Biplane fighter aces

Spain

Isidro Comas Altadill

Teniente Isidro Comas Altadill served in 1-E-3 during the Spanish Civil War.

On 5 July 1938, a patrol formed by capitán Ángel Salas, Comas Altadill and Abundio Cesteros took off to seek out enemy aircraft operating over the Villel front, to the south of Teruel. Anti-aircraft fire indicated the position of an enemy formation and, closing gradually, Comas Altadill and Cesteros each claimed an I-16.
Flying over the Teruel front, capitán Eduardo Claudín Moncada, CO Grupo No 21 (I-16), perished when his Mosca reportedly was hit by Nationalist anti-aircraft fire and crashed in enemy-held territory near Villaestar.
His posthumous promotion to mayor was dated 7 July 1938.
Claudín was replaced by Manuel Zarauza Clavero as CO Grupo No 21. His appointment was dated 23 July 1938, and he remained in this position until the fall of Catalonia four months later. Zarauza usually flew Mosca ‘CM-225’, which was assigned to the grupo staff.

Comas Altadill ended the Spanish Civil War with 3 victories claimed while flying the Fiat CR.32.

Claims:
Kill no. Date Time Number Type Result Plane type Serial no. Locality Unit
  1938                
1 05/07/38   1 I-16 (a) Destroyed CR.32   Villel front 1-E-3
2 ??/??/3?   1 Enemy aircraft Destroyed CR.32   Spain 2-G-3
3 ??/??/3?   1 Enemy aircraft Destroyed CR.32   Spain 2-G-3

Biplane victories: 3 destroyed.
TOTAL: 3 destroyed.
(a) Nationalist pilots claimed 2 I-16s but only 1 I-16 seems to have been lost.

Sources:
Air War over Spain - Jesus Salas Larrazabal, 1974 Ian Allan Ltd, Shepperton, Surrey, ISBN 0-7110-0521-4
Fiat CR.32 Aces of the Spanish Civil War - Alfredo Logoluso, 2010 Osprey Publishing, Oxford, ISBN 978-1-84603-983-6
Additional information kindly provided by Alfredo Logoluso and Ondrej Repka.




Last modified 11 December 2015