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Stories / Re: Spanish Civil War - Polish PZL Fighters
« Last post by apophenia on Yesterday at 07:32:55 AM »Polish Gull-Winged 'Gaviotas' in Spain (Part 3)
By the end of the Summer of 1936, 'Nationalist' gains against Republican Spain were becoming alarming. Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany made little attempt to hide their flouting of the 1936 Non-Intervention Agreement which they had just signed. With such blatant acts as the establishment of the Aviazione Legionaria and the Condor Legion, effective Italian and German support for Franco's rebels was growing. In studying the situation, officials of Poland's Lotnictwo Wojskowe decided to act in kind.
There would be no Polish 'Lotnictwo Legionowe' formed in Spain. Rather, volunteers would be sought from among experienced air crew and maintainers serving with the Lotnictwo Wojskowe. Temporary leaves would be granted and positive career growth guaranteed. At first, the response was sluggish. Even amongst the podoficerowie (NCO pilots), there was little ideological sympathy with Republican Spain. Still less amongst the officer class. An indirect approach was required.
Warsaw had secretly promised Madrid at least one volunteer fighter squadron. To clinch the deal, Madrid guaranteed that such a squadron would be assigned to the front directly opposite the new Condor Legion - guaranteeing Polish pilots a crack at the Germans. It turned out that conservative, Catholic Poles wereńt keen on Spaińs 'godless' socialists ... but they despised Nazis even more. Suddenly, the Lotnictwo Wojskowe faced a new challenge of having too many service personnel requesting leave as volunteers!
Along with the first PZL P.11s sent to Spain went engineering personnel from the Korpus Oficerów Lotnictwa - Grupa Techniczna (or Aviation Officers Corps - Technical Group). The foremost role of the KOL-GT was to oversee maintenance and ensure spares. But their secondary role of gathering technical intelligence had begun to grow in importance.
The KOL-GT prepared technical reports on enemy types (German and Italian) in-theatre but, more quietly, it also reported on Republican types which had been supplied by the Soviet Union. The latter reports were originally dominated by the Tupolev SB medium bombers. With a speed of 244 mph at 4,000 m, the SB 2M-100 was the match of any P.11 fighter. [7] And even faster SB 2M-100As were now showing up in Spain.
Another nasty surprise for the Lotnictwo Wojskowe was the KOL-GT's assessment of Soviet Polikarpov I-16 fighters. When the portly Polikarpov low-winged monoplane was first displayed in the west - in Milan at the Oct 1935 1° Salone internazionale aeronautico - most western commentators remarked upon poor Soviet workmanship. In Spain, however, the 'Mosca' was quickly developed a solid reputation. Unlike Soviet biplane fighters, the I-16 matched PZL P.11h performance in most categories. The I-16's climb rate was slightly inferior but 'Mosca' was a full 65 mph faster at altitude than the P.11h.
¡Cuidado con el Huno en el sol!
If the Soviet Polikarpov I-16 came as a nasty shock, a new low-winged monoplane fighter from Nazi Germany was almost paralysing. The Messerschmitt Bf 109B-1 began showing up in Spain in March 1937. They served in the Condor Legiońs Versuchsjagdgruppe 88 and soon engaged in aerial combat with Polikarpov I-16s. While the latter still had some game (and the numbers for now), the new German fighter was obviously the future.
The Messerschmitt's compact airframe was as structurally advanced now as the PZL gull-wing had been when first introduced back in 1929. The Bf 109B-1 clearly outclassed the much-vaunted I-16 but suffered none of that stubby Soviet fighter's handling dangers. On little more than the power available to a P.11c, the Bf 109B-1 was already 55 mph faster than the PZL. The German monoplane was shorter-ranged but had a faster rate of climb. In the air, the Bf 109B-1 couldńt be touched and Messerschmitt was already developing even more powerful and better-armed derivatives.
To say that KOL-GT reports on Polikarpov and Messerschmitt fighters precipitated a crisis of confidence within the LW's Słuz[.]ba Lotniczo-Techniczna (Aviation-Technical Service) would be an understatement. State-owned PZL had been focused on generating cash income for Warsaw through successful export sales of the P.24 series of fighters. But Lotnictwo Wojskowe planners had also leaned towards developing a 'domestic' P.24 variant to replace their aging P.11c fleet.
Kryzys zaufania - No PZL P.24h for Spain
The Komitetu ds. Uzbrojenia i Sprzętu (Committee for Armaments and Equipment) had recommended the commissioning of a 'P.24PL'. The goal was a common airframe to arm both the Lotnictwo Wojskowe and the Fuerzas Aéreas de la República Española. Both fighter types would be powered by the subsidised Gnome-Rhône 14K (or its Romanian-licensed) IAR K14 equivalent. As soon as possiblę production would shift to the better-cooled Gnome-Rhône 14N radials (to be license-built at the former Skoda works by PZL WS-1).
The generalised 'P.24PL' and Spaińs P.24h began to diverge. But arguments in the Warsaw planning offices of the Dowództwo Lotnictwa (Air Force Command) over the ideal armaments for these new fighters became moot. The 'P.24PL' might have been better-armed and more powerful than a P.11c or P.11h but the new fighter would only be 10 mph faster. In other words, a 'P.24PL' had no more chance of successfully intercepting a Soviet SB or catching a Nazi Messerschmitt than did an in-service P.11c or P.11h.
Top: This never happened. The PZL P.24 was the logicial successor to the P.11h. But, by the time a P.24h Halcón II design was finalised and space was available on the line at Okęcię the era of such gull-winged fighters had passed.
Both the planned 'P.24PL' for Poland and P.24h for Spain were cancelled outright. The latter would be replaced immediately by further shipments of P.11s. These ex-Lotnictwo Wojskowe P.11c fighters would be listed as P.11h/IIs (with the false implication that they were IAR- or Gnome-Rhône powered). That dodge was to satisfy British restrictions on exports of Polish-made engines. Of coursę Bristol knew exactly what the Poles and Spaniards were up to but Filton had been placated through access to secret Polish data on the performance of Mercury engines during extended combat exposure.
Bottom: Una falsificación - an ex-Lotnictwo Wojskowe PZL P.11c masquerading as a P.11h Halcón. Such sucedáneo 'P.11h/II' were issued to various Escuadrillas de Halcones (Internacionales). The unit here remains unidentified but it may well have been American-manned (based on the Texas-like motif on the rear fuselage).
The scheme is the original P.11c khaki with all Polish 'szachownice' ('chess board' national emblems) and other areas overpainted with two tones of oliwka. Republican red ID panels have been added but, for reasons unknown, CH-106 never received its FARE rudder stripes.
(To be continued ...)
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[7] Making the chances of current LW fighters successfully intercepting Soviet V-VS bombers very slim indeed. Back in Warsaw, the KOL-GT was also well aware of the latest model SB 2M-103s establishing altitude records and quite capable of showing any P.11 a clean pair of heels.
