As aircraft designs matured during the late 1920s and 1930s, every national air arm in the traditional nations of Latin America struggled to acquire virtually any aircraft that could mount armament of any kind. Some of these were specifically designed for sport and utility use and were never envisaged as military aircraft, while others were developed specifically for the export market and, frequently, Latin American end users were the only air arms to ever employ some of them. A brisk competition between the Depression-era exporters of Europe and the United States for what were for the most part "cash-on-the-barrel-head" sales often bordered on the bizarre, and an aircraft capable of carrying guns or bombs of any sort was highly prized. Covering Aeronco to Douglas, this first in a three volume series describes these aircraft in great detail and vivid color.