the Bloch MB.152. 20 July The Spanish Civil War begins on 17 July 1936, but the Nationalists are handicapped almost immediately by the death of Lieutenant General José Sanjurjo, the senior leader, at Estoril, on this date in a plane crash. A plot against him by Francisco Franco is suggested but nothing is ever proven. Pilot Juan Antonio Ansaldo survives the crash of the biplane, which was overloaded with Sanjurjo’s baggage. 21 July Northrop XFT-2, BuNo 9400, c/n 43, (XFT-1 modified with engine change and smaller fuel capacity), to NAS Anacostia, Washington, D.C. in April 1936 for tests. Finding the design to be non-airworthy, the Navy orders that it be returned to Northrop. Ignoring instructions to ship it to Northrop's El Segundo factory, a test pilot attempts to fly the XFT-2 back to California, the aircraft entering a spin and crashing while crossing the Allegheny Mountains this date. "Northrop's test pilot arrived at Anacostia to retrieve the XFT-2 and was told of the grounding order. This applied also to any ferry flights – the plane was simply too unstable to be safely flown – and arrangements were to be made for other means of transport back to the factory. However, the pilot had been sent to fly the plane back and it was his intent to do so. Somehow he succeeded in gaining access to the fighter one July morning in 1936, and took off into the predawn darkness. The XFT project was terminated a couple of hours later when a combination of turbulence over the Alleghenies and the little fighter's propensity to spin planted the aircraft in a Pennsylvania farmyard. The daring test pilot recovered from his injuries, and Northrop squared with the Navy by reimbursing them for the entire expense of the XFT program." Contract closed out in November 1936. Joe Baugher cites crash date of July 1937. 30 July Secrecy about Italy’s involvement in the nascent Spanish Civil War is lost when two Savoia-Marchetti SM.81s of the Regia Aeronautica crashland in French Moroccan territory in North Africa, adjacent to Spanish Morocco. On 6 August, French officials in Paris announce that they agree unanimously that their investigation has determined that the planes were units of the Italian Air Force and were piloted by regular officers and were part of a regular squadron. The Italian airmen had insisted that the planes were sent by a private Italian company. 6