Andres Garcia La Calle
| Andrés García Calle | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 2, 1909 Sestao, Spain |
| Died | 1980 (aged 70–71) Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic |
| Allegiance |
 Spanish Republic
|
| Service/branch |
 Spanish Republican Air Force
|
| Years of service | 1929 - 1939 |
| Rank | Commander |
| Unit | 1ª Escuadrilla de Chatos |
| Commands held | 1ª Escuadrilla de Moscas Grupo de asalto 28 |
| Battles/wars | |
Andrés García La Calle (April 2, 1909 – 1973) (sometimes Lacalle, but his real name was Andrés García Calle) was the squadron leader of the 1st fighter squadron of the Spanish Republic and later Commander of all the fighter units of the Spanish Republican Air Force during the Spanish Civil War.
Born in Sestao (Biscay), in Spain, he started his career in 1929 as an NCO after having got his license in a private aero club. He saw action immediately on the break of the civil war flying with all outdated planes for the time, like the Nieuport Ni-52 Delage, the Hawker Fury, the Loire 46 and the Dewoitine 371 where, nevertheless, he scored his first 3 victories. He was so promoted to Lieutenant.
Near September 1936 upon the arrival of the more modern soviet fighters Polikarpov I-15(Chato) and Polikarpov I-16 (Mosca) he participated in the first squadrons organized by the Russians, defending Madrid and contributing to the endurance of the city despite the terrorist air bombing attacks against civilians by German and Italian units. In November of the same year he took command as Captain of the 1st Fighter Squadron, organized now under Spanish control. It became known as the ‘Lacalle Squadron’, composed of 25 planes, the leader and another 6 groups of 4. One of these groups included only American pilots, and was named the ‘American Patrol’. The most prominent of them Frank Glasgow Tinker has left a detailed description on the character of Lacalle, in his book Some Still Live. The other 3 were Albert Baumler, Harold Evans Dahl and Benjamin Leider, who was killed early in the squadron's career. (Note : Leider was a true volunteer that refused extra payment for his services). Lacalle was very young for his duties (Tinker called him ‘The Kid’), almost careless as a child when driving a car but extremely skilled while flying a plane. Tinker was amazed that Lacalle scored victories flying the very difficult Ni-52. As a leader, Lacalle was careful not to expose his fighters to unnecessary risks - as he knew how difficult it was to replace them - but when the duty called he was ready to fight under any conditions.
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