photos of Spanish I-16

[Massimo Tessitori]

Hi,
here are some good photos of 'popeye' I-16.
One can see that the undersurfaces were of two colors, probably silver and grey, even su some Spanish planes, so they preserved the Soviet colors.
http://elhangardetj.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2012-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=20
Regards
Massimo

[marluc]

Thanks Massimo for sharing these great pictures.Greetings.

Massimo

[Massimo Tessitori]

You are welcome , Martin.
I've always appreciated this blog for photos of recent planes too.
Regards
Massimo

[stevehed]

Well done Massimo,
                           Just had a quick glance but these are great photos. The bottom picture on the first page showing a couple of Faits about to attack a Republican bomber caught my eye. My Spanish is a little rusty so next time I'll sit down with a dictionary but it seems to me that it is suggested the bomber is a French aircraft. Well it looks like an American Martin B10 or whatever number the export version was. Picture has to be a fake don't you think? Nationalists thought SB2's were Martins and called then so throughout the war. Propaganda picture based on mis-information ??  What do you guys think??

Regards, Steve

[Massimo Tessitori]

Hi Steve,
it looks a B-10 to me too, but I'm not expert of planes of the '30s. Was it ever utilized in Spain?
Regards
Massimo

[Pascal]

I agree with your opinion about the bomber. It is not a french plane, it looks too nice ! I think it's a fake too, with a pic of a B-10.

Pascal

[KL]

The bottom picture on the first page showing a couple of Faits about to attack a Republican bomber caught my eye. My Spanish is a little rusty so next time I'll sit down with a dictionary but it seems to me that it is suggested the bomber is a French aircraft. Well it looks like an American Martin B10 or whatever number the export version was. Picture has to be a fake don't you think? Nationalists thought SB2's were Martins and called then so throughout the war. Propaganda picture based on mis-information ??  What do you guys think??

Spanish Air Force had planned to purchase Martin B-10 bombers before SCW.  With the beginning of SCW all negotiations with the Americans were suspended and (real)Martin Bombers never reached Spain.

Sometimes during the war a retouched photo of Martin B-10 with red Republican markings appeared in Republican press.  It was probably an attempt to cover up origin of SB bombers (also an all-metal monoplane bomber).

Photomontages and retouched photos were common on both sides; it was a propaganda war too.  Similar Italian photomontage with Fiats flying around a smoking French parasol fighter is well known.

Cheers,
KL