Supermarine Spitfire. American Users, part two. Canadian users of the Spitfire. Part one.

 

The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) got hands on the Supermarine Spitfire too, although as such, only operated eight machines as most of them were assigned to squadrons under operational RAF command. 
Some of the Spitfire operating squadrons, were the following:

• No.411 (City of York) Squadron: This unit was formed in June 1943 at RAF Digby and it was equipped with the Spitfire Mk.I & Mk.II which were already outdated for the time. In August, once the training and adaptation period finished, they were re-equipped with the Mk.V and operated over Continental Europe, specially in bomber escort missions. The squadron transitioned to the Spitfire Mk.IX in October 1943 and took part in the Normandy Landings aerial campaign providing close air support. Following the advancing aerial troops they were soon based at Uetersen, Germany where it was disbanded in March 1946.
• No.401 (City of Westmount) Squadron: This unit replaced its Hawker Hurricane fighters with Spitfire Mk.II in September 1941 and shortly later with the Mk.V. In July 1942 some pilots of this unit also flew some of the first Mk.IX.
  The squadron took active part in the aerial war over Europe, including some actions during the Channel Dash and various sorties over Continental Europe. In early 1943 they were rebased to RAF Catterick, where they were fully equipped with the Mk.IX. 
  The unit took part in the aerial campaign over Normandy and they were progressively rebased in Europe, as the allied troops advanced. In May 1945 they were re-equipped with the Mk.XIV, aircraft which they kept until being disbanded in July that same year. 
• No.412 Squadron: This unit operated the Mk.V from 1941 until October 1943 when the unit was re-equipped with the Mk.IX. They took part in the aerial campaigns over Europe and Normandy. They were based to France after Normandy campaign and later to Germany where they were disbanded in May 1945.

(to be continued)

Sources:

1st https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Supermarine_Spitfire_operators#Canada

2nd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/401_Tactical_Fighter_Squadron

3rd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._411_Squadron_RCAF

4th https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/412_Transport_Squadron 

Supermarine Spitfire. American Users, part one. The Spitfire with No.164 Squadron and Argentina.

 

To write about the Spitfire's usage with Argentina means to write about the operational history of No.164 (Argentine-British) Squadron of the Royal Air Force (RAF). 
This squadron was activated on 6th April 1942 as a gift squadron from the British diaspora in Argentina, hence its motto in spanish, "Firmes Volamos" (firmly we flight). It was activated at RAF Peterhead, in Scotland and was initially equipped with the Spitfire Mk.Va flying mostly shipping patrols. In May, they were rebased to RAF Skeabrae, in the Orkney Islands, where they were re-equipped in September with the Spitfire Mk.Vb,. There they faced some occasional clashes against Luftwaffe fighters. In February 1943 they were rebased from RAF Peterhead to RAF Fairwood Common, in Wales to be re-equipped with the Hawker Hurricane as the squadron was to perform ground-attack duties. 
It wasn't until June 1945 that the squadron switched again to aerial interceptor role and changed the Hawker Typhoon with the Spitfire Mk.IX, which kept them, together with some Mk.XVIe until August 1946 when the squadron was disbanded. 

After the war, in 1947, Jaime Storey, an Argentine citizen who was interested in the Spitfire, bought a PR.XI, which was registered as LV-NMZ and, with additional fuel tanks, it flew from RAF Hurn, in Dorset, England to Buenos Aires, Argentina in a flight that took place between the dates of 29th April 1947 and 7th May 1947. This machine was donated to the University of Cordoba, together with a Mk.IX which was bought by Henri Henequin (CEO of Henequin & Co) and tried to sell it to the Argentine Air Force back in 1946 and, for that purpose, it was painted with the Argentine roundel and fin flash. This machine, however served as a source of spare parts for the aforementioned PR.XI. 
The Argentine Air Force also ordered ten Spitfire T.IX trainers in 1950 but it was cancelled and the Fiat G.55b were acquired instead.

Sources:
1st https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._164_Squadron_RAF
2nd https://www.3040100.com.ar/spitfire-en-la-aviacion-argentina/ (translated)
3rd https://www.elgrancapitan.org/portal/index.php/articulos3/segunda-guerra-mu/1363-spitfires-en-argentina (translated)

Supermarine Spitfire. Asian Users, part six. The Spitfire in Turkey.

 

The Hava Müstesarligi (HM) which was the forerunner of the Turkish Air Force (TAF) operated the Supermarine Spitfire too. 
The HM wanted to reinforce their fighter force in the late 1930s as Europe approached to a new war, so they ordered 15 Spitfire Mk.Ia. 
However, Great Britain decided that they needed the Spitfires more than the Anatolian country would, so, eventually only two aircraft were shipped. In 1939, Poland set an order for some Spitfires and one machine was sent there via Bosphorus strait and Romania, however, when Germany invaded in September 1939, Romania forbade any arms traffic into Poland and the Spitfire was reshipped to Turkey. All three of them were assigned to the 42nd Fighter Squadron, based at Çorlu, in Tekirdag province, but by late 1940 they were grounded due to the lack of spare parts. However, in 1942 two machines were ferried to Egypt to serve with the Royal Air Force.
Two years later, in July 1944 thirty-nine Spitfire Mk.Vc Trop were supplied to the newly created Turkish Air Force. This shipment was followed by additional 71 Mk.Vc Trop, plus three PR.IX more in February 1945. The fighters served with the 5th Regiment while the PR.IV served with the High-Altitude Reconnaissance Squadron. 
After World War 2, the TAF sought to make the Spitfire the backbone of their fighter force, so an agreement was signed with Vickers to overhaul and maintain the Spitfires. Between January 1947 and February 1948 a total of 170 Spitfire Mk.IX were supplied to the TAF which served until 1954. 
Some more photo-reconnaissance Spitfires served with the TAF. One PR.XI is known to have been in service with the aforementioned High-Altitude Reconnaissance Squadron, however its exact date of arrival and deployment is unknown. In March 1947 this squadron was reinforced with four PR.XIX and served until the mid-1950s.

Sources:
1st https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_Air_Force
2nd https://msomuseum.com/en/supermarine-spitfire/
3rd https://web.archive.org/web/20220128153130/http://www.tayyareci.com/digerucaklar/turkiye/1923ve50/spitfire.asp
4th Hellion & Co. - Europe @ war series 29 - Chasing the Soft Underbelly Turkey and the Second World War

Supermarine Spitfire. Asian Users, part five. Thailand and Syria.

 

The Supermarine Spitfire was employed by both Syria and Thailand. 

Spitfire's operational history with Syria it's unclear. Some sources claim that the Syrian government bought a total of 20 Spitfire F.22 in 1953, while others claim it was in 1949. Anyway, it seems that most of them were delivered the next year, with Rhodesia selling seven additional ones. It also seems that the original intention of the Syrian Air Force was to have a total of 40 machines in service. 
Most of them were destroyed or phased out around 1958-1960 with some being found on the ground in the Six Days War in 1967. 

Spitfire's operational history with Thailand is, however, different. After World War 2 the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) was looking to modernize its aerial fighter fleet, which back then was composed by the Japanese Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa, so in 1950 they acquired a total of 29 second-hand Spitfire FR.XIVe (the mixed photo-reconnaissance-fighter variant) from Royal Air Force's stocks. However, only 24 could be put to flight with the rest being used for spare parts. 
Of those 24, one Spitfire was of the PR.XIX variant which served with the 1st Squadron of the No.1 Wing. A bit later, in 1954 the RTAF bought four additional FR.14 machines, however they were retired out of service one year later, together with the other machines due to their lack of maintenance. 

Sources:
1st https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Supermarine_Spitfire_operators#Syria
2nd http://www.worldairforces.com/countries/syria/syr.html
3rd http://www.wings-aviation.ch/11-RTAF/2-Aircraft/Supermarine-Spitfire/Fighter.htm
4th https://peterlewisdesign.tripod.com/thaimuseum/spitfire.htm
5th http://www.worldairforces.com/Countries/thailand/thl.html

Supermarine Spitfire. Asian Users, part four. Israel.

 

The Supermarine Spitfire served also with the Israeli Air Force (IAF). The first of which were built from RAF wrecks left-overs and parts of downed Egyptian Spitfires in June 1948. At least three more Mk.IXs were recovered and put to fly. 

This, was not enough and the IAF bought 60 Spitfire Mk.IX directly from Czechoslovakia in August 1948.
However, as both Britain and the USSR vetoed this sale, the whole operation was carried out in secrecy and plans were made to fly them to Israel via Yugoslavia, as Josif Broz Tito agreed to use the former Luftwaffe airfield of Niksic, in the Socialist Republic of Montenegro (that was the name of Montenegro back then). This whole operation was codenamed 'Velvetta' and on its first run, only 5 Spitfires were delivered.
All of them, joined the 101 Tajeset (Squadron) which also flew the Avia S-199. In October 1948 only four Spitfires and two P-51 were operational and they took part in the Operation Yoav, an offensive against Beersheba, escorting various B-17s and Beaufighters of the IAF and also attacking the El-Arish Air Base destroying various Egyptian Spitfires Fiat G.55 and Macchi C.205 fighters. They also took part in Operation Hiram, aimed to take control of Galilee region.
In November, 101 Tajeset was rebased to Hatzor Air Base to be closer to the frontline. 
After this, Operation Velvetta II was launched which delivered a total of 27 additional Spitfires in mid-December 1948 this time with some more losses due to bad weather. However, this consolidated aerial superiority of the IAF in the area. In total ,during both Velvetta I & II thirty-nine Spitfires were delivered between September and December 1948 with the remaining machines being delivered disassembled by sea in February and November 1949.
On 7th January 1949 at 4 p.m. , a cease fire was agreed. On the morning of that day the Royal Air Force (RAF) sent out four Spitfires, from their bases at the Suez Canal, on patrol over the frontlines. The Israelis mistook them for Egyptians and one was shot down by ground fire while the remaining three were intercepted by Spitfires of the 101 Tajeset. Later, that same morning, four Spitfires engaged a formation of 19 RAF aircraft composed by four Spitfires and fifteen Hawker Tempests, which were sent to search for the four downed pilots. IAF's Spitfires of the 101 Tajeset engaged the formation shooting down one Tempest and damaging other one, but they decided to disengage, making it the last intervention of the Spitfire with the IAF during the 1948-1949 Israeli Independence War.  

Later, in 1951 thirty (although, according to some sources it was thirty-five) additional Mk.IXe were bought from Italy  and delivered during that same and the following year., making it a total of 90 Spitfires serving with the IAF. During this period the Spitfire was known in the IAF as 'Yorek' (Merlin) and served with 101, 105 and 107 Tajesets for interceptor, fighter-bomber and advanced training duties. In mid-1954 thirty were sold to Burma (of which we dedicated whole post about them -here- ) and some were kept flying with the 107 Tajeset as advanced trainers until February 1956, when they were withdrawn from active service.

Sources:

1st https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Supermarine_Spitfire_operators#Israel

2nd https://www.machal.org.il/1947-49/the-israel-air-force-spitfires-over-israel/

3rd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Velvetta

4th https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/101_Squadron_(Israel)

5th https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/105_Squadron_(Israel)

6th https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/107_Squadron_(Israel)

7th https://www.aeroflight.co.uk/waf/aa-mideast/israel/af/types/spit.htm

8th https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Israeli_Air_Force

Supermarine Spitfire. Asian Users, part three. India.

 

The first Spitfires that saw service with the Royal Indian Air Force (RIAF) were three Mk.Vc Trop which were assigned to No.4 Squadron RIAF in August 1943. One Mk.Vc Trop is known to have served as well with No.1 Service Flying Training School in 1946. 
In late 1944 the Supermarine Spitfire was provided to the No.8 Squadron of the Royal Indian Air Force. Most of those machines came from Royal Air Force's (RAF) squadrons that were stationed in India during World War 2. However, most of RIAF's squadrons were not equipped with the Spitfire until June 1945 and their RAF serials were not overpainted with Indian Air Force's serials until 1947 when India achieved independence. 
Indian Spitfires barely saw any action during World War 2, although some sources claim they were sporadically employed in the ground support role. 
In June 1945 Nos.17, 81, 131 and 615 squadrons RAF that were stationed in India at the end of World War 2, were disbanded with their Spitfires being loaned to the RIAF, equipping some squadrons or reserve units. 
When British India was split in two, the Spitfires were employed by Air Flying School (India) and No.1 Photo Reconnaissance Flights of the RIAF during the opening months of the Indo-Pakistani war of 1947-1948 in the defence of the Kashmir valley in October-November 1947 at the battles of Badgam and Shelatang. It was during this conflict that the RIAF/IAF sought to rapidly expand their fighter force in late December 1947 by using Spitfires, however, the RIAF/IAF had already acquired some Hawker Tempest which were put to good use in that conflict. 
The Spitfire's career with both the RIAF and the IAF was limited to serve as an advanced trainer and they were phased out in 1955, with some PR version serving with No.14  Squadron IAF until 1957/1958. 
As India was, together with Hong Kong, one of the last user of the Spitfire and the take over by the RIAF/IAF and their reserialization was rather chaotic, the information about the Indian Spitfire is rather scarce, contradictory and confuse.
In total 159 Spitfires of various marks served with either the RIAF or the IAF from 1943 until 1958.

Sources:
1st https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Supermarine_Spitfire_operators#India
2nd https://www.warbirds.in/overseas/spitfires/supermarine-spitfires/#:~:text=The%20IAF%20was%20one%20of,in%20the%20HS—batch).

Supermarine Spitfire. Asian Users, part two. Hong Kong.

 

The Supermarine Spitfire, at least the most advanced F.24 variants saw also service with the Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force (RHKAAF). 
This auxiliary unit had in inventory a total of 16 Spitfire Mk.XVIII, PR.XIX and F.24. The Spitfires were given to the RHKAAF from Nos 80 and 81 Squadron of the Royal Air Force (RAF) when those units were re-equipped with De Havilland Hornets. This was done to reinforce the aerial defences of the colony as the threat of invasion during the early 1950s increased. 
In order to maintain the sustainability of the RHKAAF local personnel was hired and trained ab initio with some training aircraft like Austers and Harvards. A total of 20 pilots were trained with, at least six Spitfires being kept ready to flight at any given time. 
By 1955 the situation on the Sino Hong-Kong border had stabilized and the Spitfires were replaced by the De Havilland Vampires, in a ceremony, with a fly-by included, that took place on Queen's birthday in April that year. This marked the end of the Spitfire service with any British force, nineteen years after its inception. 

Sources:
1st https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Hong_Kong_Auxiliary_Air_Force
2nd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Supermarine_Spitfire_operators#Hong_Kong
3rd https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/documents/research/RAF-Historical-Society-Journals/Journal-29A-Seminar-Reserve-Auxiliary-Forces.pdf
4th https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/70000223
5th https://gwulo.com/node/53693