Messerschmitt Bf 109 in Spain: The Luftwaffe's Laboratory

Video from the channel Más Allá del Avión about Messerschmitt Bf 109, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 15:58. Language: Spanish. Video type: Documentary.

Documentary on the Spanish Civil War as a testing ground for the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and the fighter tactics of the Condor Legion, and on its clashes with the Republican side's Polikarpov I-16.

According to the account, Condor Legion pilots arrived with Heinkel He 51 biplanes, outclassed by Soviet fighters, which accelerated the arrival of the new monoplane. The documentary describes the distrust caused by the enclosed cockpit and the narrow, fuselage-mounted landing gear, which caused accidents at ground airfields. It then follows the evolution of the B "Bruno", D "Dora" and E versions, the latter with the direct-injection Daimler-Benz DB 601 engine and 20 mm MG FF cannons. It credits Werner Mölders with the Rotte pair and the four-aircraft Schwarm formation, the basis of "hit-and-run" combat. Facing this, the Soviet approach kept relying on biplanes such as the I-153, and the purges removed experienced commanders, with consequences visible in June 1941.

The I-16, with its Shvetsov radial engine, was nicknamed "Mosca" by the Republicans and "Rata" by their enemies. In the Rotte, the two aircraft flew about 200 m apart. After the war, Spain built versions of the Bf 109 with the British Merlin engine.