My newest finished model: Heinkel 51 flown by Lieutenant Adolf Galland.

I want to clarify something: This post is both about the airplane, the model airplane and one of my favorite pilots of the time. I’m not a nazi nor defend that ideology by any means, however I love aviation history, particularly the one involving the years before and during World War 2. Also Adolf Galland was an officer in the German armed forces but NOT a nazi.

In February 1935 Germany made public that it was breaking the Versailles Treaty (which forbade Germany of having an Air Force), therefore creating the Luftwaffe (the German Air Force).

The Heinkel 51 was the first fighter in this new air force, although it was little more than a powered up version of the World War I fighters: Same technology, same two light machine guns, no communications by radio or any “fancy” stuff like that and a 750 hp engine (compared to the 100 to 200 hp usually found in WWI fighters).

Right at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War (1936 to 1939), General Franco, the leader of the “rebel” side or the “nacionales” asked Italy and Germany for help.

Hitler sent what became known as the “Condor Legion”: A small army which included all kinds of weaponry. Among those, bombers and fighters.

In the first batches shipped to Spain were a number of Heinkel 51’s. At that point (1936) they were becoming obsolete as fighters and many of them became casualties, but soon the Germans realized they could be used as light bombers or as close support aircrafts, where they excelled.

In the picture with the airplane upside down you can see its external fuel tank. At that time that was something new: Any airplane would fly for as long as its internal tanks would allow, but then they’d go down… With an additional external fuel tank they could fly a considerable amount of time longer. Their use became extremely common during World War 2. However, Adolf Galland and his buddies realized something very interesting: With the amount of bombs they could carry in the Heinkel 51 (6 bombs of 10 kg / 22 pounds) the damage they could inflict to the enemy was very limited, but when they dropped those used up external fuel tanks with a little fuel left inside, they saw that the explosion caused by that little fuel remaining was substantial.

Therefore, they started to scratch their heads and saw the potential of this. Long story short, after mixing gasoline with used engine oil and some explosives, they invented the precursor of what we now know as Napalm (infamously well known by its use during the Vietnam War).

Galland is one of my favorite German pilots: He started World War 2 flying a biplane (a Henschel 123, a bit more advanced than the Heinkel 51), became a fighter ace and finished the war flying the Messerschmitt 262, the first operational jet fighter.

The reason this model is special to me is because I have a print (numbered and signed by Galland) of a painting of him flying the Heinkel 51 during his time in Spain.