CASA Arpón

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 In 1934 CASA obtained from the UK aircraft company, Fairey , the license to build 50 Fairey Swordfish  torpedo bombers.  Around 40 survived to fight on the Republican side of the Spanish Civil War, some equipped with floats operated off the River Turia against the Nationalist blockade of Valencia as well as being carried aboard the Republican Cervera class cruisers. Several were earmarked to equip the Republican Aircraft Carrier Dedalo which was being converted from a seaplane carrier in Cartagena however she was destroyed by a Nationalist bombing raid before the conversion work could be completed.

The low speed of the biplane and the need for a long straight approach made it difficult to deliver against well-defended targets. Arpón torpedo doctrine called for an approach at 5,000 ft (1,500 m) followed by a dive to torpedo release altitude of 18 ft (5.5 m). Ideal release distance was 1,000 yd (900 m) from target if the Arpón  survived to that distance. Aware of the vulnerability of the Arpón and it's value in helping break the Nationalist blockade 8 aircraft were equipped with 1× Shvetsov M-63 supercharged air-cooled radial engine, 820 kW (1,100 hp) canibalised from wrecked Polikarpov I-16 to give them greater speed. The upgraded engine gave them a new top speed comfortably over the 200mph mark thus reducing the amount of time where they were exposed to a ships AA defenses.   

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Pictures of the Work in progress

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The ole Swordfish looks a little odd in Green