old as time itself – officially, the aircraft were sold to the government of Estonia. On January 23, 1937, a trade agreement was signed in Tallinn, obliging the Czechs to supply 24 Letov S-231 fighters, 17 Walter Merkur VS2 engines, 28 Aero A-101 light bombers, 22 Praga Asso engines, 152 machine guns (Vickers and Lewis), and 6 million rounds of ammunition. Later, an additional 3 million rounds were acquired under this contract.
Just two days later, the first two S-231 fighters, transferred from the 3rd Squadron of the 2nd Air Regiment of the Czechoslovak Air Force, flew to the Letov factory airfield. Soon, the remaining aircraft of the “Estonian” order were also ferried there. Specialists then carried out major overhauls. Similar work on Letov aircraft was performed at the airfield in Hradec Králové.
Later, the terms of the contract were repeatedly changed. For unclear reasons, the number of fighters was reduced to eighteen (perhaps this was due to the, to put it mildly, confusing position of the Czechs; for example, two experimental aircraft—S.131.2 and S.331.1—were delivered under the S-231 designation, with the former having a “Hornet” engine and the latter a Gnome-Rhône “Mistral”). However, the number of purchased machine guns significantly increased.
Czech Aircraft in Nationalist and Republican Hands
Additionally, the Spanish mission in Estonia bought three Avia 51 passenger planes. These aircraft were originally operated by the CSL airline, owned by Škoda. However, pilots did not take to them, and they were soon withdrawn from service. Initially, these aircraft were also intended to be “channeled” through Estonia, but then problems arose, and the aircraft were officially sold to a private individual – Edgar Sommer.
The transport aircraft were then dismantled and shipped by sea to Spain. Even before their arrival, codes “TA” were prepared for them in the Republican aircraft type designation system. Two aircraft sank after Francoist forces torpedoed the transport carrying them. The third machine arrived safely in the Basque Country. The aircraft received the designation “T-01” and was flown for some time by a civilian pilot from the LAPE airline, Jorge Genco. However, flights soon ceased for a prosaic reason – lack of spare parts.
Another Czechoslovak-made aircraft reached the Republicans by an even more exotic route. In 1929, the Avia company sold three prototypes of a new fighter, the BH.33, to Belgium. The local company SABCA intended to set up serial production, but then, as often happens, something went wrong, and the aircraft were transferred to the Air Force and occasionally used for aerobatics.
In the summer of 1936, the aircraft became redundant and were sold to the company “Mulot – Ertas” in Brussels. Their machine guns and synchronizers were removed, and they were registered in the civil registry. But immediately after the outbreak of the rebellion in Spain, government agents across Europe frantically began buying up all more or less suitable combat aircraft. This period was a Klondike for all sorts of opportunists – the government still had funds and was not stingy, often receiving completely unusable machines for their hard-earned money.
In Belgium, one aircraft (serial number 1003) was bought by a certain R. Wandelvelde and sold to the Spanish government. The aircraft was painted entirely white (with the inscription “S.A.B.C.A.3” remaining on the tail). In this form, on August 26, 1936, French pilot André Atricourt (formally dismissed from the Armée de l’Air) ferried the aircraft across France. Twice he had to land on pre-prepared rural airstrips where agents awaited him with fuel. However, in the border area (near Sainte-Foy-la-Grande), he lost spatial orientation, landed in a meadow, and, of course, fell into the hands of the authorities. The ensuing scandal was immediately hushed up after the personal intervention of the Minister of War. The pilot and the aircraft were released, and on August 27, he successfully landed in Barcelona.
Upon arrival, it turned out that without a synchronizer, the aircraft was a pile of scrap metal. While there is data on the pilot’s fate (he fought on I-15s), there is no further information about the aircraft’s fate. Most likely, the machine was used for some time as a trainer. Returning to our “official” machines, they were shipped by sea to Spain via Gdynia (Poland). However, it was not without complications.
On April 15, 1937, the rebel cruiser “Almirante Cervera” intercepted the Panamanian-flagged transport “Hordena.” According to the papers, the destination was Santander. On board was “contraband” – 22 “Estonian” A-101s. The cargo formally belonged to the French firm “Scotia Corporation,” but was actually controlled by the Comintern. The aircraft were unloaded and assembled in León.
The light bombers were test-flown and accepted into service with the Nationalist Air Force. They were assigned to Squadrons 3-G-10 (Vitoria airfield) and 4-G-10 (Granada). The aircraft received the official name “Praga” (after the engine) or more often “Osa” (meaning “Goose” in Spanish). Pilots liked the machines, especially considering they were transitioning from antique Breguet 19s.
The debut of the “Praga” in Francoist hands took place on June 5, 1937, during the battles for Bilbao. The situation at the front was extremely tense, and soon the first bomber was shot down – the crew of José Velaz Medrano and Enrique Cardenas perished. However, the “geese” did not stay long in the north – the main events of that period of the Spanish war unfolded near the capital, in Brunete. Practically all available aviation from both sides was concentrated there.
Here, attack aircraft were used very intensively – crews made up to three sorties a day (almost a limit for the Spaniards). In all sorties, they were accompanied by fighters – predominantly “Fiats” from Group 3-G-3. It is worth noting that the main adversary was not the I-15s or I-16s, but primarily anti-aircraft artillery crews. After this battle, the aircraft were returned to the North. After the capture of Santander, the “geese” were based at the local airfield. Little is known about the losses, but they did occur, and at some point, both squadrons were merged into a single group – 5-G-17.
After the fall of the North, the “geese” went south, where they were based in the Valenzuela sector. In June 1938, active hostilities began on the Extremadura front, leading to the addition of a pair of Henschel Hs 123s to the squadron! Alongside them fought an equally interesting squadron, 4-E-14, which included He 70 Es, a pair of Ju 86 Es remaining after heavy fighting, and a single captured SB-2!
Again, very little is known about combat losses; available sources only mention the loss of two aircraft (“17-11” and “17-18”) during an oxygen cylinder explosion at the airfield. After the Civil War, the few remaining aircraft were transferred to the observer school in El Rompedizo, and the group was rearmed with captured R-5s. They were only retired in December 1945.
The remaining six aircraft from the Estonian contract were finally delivered by the Czechoslovaks to the Republicans in March 1938. These light bombers were handed over to the 4th Squadron of the 71st Coastal Command Group. The aircraft were intended for coastal patrol, but after the war, no traces of these machines could be found! On March 21, 1937, 8 Letov S-231 fighters were unloaded from the transport ship “Sarkany” in the port of Santander (it was previously believed that the transport arrived on the 27th, but materials from Spanish archives, obtained by the author, refute this long-held assertion).
The fighters were assembled quickly at Albérícia airfield. However, two aircraft were immediately crashed during test flights, with Czechoslovak sources citing low pilot qualifications, and the Spaniards blaming poor assembly quality. The remaining six fighters were transferred to Lamiako airfield in early April, where several pilots began training on the new type of aircraft. The aircraft were supplied unarmed, so each plane was self-armed on-site.
On April 6, they saw their baptism of fire, albeit without much success (the aircraft’s characteristics clearly did not meet the demands of the time). On April 8, however, during an enemy bomber raid, the Republicans lost two aircraft. The remaining four machines were quite intensively involved in combat, primarily as ground-attack aircraft. Practically nothing is known about losses, and there were no victories at all. At least, the Francoists acquired only one aircraft of this type after the surrender of Basque aviation.
The remaining 10 machines were eventually delivered to Spain. In early 1938, a transport ship carrying dismantled fighters arrived at the port of Barcelona. The aircraft were assembled, test-flown, and handed over to Group 71 of the Coastal Command. The fighters carried out routine sorties without much success – which is not surprising, as catching fast S.79s, He.111s, or even He.59s with an S-231 was simply unrealistic.
The only mention of combat activity relates to non-combat losses. On October 10, 1938, an S-231 with tail number CL-004 landed at the French airfield of Perpignan. The pilot sustained minor injuries upon landing and claimed to have lost his way. The pilot himself was sent home, but there are two versions regarding the fate of the aircraft. According to the first, the fighter was severely damaged upon landing and was never restored. However, some authors claim that the French sent it by sea to Valencia, where it was destroyed at the local airfield on February 6, 1939, during a raid by “Condor Legion” bombers.
Three Letovs survived the Civil War and were soon transferred to the civil registry. However, there were no spare parts, and the last of them was written off on March 1, 1940. A brief mention should be made of the armament of the Czechoslovak fighters. The aircraft arrived unarmed and were armed on-site. The “northern” machines were armed with two underwing Vickers machine guns, while machines used on the Central Front even had one machine gun installed in the fuselage.
In October 1938, negotiations were held in Prague for the purchase of a large batch of Czechoslovak aircraft through Estonia (71 MB.200 bombers, 40 B.534 fighters, and 30-40 S.328 trainers were discussed), but the Munich Conference put an end to all these attempts.
Czechoslovak Volunteers and the Myth of Jan Ferak
In addition to Czechoslovak aircraft, Czechoslovak volunteers also flew in Spain (approximately 50 people, according to the author). However, very little information is available about them. The most famous of the Czechoslovaks who fought in the Republican Air Force was Jan Ferak. In numerous studies of the Spanish War (both in the West and the East), he is credited with seven air combat victories. But the unvarnished truth is – he never flew fighters and had no victories whatsoever.
Jan departed for the Pyrenees in late November 1936 along with two comrades (unfortunately, the author only knows the identity of one – Jaroslav Uhlíř). On December 1, they signed a contract with the Spanish government and were initially assigned to the international “España” squadron, then transferred to Group 11 (or as it was called, “Grupo Potez”). Here, on one of the Potez 54 bombers, the Czechoslovaks formed a single crew.
But military fortune turned against him on May 31, 1937, when during another sortie over Mallorca, his “Potez” was shot down. Ferak was captured; gunner Zdeněk Talas and bombardier Jan Souček were killed. His captivity was short, and he was soon sent home.
However, the story had an unexpected continuation in the form of another myth of the Spanish War. In 1938, a large article about his adventures was published by “Ahoj” magazine. Furthermore, in socialist Czechoslovakia in the 1960s and 1970s, two popular books about his combat biography were published – “V dešti bomb” and “Kde olivy dozrávají.” It should be noted, however, that all the facts were taken from that first magazine publication. The information about the Czechoslovak pilot’s 7 victories, as noted above, is incorrect and a mistake.
The fact is that his biographers mistakenly translated and interpreted the following phrase: “Captain Ferak bombed Mallorca 7 times at night. During the last sortie, he was shot down.” This is where legends emerge: And the Czechs believed so strongly in the legend of Jan Ferak’s fighter exploits that in various articles in aviation magazines, they repeatedly depicted a “Devastine”-510 in sand camouflage with the number CW-15, which he supposedly flew, and even released a corresponding decal set for the Heller 1:72 model!
But in addition to the Czechoslovaks already mentioned, several other pilots also made their mark in Spain, though information about them is extremely fragmented, and even research by Czech authors has not shed light on their fates.
For example, Rudolf Bolfilk, who served as a technician in the 5th Air Regiment of the Czechoslovak Air Force. In Spain, he fought as an infantryman in the 129th International Brigade. After the occupation of Czechoslovakia, he emigrated to the UK, where he joined the RAF. He flew as a gunner on a “Wellington” in the 311th Squadron. He died on January 16, 1941, during a sortie over the North Sea.
At least three Czechoslovaks also flew in bomber units. One of them – Karel Habula-Kriz – mastered the R-5 and then switched to the SB. He died on December 7, 1937. Karel Vejvoda was also an R-5 and SB pilot. In March 1938, he returned home due to typhus. During World War II, he fought in Czechoslovak units in the USSR. The latest information about him places him liberating Kyiv as a tank captain.
Karel Král, who died in battle on September 4, 1937, in Mediana, also served as a gunner on an R-5 (and possibly an SB). In the memoirs of Soviet volunteers, an SB gunner named “Mirek” is also often mentioned, but no more specific data about him could be found, and it is possible that this was a pseudonym for one of those listed above.