Lords of the Sky: Fighter Pilots and Air Combat, From the Red Baron to the F-16 (25 page)

Enter the Bf 109.
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By January 1937 the commander of J/88 reported to Sperrle that the Heinkel was ineffective against the I-16 and that he would no longer sacrifice his men by flying an inferior aircraft. Astonishingly, Sperrle and Berlin agreed, so the He 51 was immediately relegated to ground attack missions. Now the Condor Legion also included a
Versuchsjadgstaffel
—an experimental fighter squadron—formed specifically to test the Bf 109. At least three prototypes had arrived in Spain in late December 1936, and this may well have been the impetus for replacing the aging Heinkels.

The brainchild of Willy Messerschmitt, the 109 was the next generation of fighter aircraft. It featured an enclosed cockpit, cantilever wings, a stressed skin, and a semi-monocoque fuselage. The retractable undercarriage was hydraulic, not hand cranked like in the I-16, and incorporated leading-edge slats for unequaled slow-speed maneuvering.
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Because fighter weapons of the period were forward-facing, the nose position of the aircraft meant everything in a fight, since you could only shoot where the plane was pointing. Thus the ability to turn and point quite literally meant the difference between life and death. As you turn and try to point, the angle at which air hits the wings, called the angle of attack, constantly changes. If you imagine airflow as parallel to the horizon, a wing usually tilts further up and away from this airflow as it slows. This angle can only increase so far before the air separates completely and the wing stalls. Messerschmitt’s automatic
leading-edge slats
were designed to alleviate this condition and expand the 109’s ability to fight at these higher angles of attack.
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This meant the new fighter could turn and point more effectively at the slow speeds and wild vertical maneuvering common in dogfights.

Slats work like this. As the speed slows and the air resistance lessens, they slide out from the front edge of the wing. This physically, but temporarily, changes the camber or curvature of the wing. By making the wing bigger, the slats increase the wing’s surface area and delay the eventual separation of airflow over the wing. If the separation is delayed, then the wing takes longer to stall and can fly at lower speeds. Furthermore, when the slats extended, a gap was created between the slats and the wing. Now air was flowing directly from under the wing to the upper surface, which also aided slow-speed handling characteristics.

Messerschmitt believed in low weight, low drag, and simple designs. Fuel tanks were aft of the 109’s cockpit, and its seat was armored to protect the pilot from bullets and burning aviation gas. The landing gear was attached to the fuselage, so the wings could be removed with no extra support equipment. The wings themselves had a single off-center spar, making them very strong and much lighter than two-spar wings. Stronger construction meant that a small surface area was possible, which increased wing loading to an astounding 40 pounds per square foot.
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Vast improvements in engine technology were the only way this trade-off was possible.

Ironically, due to manufacturing shortfalls, the first Bf 109 prototype was powered by a British Rolls-Royce Kestrel engine. Junkers Motorenwerke then built the Jumo 210 series, which would power most of the remaining early Messerschmitt fighters. It was a 600-horsepower, twelve-cylinder engine constructed in an inverted V arrangement. This meant a very streamlined fuselage was possible with an engine less susceptible to damage from ground fire. It also boasted a direct injection fuel system instead of a carburetor, making it more fuel efficient; this also made the engine more powerful and permitted negative-g flight. This capability would become
very
significant in future dogfights.

In effect, the entire design overcame the old trade-offs between speed and lift by utilizing better engines and advanced, high-lift devices such as the slats. Both factors enabled the aircraft’s performance to match the phase of flight: slower and easier for takeoffs and landings, efficient for cruising, and more versatile during the rapid changes necessary in a fight. As intended, the simple design lent itself to the inevitable improvements and modifications that Willy Messerschmitt knew would occur as a result of combat experience.

The three prototypes sent to Spain in December 1936 were perfect examples of this flexible mind-set. One of them added a 20 mm Oerlikon cannon to the engine mount that fired through the propeller hub. The other two aircraft had variable-pitch metal propellers rather than the older fixed-pitch wooden Schwarz props. Germans were big proponents of operational test and evaluation, so Hannes Trautloft went to work immediately. He quickly realized that the new plane was more than a match for the Russian fighters, and his initial assessment was very favorable. Range, ceiling, and speed combined with superb handling characteristics to make the Bf 109 an immediate combat necessity.

This was good, since the Legion suffered a 20 percent loss rate in January 1937 and the Heinkels shot down just three Republican aircraft. Soviet involvement meant that the Nationalist Air Force was now outnumbered and outgunned, so J/88 had dispersed somewhat until the production 109s could arrive. The He 51 was given over almost entirely to close air support, mainly in the north of Spain, away from the Chatos and Ratas.

Fighting Bolshevism, testing new weapons, and gaining priceless combat experience, the Condor Legion received twelve Bf 109B-1 fighters in March 1937. About this time, Franco decided to shift his attacks from Madrid to a small pocket of resistance in the north, along the Bay of Biscay. This province held most of the coal and iron deposits, and if it could be captured, Franco would also have a secure northern flank against any French reinforcement. The Republican Army of the North contained some 150,000 men, outnumbering Franco nearly three to one, but there was little unity among the Asturians, Santaderinos, and Basques fighting for the Republic. The Nationalists also had a pronounced numerical superiority in aircraft.

Franco’s troops had advanced as far as Ochandiano by April 4, encircling it and conducting heavy close air support attacks on the Republican positions. The Bf 109 opened its combat score on April 6 when Oblt. Günther Lützow of 2 Staffel shot down an I-15 over the town. A few days later Capt. Felipe del Rio Crespo, a leading Republican ace, was shot down by Lt. Günther Radusch. Republican air superiority was waning, and as April ended, the Nationalists trapped the retreating Republicans by destroying the Rentaria bridge over the Oca River near Guernica.

On April 26 a reconnaissance aircraft reported large numbers of troops in and around the town. Twenty-six Condor Legion bombers and sixteen fighters were dispatched, and they attacked the bridge and targets of opportunity within Guernica. Unfortunately, they missed the bridge, a weapons factory, and generally anything of military significance. The “troops” also turned out to be civilians on their way to the daily market. The ensuing media frenzy over the fifteen hundred reported dead handed Franco a tactical failure and the Republicans a propaganda victory.

Undeterred, the Nationalists pushed ahead and captured Bilbao, the capital of the northern Basque region, in mid-June. In an effort to relieve the pressure, Republicans countered by renewing the offensive around the Madrid area. This resulted in a salient, or bulge, west of the city around the village of Brunete, and Franco personally requested the Legion’s Bf 109s be committed at once. Sperrle transferred two fighter squadrons from Burgos to several airfields near Madrid, and they immediately began flying combat sweeps.

Launching for at least three missions per day, plus sitting alert, the German pilots were also flying without oxygen.
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With summer heat well over 100˚ F, the mechanics wore swim trunks with sombreros, while the pilots flew in shorts and tennis clothes. Even with their new fighter, the Germans were outnumbered about four to one and were hard-pressed for a few weeks.

On July 7, Frank Tinker was trolling for targets over the vast Guadarrama plain when he spotted three Messerschmitts chasing a Republican I-15. He dove into the middle of it with his new Russian wingmen, but the I-15 went down in flames even as Tinker pulled the “Mayser-Schmidt,” as he called it, into his sights. Some 300 rounds of 7.62 mm shells chewed up the 109’s fuselage and sent it down flaming for his sixth confirmed kill.

The air battles over Brunete, sometimes with several hundred aircraft involved, were really the first use of the new fighter in the south. Tinker and his fellow pilots weren’t particularly worried about the maneuverability compared to their own I-16’s, but the three tracer trails streaming from the 109 made them cautious.

As the Germans quickly discovered, below 10,000 feet the Mosca was basically an even match for the Bf 109, except in firepower. But above 10,000 feet the Bf 109, with its supercharged or direct injection engine, thoroughly owned the sky. Without air superiority there was no way for the Republic to halt the Savoia-Marchetti and Ju 52 bombers. Coming in above 15,000 feet, they’d pull the power back to glide down fast and silent at their targets—roads, railroads, troops, and especially airfields. Tinker and the other Republican fighters would usually only get airborne at the last minute during the bomb run, if at all.

The Republicans lost 25,000 men and more than one hundred aircraft versus twenty-three aircraft and 10,000 men from the Nationalist side. Desperate to reassure the French and Soviets that they were winning, the Republic declared a victory. No one believed it, and as the offensive spluttered out, Franco resumed his northern operations, capturing Santander in August. By the end of October the Nationalists had occupied the ports of Aviles and Gijon, effectively eliminating the Cantabrian Pocket.

Men like Adolf Galland and Werner Mölders would continue refining tactics and suggesting improvements for the Luftwaffe. Aside from the four-ship formations that would become standard, they identified the critical need for radios—not just on fighters but on all aircraft. Close escort of bomber or reconnaissance planes without radios was fatiguing and often impossible except under ideal conditions. Radios would allow plans to be changed in flight and combat to be coordinated. Night operations were also a key developmental point. If you could operate at night but your enemy could not, this became a tactical exclusion zone that could be exploited.

The year 1938 began with Nationalist offensives that eventually drove through the Ebro River valley and threatened Barcelona. With the Biscay ports closed, France opened its borders to resupply the Republic, but it was too late. The Soviet Union had already bled the Republic of over $500 million in gold reserves, and support was thinning out.
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The Republicans counterattacked, pitting their 176 serviceable Republican fighters against 168 Nationalist Bf 109s and Fiats. Constant ground attacks on Republican supply lines, communications, and chokepoints resulted in massive losses, and by July Franco was pushing his forces back across the Ebro River.

During the ground war seesaw, Willy Messerschmitt hadn’t been idle. In early summer the Bf 109D arrived in Spain. With a more powerful engine, the D model also boasted four MG-17 guns, a pair in the nose and one each for the wings. However, the real improvements, taking into account all that had been learned the hard way in Spain, would manifest themselves in the Bf 109E model, the venerable “Emil.” Production had been delayed because the new Daimler-Benz 600A engine necessitated design changes to the aircraft’s structure, cooling system, and landing gear, but it was now ready.

Rated at an astounding (for the time) 1,175 horsepower, the new engine maxed out around 330 mph and utilized fuel injection for a performance envelope unmatched by any other fighter in the world.
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The two 7.62 mm fuselage guns carried 1,000 rounds apiece, with a further 500 rounds each for the wing guns. It even had a radio. During the last few days of 1938 the Legion shot down sixteen Republican aircraft.

But the end was approaching. On March 5, 1939, the remaining leaders of the Republic boarded a plane at Alicante and ran for France. On the twenty-eighth of March, Franco marched triumphantly into Madrid without firing a shot, and on April 1, 1939, the Spanish Civil War officially came to an end.

Condor Legion personnel had been rotating back to Germany at regular intervals to pass on their hard-won experience.
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Lessons learned about tactics, field maintenance, and logistics would be invaluable in the coming months and years. Though combined operations had begun in World War I, new technology such as radios and improved weaponry now had to be incorporated in battle planning. On a tactical level, the Spanish conflict provided an ideal testing ground, and some two hundred German pilots had become combat veterans.

Many enduring legacies from the Great War had been revised, modernized, and in some cases thrown out altogether. From this standpoint Spain gave the Luftwaffe a leg up on those who would enter the next conflict using outdated tactics and techniques. However, other flawed lessons were derived from the Spanish experience. First, it was a tactical war, and so it didn’t provide much useful material for larger-scale operations. Second, because the value of strategic bombing was largely overlooked, the limited range of the Bf 109, though fine for a small theater like Spain, would prove a critical shortcoming in the near future. As Adolf Galland would later say, “Whatever may have been the importance of the tests of German arms in the Spanish Civil War from tactical, technical and operational points of view, they did not provide the experience that was needed nor lead to the formulation of sound strategic concepts.”