Aviación Nacional

The terms "Aviación Nacional" ("Nationalist Aviation"), "Fuerza Aérea Nacional" ("Nationalist Air Force") and "Ejército Nacional del Aire" ("Nationalist Army of the Air") refer to military air units supporting General Franco against the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War and includes:

• The Nationalist side of the Spanish Air Force made up of planes supplied by Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and by aircraft captured from the Spanish Republican Air Force
• Condor Legion of Nazi Germany
• Aviazione Legionaria of Fascist Italy^[1]

Aviación Nacional
Badge of the Aviación Nacional, also used as the badge of the Spanish Air Force in Francoist Spain
Active	1936–1939
Country	Spain
Allegiance	Nationalist faction
Branch	Spanish Armed Forces (Nationalist faction)
Type	Air force
Engagements	Spanish Civil War
Insignia
Roundel
Alternate roundel
Fin flash

A Caudron C.286 of the Nationalist Spanish Air Force

At the end of the war, the air force was reorganised into the current iteration of the Spanish Air Force, with its fin flash still used on modern Spanish aircraft.

History

The Aviación Nacional was formed from rebel elements of the Aeronáutica Militar and Aeronáutica Naval at the onset of the Spanish Civil War, seizing control of 90 out of 400 military and civilian aircraft in Spain.^[2] With additional aircraft and training supplied by Germany and Italy, it was quick to gain air superiority over the Spanish Republic's relatively obsolete aircraft. German aircraft flew in Spanish Nationalist colours as part of the Condor Legion, giving such aircraft as the Heinkel He 111 and the Junkers Ju 87 their first combat experience.

See also

• Spanish Air Force
• Condor Legion
• List of Spanish Civil War air aces