By Kevin Seabrooke

The Spanish Civil War served as a proving ground for airpower’s importance as an independent force. Francisco Franco’s Nationalist forces overthrew the Republican (Loyalist) Government supported heavily by the Condor Legion of planes and pilots sent by Nazi Germany. The Luftwaffe developed their Blitzkrieg tactics and equipment, most notably in the bombing of Guernica. The Soviet Union supplied the Republicans with Polikarpov I-15 and I-16 fighters, as well as pilots.

Marquis covers the war largely through the eyes of three men. Two were government observers—the U.S. and Europe chose not to intervene: Colonel Stephen Fuqua, military attaché to Republican Spain and Captain Townsend Griffiss, assistant military attaché for air. The third is former U.S. Navy pilot Frank Tinker, who flew a Russian plane for the Fuerzas Aéreas de la República Española (Air Forces of the Spanish Republic) with the “Yankee Squadron” for some $1,500 per month in addition to bonuses for shooting down planes.

U.S. Mercenaries and the Condor Legion: Airpower in the Spanish Civil War (Major Christopher G. Marquis, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 336 pp., 5 Maps, 7 b/w Photos, 5 Tables / Graphs / Charts, 2025 $39.95 HC)