Spanish Civil War Whifs

[JayBee]

Back in 2010 there was a SCW GB.


http://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php/topic,28135.0.html


A lot of the photos have been BotoPhucked. 

[PR19_Kit]

A lot of the photos have been BotoPhucked. 

That SO appropriate Jim, nice one. 

[VickersVandal]

A lot of the photos have been BotoPhucked. 

That SO appropriate Jim, nice one. 

So accurate!

BotoPhucket is a large part of the reason I decided to make my own google site for my pics (see sig), after losing most of my model pictorial history along with most others.

Such a shame - I'd love to see those GB entries 

[NARSES2]

Dalek Mk.I

Or remove the wheels and you have hover tanks ?

[PR19_Kit]

There's apparently a Spanish Civil War SIG.

One of their members from Wolverhampton had a one man SCW display at today's Gloucester IPMS Show. He knew about those KKK tanks and was planning to build one. 

All RW builds of course, no Whiffs there.

[NARSES2]

I've seen that Spanish Civil War SIG around, it's a good, very varied display 

[Charlie_c67]

I'm not really sure how an independent Catalonia would have made the non-intervention policies of the UK and France any less likely however ? Any Catalonian government would have been leftist and quite possibly/probably anarchist and thus earned the ire of the UK in particular and France would probably have followed her lead. There is some strong evidence of the Nationalist forces receiving clandestine and totally unofficial help from Royal Navy higher echelons in Gibraltar particularly with regard to signal traffic intercepts.

However as you say an independent Catalonia could make things interesting, and if your'e going down that path what about the Basque region ? You would need to get around the problem of part of the region being in France, but there are ways to avoid that problem 

Well.... I was thinking that the Republicans promised Catalonia independence if they backed their side during the opening stages of the war, after all, I believe IRL the front that the Francoists attempted to open in Barcelona failed rather spectacularly. This allowed Mexico, the USSR and other socialist governments of the time to overtly supply greater quantities of men and material, some acquired from nations that attempted to not intervene, to the newly independent country, ostensibly to help protect its territory from the Nationalist forces, which "somehow" ended up helping the Republican cause 

Despite their best efforts however, the Republican forces collapse and France, concerned at having another bellicose right wing government on its border, offers to boost Catalonian forces further. Franco, realising the war with France could end badly (after all, Spain at the time would have sort have been surrounded) made peace with the Catalonians to allow consolidation of his grip on the rest of the country as well as tackling the nascent threat from the Basque region. Meanwhile Catalonia signed a mutual defense pact with France, which the French also used to boost its economy by assisting in the rebuilding of the country, and began looking to improve their defences against possible attacks from its western neighbour in the future. At the same time, Stalin's paranoia grew and the purges continued...

General musings, some maybe a little fantastical, but a possibility?

[NARSES2]

Fair enough 

The politics of the Spanish Civil War are so complicated that anything is possible with just a little "manipulation" of the facts - whatever they were.

The Catalan/Spanish border would be an interesting one ? 

[stevehed]

The arrival of a long overdue ship containing munitions and aircraft from Czechoslovakia led to a change of equipment at the Andorra Escuadrilla.  The fighters remained but the R5's were replaced by Letov 328, Aero A100 and Letov S16 light bombers. The reason was logistics as it meant that the the aircraft in this sector were powered by either a Hispano Suiza in-line or Bristol Pegasus radial engine. Not forgetting that the 328 and A100 possessed significantly improved performances. The Letov S16 on the other hand was the Czech equivalent of the Wapiti or Breguet 19. It is one of those aircraft that you feel should have been sent to Spain. It was obsolete by 1936 which meant the Czechs would sell to Spaniards with suitcases full of gold. Those that made it to the Republic would have made excellent trainers, coastal patrol or night bombers. It is the latter role that aircraft assigned to the north took on.

The R5 is the Pioneer kit. It's not bad although it required a little modification to the rear cockpit internals. The engine compartment contours were also reshaped slightly.
https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/62636-polikarpov-r5/&

This is the build thread which has been PB'd photo wise. The discussion on pg2 also makes this build a whif although earlier research by Gerald Howson suggested 31 R5 and 31 R5sss types.


The Letov 231 is a KP kit and built OOB. A straight forward build.



The LetovS16 is another KP kit. I liked it but the upper cabanes  are short. I cut them off and replaced them with rod. This allowed me to simplify the construction process by omitting the smaller inverted V's. Hence this is the definite Spanish version complete with a field fitted additional slipstream protection for the observer.



Regards, Steve

[NARSES2]

Neat 

So as a matter of interest how do they get from CZ to Spain ? Via Hungary and Romania and then the Black Sea, or Poland and then the long way around ?

[TheChronicOne]

Looks good!

[stevehed]

Thanks Gents. The initial route to Republican Spain from CZ was via Estonia then ship to Bilbao. Later some were off loaded in France and had to wait for the border to be opened. The other route was via Istanbul in Turkey and then ship to Barcelona. Thanks to Gerald Howson.

Regards, Steve

[NARSES2]

Thanks for that info mate 

[stevehed]

The latest additions to the Red air force are curtesy of Eastern Europe in similar fashion to 1930's reality.  The Fokker FVII-3m was converted from the Novo/Frog Southern Cross kit. The modifications required the shortening of the passenger fuselage windows to allow the frame work for the bomb load to be installed. Both sides used former airliners as makeshift bombers. The upgrades were based on aircraft used by the pre-war air force in the colonial peace-keeper role in North Africa. Both sides acquired some of these militarized versions and the civilian modifications were based on these aircraft. This type of bomb frame was common to both sides. I drilled a circular dorsal position and added a gun ring from brass wire and scratched a Lewis look a like. As the bomb framework had closed up the door a hatch was cut out of the fuselage floor for entry. Another Lewis was installed to fire through this hatch. The cockpit windows didn't seem to fit the opening so were modified to leave the sides open. The bombs are spares from a Matchbox P12E and the aircraft was intended to be a night bomber circa 1936-37. Colours are based on a different type of Fokker night bomber. Last changes were to stick the generator provided onto an engine strut and a round bit of sprue to the undersides to act as a landing light. This isn't any particular aircraft just an interpretation of a conversion. There is another one on BM which I think is more real world and the rear gun position was created by removing the skylight. After such belligerent service the surviving Fokkers served as transports.






This is the KP Aero A100, a Czech light bomber, eagerly anticipated by the Andorra Escadrilla. It is a fact that about 50 or more of a similar machine, the A101 and variants, served with both the Nationalists and the Republicans. However, the now defunct link at the start of this thread was of the opinion that the significant numbers sent to Spain suggested that some of these aircraft could have been A100 types. This was enough for me to build this kit OOB as the A101 has oleo legs and a different engine. I think it looks quite nifty and the first two photos show it alongside what was probably the best two seat biplane light bomber of the SCW, the Polikarpov R-Z Natasha. Apparently it was a capital offence to photograph Republican aircraft so that explains why no one has ever seen an A100 in Red colours.







Regards, Steve

[philp]

I like them.