Bombing the B: Basque Bristol Bulldogs in Spanish Civil War

The plane:

The Bristol Bulldog needs no introduction. The mainstay of early 30s RAF fighter squadrons, it soldiered for years on Home and overseas service, eventually becoming a moderate export success both to the Commonwealth and baltic states, ranging so far as have a handful see service with Thailand. Slow, somewhat treacherous if sloppy handled but highly manouverable, it made everyone cheer the RAF pilots flying them at any aerial meeting they atended.

While the Spanish Civil War was raging in more southerner skies, the Basque Country found itself devoided of proper air defense against the Nationalist forces steamrolling through the country, while the Legión Condor and Aviazione Legionaria mounted ever more murderous raids against any major military or civilian target, the Aeronáutica Militar not having any defense against them but some elderly military machines (Vildebeest and Br.XIX) or converted civilian airplanes. The few Polikarpov I-15s were preciously guarded since even then their supply was scarce.

There entered a shady third hand Czech company which purchased eight Bristol Bulldogs and an equal number of Potez XXV from the stonians amongst sundry other military items. In June 1937 they arrived to their new home, a rag-tag collection dubbed the "Circo Krone" for its "bit of everything under the sun" formation. The pugnacious looking little fighter was long passed its prime for frontline service, barely able to withstand its ground against more modern fighters like the Cr.32 and Bf-109. It was sent anyway into combat as quickly as posible and almost immediately devoted - demoted- to ground attack, where it proved itself a steady strafer, if somewhat limited by its ability to carry only four 12,5 kgs Hispania A-5 bombs.

The bitter fight saw them retreat after each National push and came to an end for the basque Bulldogs during the Battle of Santander, where according to El hangar de TJ  this picture was taken by the victorius after they cut the republican territory in two, smashing the Northern Army's asturian, basque and cantabrian forces. No Bulldog was left after one example (perhaps this very same machine) was displayed at the Gran Kursaal in San Sebastian, propelling the aircraft into a fame beyond its actual reach.

The kit: Airfix' 1/72nd Bristol Bulldog Mk.IIa:

In the late '60s the british company released this kit, devoided of an interior other than a seat, but with a beautiful Bristol Jupiter engine, nice external details and proportions; which are still visible today despite the several reboxings. Mine is from 1993, with markings for two machines: a Mk.IIa from 56 Sq. RAF and a J8 from swedish F1.

It was started some 20 years ago, way back after seeing this profile in an italian book. I had to have it. It's interwar. It's SCW. And has "defeat" written all over it. Once built, it stayed in a box for years, waiting to be rigged. Until one day I opened the box - a small sad cardboard box - and found the bulldog totally squashed. Struts were loose, so were the wheels and engine. The upper wing was nowhere to be found. Another box containing a Zlin-226A by Miku suffered a simmilar fate. I had a clear case of family going gremlin on my kits. Or gremlins going family like, for what it was worth...

Until recently, I had no chance in finding a replacement upper wing, until a good acquaintance of mine swapped a whole, built, Bulldog for an M-60. Things people do when they build COIN choppers (Thank you Diego!!!).

The "reverse cannibalizing" began by gently sanding away the paint and decals from the donnor kit's wing, and sealing some gaps with cyano and UHU plastic glue. Once it was all dry, seams were smoothed and wing painted with the original colours I had envisaged for it, Humbrol's H-63 Matt Ochre and H-163 Satin Dark Green (the latter applied first) over H-11 Silver. Bands were painted with H-19 Bright Red. While the original was spray painted I decided to don a brush paintwork to the upper wing, for the sake of artistic license.

On the back you can see MPM's Spitfire Mk.XVIII (my latest foiled atempt at Spitfiring), a Letov S-16 about to get the chop and the donnor kit.

 

 Here it is, half way down the vamping up. The engine is, still today, very good. The rack for the Cooper bombs was rebuilt with the two original pieces and two thin plastic strips. Aeroclub material was used for the wing to fuselage outriggers. The Aldis sight was scratched from resin bits, as the auxiliary bead sight forward of it.

Assembly was quite straight forward. The tail skid was sourced from a Letov S.231 (You can bet I like czech interwar planes) which sadly never made it out of the assembly line. No guilty feelings about it, I made a total mess of it. The Pantoff bombs came from the aforementioned S.16 and suitably modified all four of them to resemble their Hispania A-5 brethren. Fiddly little bits, but look the part. The wind driven generator was improved, changing the propeller for a scratchbuilt unit closer to the original, a thin stretch of plastic being used for the connecting wire to the plug box on the wing. Holt flare brackets were added below the wing - one from my Bulldog and one from Diego's - but the upper wing lights had to be scratchbuilt from plastic rod.

The whole kit was then given a dusting with H-119 Light Earth in the right places, with a light H-33 Black wash, and some Mig Exhaust Black for the MG vents.

The propeller hub had been cut down and a new nut fashioned from plastic shims, since I liked the profile it gave to the Watts propeller. Not a very tidy paint job, since my pulse has worsened these days.

The engine was originally painted with H-53 Gunmetal and Monitor's Gold, but the latter started to "bronze up the green way" with age, so after a quick rubbing of Revell's 94 Gold and a wash with Mig's Rust and Exhaust Black, I called it finished. 

So, here it is. It only lacks rigging (oh, the dread, once again...). Since I took these pictures, a small number 2 from Mirage Hobby's 1/400 Typ IIa U-Boot was added each side of the fin, as per the profile drawing. A very thin and fine decal. It was later varnished with Matt Cote and left to dry.

I will rig it. I promess. In the meantime it looks oddly, savagely colourful, with its republican Aeronáutica Militar markings and unwanted new job. A true Underdog from head to tail.

Only thing, now I need another upper wing for the incomplete Bulldog, since there's a nice little decal sheet by Model Alliance portraying a Mk.II with an upper wing Hythe gun camera!

Take care and until our next installment,

TMU