Stumbled upon this earlier today. It's a great site on an air force that nobody seems to remember: Latvian Aircraft - 1918-1940
I'll have to read this properly some time. Many years ago I subscribed to Air Enthusiast (I stopped because I just didn't have time to read it - and that was before the internet!) They did major articles on the Estonian and Lithuanian Air Forces, but never on the Latvian Air Force, so this will fill a gap in my knowledge. Sadly the Estonian Air Force was emasculated before the war by communists in their government who sent most of their aircraft to Spain.
It would be interesting to dig out copies of those articles on the web as neither seems to have sites dedicated to them
I sent the link to a Latvian friend of mine and he was amazed as he hadn't found anything like it before.
Are there any other Air Forces that we don't have Pre-WW2/WW2? Do we need to look at collating them all in their own section once complete?
If no-one can find articles on the Lithuanian and Estonian Air Forces, I'll scan the paper articles from Air Enthusiast and post them. Might not be till after Christmas though...
I've just been reading the Latvian Air Force site. A slightly odd construction, I would have prefered a narrative history as well as the links. But definitely a labour of love - the author seems to have listed every Latvian aircraft and most of the men who flew them.
Latvian Air Force [SIZE=-1]Latvia[/SIZE] Latvian Air Force Read more here: Latvian Air Force [SIZE=-1]Air Force[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Title:[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Latvijas Gaisaspeki (Latvian Air Force) [/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Brief History:[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]The Latvian Air Force was first formed in 1919, but details of its early history are sketchy. The aircraft in service when the USSR invaded in June 1940 were withdrawn from use and stored. During the period of German occupation 1941-44, several of these stored aircraft found their way to Germany, where at least some of them where flown. A number of Latvian pilots flew alongside the Luftwaffe on operations against the Red Army during this time. [/SIZE]
