Polish-Bolshevik War, 1920 (Albatros (Oef.) D.III, Ansaldo A.1 Balilla, SPAD VIIC1, Nieuport 24bis)

There are four aircraft, that fought over Poland and Ukraine in 1920. Polish fighters: Albatros (Oef.) D.III and Ansaldo A.1 Balilla. Russian fighters: SPAD VIIC1 and Nieuport 24bis.

Historical information

The Albatros D.III was a biplane fighter aircraft used by the Imperial German Army Air Service (Luftstreitkräfte) and the Austro-Hungarian Air Service (Luftfahrtruppen) during World War I.

The D.III was flown by many top German aces, including Wilhelm Frankl, Erich Löwenhardt, Manfred von Richthofen, Karl Emil Schäfer, Ernst Udet, and Kurt Wolff. It was the preeminent fighter during the period of German aerial dominance known as "Bloody April" 1917.

The Ansaldo A.1, nicknamed "Balilla" after the Genoan folk-hero was Italy's only domestically-produced fighter aircraft of World War I. Arriving too late to see any real action, it was however used by both Poland and the Soviet Union in the Polish-Soviet War.

The SPAD S.VII was the first of a series of highly successful biplane fighter aircraft produced by Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés (SPAD) during the First World War.

Like its successors, the S.VII was renowned as a sturdy and rugged aircraft with good climbing and diving characteristics. It was also a stable gun platform, although pilots used to the more manoeuvrable Nieuport fighters found it heavy on the controls. It was flown by a number of the famous aces, such as France's Georges Guynemer, Italy's Francesco Baracca and Australia's Alexander Pentland.

In the face of such performance, an initial production contract was made on 10 May 1916, calling for 268 machines, to be designated SPAD VII C.1 (C.1, from avion de chasse in French, indicating the aircraft was a fighter, while the 1 indicated it was a single seater).

The Nieuport 24 was a French biplane fighter aircraft during World War I designed by Gustave Delage as a replacement for the successful Nieuport 17. In the event its performance was little better than the type it was meant to replace, which was largely superseded by the SPAD S.7 instead. Operational Nieuport 24s served with French, British and Russian units, and the type also served widely as an advanced trainer.