LAPE, Spanish Postal Airlines ''(Líneas Aéreas Postales Españolas)'', was Spain's national airline during the Second Spanish Republic.

History

LAPE, often also spelt L.A.P.E. and colloquially known as ''"Las LAPE"'', replaced

CLASSA ''Compañía de Líneas Aéreas Subvencionadas'', meaning 'Subsidized Airlines Company', mostly known as CLASSA, was a Spanish airline based in Madrid, Spain. The airline was established as part of the Miguel Primo de Rivera government's effort ...

(''Compañía de Líneas Aéreas Subvencionadas)'', the company that had been Spain's national airline during the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera, an airline that was still reeling from the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. LAPE was established in April 1932, CLASSA flying under the

Spanish Republican Flag The flag of the Second Spanish Republic, known in Spanish as ', was the official flag of Spain between 1931 and 1939 and the flag of the Spanish Republican government in exile until 1977. Its present-day use in Spain is associated with the mode ...

for one year. The republican government of Spain compensated CLASSA's shareholders and established postal contracts in order to make the new airline viable. The first

Douglas DC-2 The Douglas DC-2 is a 14-passenger, twin-engined airliner that was produced by the American company Douglas Aircraft Company starting in 1934. It competed with the Boeing 247. In 1935, Douglas produced a larger version called the DC-3, which b ...

, part of the modernization of the fleet inherited from CLASSA, arrived in Madrid-Barajas in March 1935. In 1932 and 1933 LAPE's air service was restricted to the Madrid-Sevilla and Madrid-Barcelona lines. In March 1934 flights to the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

were restarted and a few months later in September the line Madrid-Valencia was inaugurated. In 1935 the lines Barcelona-Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona-Valencia and Valencia-Palma de Mallorca were operated, although with interruptions. By June 1936 the company's Canary Islands line included an air service between Las Palmas and Tenerife. The Spanish Republican Airline operated even during the Spanish Civil War in an intermittent and increasingly haphazard manner. Although a great part of the planes of its fleet were requisitioned by the

Spanish Republican Air Force The Spanish Republican Air Force was the air arm of the Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic, the legally established government of Spain between 1931 and 1939. Initially divided into two branches: Military Aeronautics ('' Aeronáutica M ...

and used as military transports, LAPE kept operating in the Republican zones of Spain with its base in Madrid-Barajas. The Madrid-Barcelona line was functioning and it was extended to Toulouse. There was also a flight Madrid-Santander until mid-1937 when

Santander Santander may refer to: Places * Santander, Spain, a port city and capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain * Santander Department, a department of Colombia * Santander State, former state of Colombia * Santander de Quilichao, a m ...

fell into Nationalist hands that was flying in a wide roundabout in order to avoid the fronts. Whenever the air battles over Madrid became too difficult to handle for the LAPE pilots, the Madrid-Barcelona line was replaced by Barcelona- Albacete. Towards the end of February 1939 Republican Air Force Colonel Núñez Mazas issued an order through which the LAPE fleet was concentrated in

Monòver Monòver (, ; es, Monóvar ) is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Vinalopó Mitjà in the Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It ...

(Alicante) —far away from the fronts— in order to avoid the planes falling into enemy hands.M. Teresa Suero Roca (1981), ''Militares republicanos de la Guerra de España'', pág. 308 The fleet were used to evacuate numerous Spanish Republican civil and military leaders in the last weeks of the conflict. Finally in April 1939, after the defeat of the Spanish Republican Armed Forces that marked the end of the Civil War, the planes belonging to LAPE's fleet were

expropriated Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...

by the Francoist government and repainted with the Iberia livery.

Fleet

LAPE was one of the few airlines that used the

Douglas DC-1 The Douglas DC-1 was the first model of the famous American DC (Douglas Commercial) commercial transport aircraft series. Although only one example of the DC-1 was produced, the design was the basis for the DC-2 and DC-3, the latter of which bei ...

. Other planes used by LAPE included:

Fokker F.VII The Fokker F.VII, also known as the Fokker Trimotor, was an airliner produced in the 1920s by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker, Fokker's American subsidiary Atlantic Aircraft Corporation, and other companies under licence. Design and dev ...

, Spartan Executive,

Caudron C.448 The Société des Avions Caudron was a French aircraft company founded in 1909 as the Association Aéroplanes Caudron Frères by brothers Gaston and René Caudron. It was one of the earliest aircraft manufacturers in France and produced planes for ...

Breguet 470 Breguet or Bréguet may refer to: * Breguet (watch), watch manufacturer **Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747–1823), Swiss watchmaker **Louis-François-Clement Breguet (1804–1883), French physicist, watchmaker, electrical and telegraph work * Bréguet ...

Savoia-Marchetti S.74 The Savoia-Marchetti S.74 was a four-engine airliner developed by Savoia-Marchetti for ''Ala Littoria''. Design and development The prototype first flew on 16 November 1934. Only three were ever built. Operational history The aircraft were used ...

Northrop Delta The Northrop Delta was an American single-engined passenger transport aircraft of the 1930s. Closely related to Northrop's Gamma mail plane, 13 were produced by the Northrop Corporation, followed by 19 aircraft built under license by Canadian Vi ...

Ford Trimotor The Ford Trimotor (also called the "Tri-Motor", and nicknamed the "Tin Goose") is an American three-engined transport aircraft. Production started in 1925 by the companies of Henry Ford and ended on June 7, 1933, after 199 had been made. It w ...

General Aviation GA-43 The General Aviation GA-43 was a single engine low-wing monoplane airliner produced in small numbers in the United States in the mid-1930s, also known as the Pilgrim 150, Fairchild 150, and sometimes but erroneously as the Clark GA-43 for the desi ...

, Airspeed AS.6J Envoy, de Havilland Dragon Rapide and de Havilland Puss Moth.

Bibliography

* Luis Utrilla Navarro & Marcos García Cruzado, ''Historia de los Aeropuertos de Madrid (I)'', Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea, S.A.. eds. Madrid, 2005

References

External links

LAPE Poster

LAPE Douglas DC-2-115B ModelCaudron C-445 ModelFokker F.VIIs en España
{{Airlines of Spain Second Spanish Republic Defunct airlines of Spain Airlines disestablished in 1939 Airlines established in 1932

History

Fleet

See also

Bibliography

References

External links