Felipe del Río Crespo

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Felipe del Rio Crespo (* 9. September 1912 in Santander ; † 22. April 1937 in Lamiaco ) was a Spanish ace . He is considered one of the most famous fighter pilots of the republic during the Spanish Civil War .

Career

Del Río Crespo initially worked as a pilot in civil aviation and from 1933 for the military. In the civil war he took the side of the republic. He first flew a bomber of the type Breguet 19 and later a Polikarpov I-15 . On April 15, 1937, near Bilbao , he succeeded in shooting down a Dornier Do 17 , a relatively new bomber that was considered unassailable because of its speed. The Do 17 pilot, Lieutenant Hans Sobotka, died while the other two crew members were able to save themselves with parachutes . A few days later, on April 22nd, del Río Crespo himself was brought down, either by Günther Radusch or by Sergeant Franz Heilmayer.

In total, del Río Crespo is said to have shot down six or seven enemy planes. Most recently he held the rank of captain (Spanish: captain ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Aviadores ( Memento of the original of April 28, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Website of the Spanish Ministry of Defense  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ejercitodelaire.mde.es
  2. ↑ a b Olaf Groehler : Struggle for air supremacy . Military Publishing House of the German Democratic Republic, 1988, p. 19
  3. ↑ Patrick Laureau: Condor: The Luftwaffe in Spain . Stackpole, 2010, p. 328
  4. ^ A b Robert Forsyth: Aces of the Legion Condor . Osprey Publishing, 2011, p. 58
personal data
SURNAME Río Crespo, Felipe del
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Río, Felipe del (short form)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish fighter pilot
DATE OF BIRTH September 9, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Santander , Spain
DATE OF DEATH April 22, 1937
Place of death Lamiaco , Spain