page_title: José María Bravo
section_title: Spanish Civil War
hierarchical_section_title: José María Bravo / Spanish Civil War
caption_attribution_description: Español: Polikarpov I-16 matriculado EC-JRK, con los embleas y colores del Ejército popular Repúblicano de España, preservado por la fundación Infante de Orleans English: Polikarpov I-16 in the colors of Republican Spain. Canon EOS 400D + Sigma 70-300 @ 86mm f/8 1/500s ISO 100
context_page_description: José María Bravo Fernández-Hermosa was a Spanish Republican fighter pilot and flying ace. During the Spanish Civil War, he fought for the Second Republic and later for the Soviet Union in the Second World War. Until his death in 2009, he was the highest-scoring Spanish fighter pilot still alive.
context_section_description: Upon the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in July 1936, Bravo volunteered to serve in the Spanish Republican Air Force. He had already flown gliders. Bravo was accepted and traveled to the Soviet Union as part of the first course of pilots. After six months of training in Kirovabad, he returned to Spain in June 1937 as a non-commissioned fighter pilot and an expert in the state-of-the-art Polikarpov I-16 monoplanes. He flew with Russian pilots in the 1ª Escuadrilla de Moscas. His command abilities and charisma earned him multiple promotions: Teniente (11 March 1938) y Capitán (31 May 1938).
  He was put in command of the 3ª Escuadrilla de Moscas and participated in the battles of the Levante and Ebro. This squadron achieved the most aerial victories during the Levante Campaign, with 10 credited to Bravo. On 27 August 1938, he became the adjutant of Grupo 21 de Caza (under the command of Manuel Zarauza Clavero and composed of I-16 fighters) at only 22 years old. The Republican defeat at the Ebro made imminent Republican defeat inevitable and the Catalonia Offensive forced the remaining Republican pilots to flee to France, Bravo among them. He was credited with 23 individual aerial victories achieved during 160 aerial combats and 1200 flying hours.He flew the I-16s marked CM-193 y CM-249.
caption: Polikarpov I-16 of the Fundación Infante de Orleans painted in the colors of the F.A.R.E.. Its code is CM-249, which had been flown by Bravo during his wartime career.
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