AEKKEA-RAAB R-29

The R-29 fighter belongs to a number of plane types that were developed in Greece by AEKKEA-RAAB, a company founded in this country by Antonius Raab, a German airplane designer, and his Greek partners. Other reported models of the new company were related to earlier products of the Raab-Katzenstein company that had previously operated in Germany. These included the R-27 single-seat fighter, introduced in 1935. It featured a light construction with wooden wings, steel-tube fuselage and a Hispano-Suiza 12Y engine; its maximum speed was 430 km/h. However, there is apparently no production record for this type. The R-29 was a completely new design developed by Raab’s Greek company in late 1936, featuring similar structural characteristics with the aforementioned type, a Fairchild Ranger engine, cantilever single-leg undercarriage, two machine-guns, and a maximum speed of 473 km/h. There seems to be some discrepancy between Jane's contemporary reporting it as a "fighter", and Raab's later description (in his book) of the plane as a "trainer". However, at least one more contemporary document (documents for export to Spain) describes it as fighter, so an error (or a perception of its possible use as an advanced trainer, as Raab clearly describes it as a single seater) in Raab's book, written almost half a century later, cannot be precluded. This plane, along with another new type, the Tigerschwalbe 33 (apparently a renamed R-26V), was destined for the Republican forces in Spain. The main and all complex parts of 30 planes of each type were produced in Greece and shipped to Spain, where a subsidiary company carried out assembly and fitting of certain parts. Here, too, there is some discrepancy, as a major AEKKEA aircraft engineer, Georgios Pangakis, had reported 40 (rather than 30) R-29s shipped to Spain in almost finished state, only missing engines and machine guns. According to Raab, the 60 or so almost finished planes of both types, together with the construction plans, were handed over to the Soviets by the Republicans and shipped to the USSR, their fate remaining unknown.

There seems to be no surviving image of the plane (after invaluable AEKKEA files in Greece were destroyed during an archive move), with only a description of the plane layout provided in Jane's contemporary publication. Also, while records for export to Spain exist, there is no source (other than Raab's own book) providing information regarding the planes' fate afterwards. This probably has to do with the secrecy surrounding Soviet military activities at the time. Nonetheless, it seems that ending up in Soviet hands, this unknown fighter has taken part in WWII against the Germans in one way or another.

References

• L.S. Skartsis and G.A. Avramidis, "Made in Greece", Typorama, Patras, Greece (2003) (republished by the University of Patras Science Park, 2006).
• Jane’s "All the World’s Aircraft" (1936-1937 ed.)
• Antonius Raab, "Raab Fliegt (Erinnerungen eines Flugpioniers)", Reihe Konkret, Hamburg (1984).