[caldrail]

It's easy to forget as Hitler's armies marched most air forces were all Avia, Fiat, Morane-Saulnier, PZL, Polikarpov, Bristol and Gloster. And it was all biplanes or parasols, fabric and wood. What we read is the best new developments in England were the Spitfire, in America the P-35/36, France the D.520 but neither the funding or foresight was really available to have hordes of them equipped, their pilots trained and ready for service. England for example had enough trouble in Parliament just trying to get Gladiators and Hurricanes filling most fighter squadrons, it was only the realities of attrition faced after the onset of general hostilities which put military aviation industry rightly in order.

There were changes afoot. Arguably Britain and Germany had led the field in aerodynamic development, and in particular, the Bf109 is noted for its collection of state-of-the-art features. However... They weren't alone. Many nations were designing monoplane fighters, perhaps inspired by others, or as projects in their own right. Aircraft like the Avia 135, the Renard R-38, the Rogozarski IK3, Republic Lancer, and so on. The french produced the Bloch 15* series, whilst not particular inspiring aeroplanes, did lead to the the Bloch 157 which in 1940 was completed and tested by the germans and found to have a maximum level speed of 440mph.

The period from 1935 to 1940 was transitonal between the older wood-and-fabric biplane mindset and the newer high performance technology, no doubt spurred on by the onset of political strife and the promise of war.