Airspeed AS.10 Oxford, part five, various European Users

The Airspeed AS.10 Oxford was a British twin-engined multi-purpose aircraft which was designed and developed by Airspeed Ltd. With more than 8.500 exemplars manufactured, it saw service with many countries all around the globe. Among them, the following ones:

• Norway: From 1947 until 1953, when they written off, the Royal Norwegian Air Force had a total of 22 Oxfords serving in three squadrons (Nos. 333, 334 and 335). Four aircraft were sold between 1951 to 1953 to the Norwegian airline Wideroe which employed the aircraft for photo-surveying Norwegian territories in a commission for the Norwegian Geographical Society. Eventually only three of them were sold with the fourth one not being registered as sold and was hold by the Royal Norwegian Air Force for spare parts. The aircraft were taken out of service in 1960 and were used at Fornebu, Oslo, as target practice.
• Poland: At least one unit of the Polish Air Force in exile had some Oxfords in their rows. Among them there was the No.16 (Polish) Flying Training School which from July 1941 until December 1946 employed them as trainers at RAF Newton, in Nottinghamshire.
• Portugal: Both Portuguese Army and Navy received six Oxfords in 1943 as part of the Operation Oatmeal (thanks to which the Allied set up bases in the Azores islands). When the Portuguese Air Force was formed in 1952, there were still four of them in active service. 
• Sweden: The Swedish charter airline Transair Sweden AB had three Airspeed Oxford in 1950 as part of their fleet. They were used with the aim of flying newspapers from Stockholm to other parts of Sweden. They served until September 1955 and December 1959.
• Yugoslavia: Five Oxford were obtained from Norway, via H.A. Berg, under the mutual Defence Aid Programme in 1951. They were used by an unknown unit based at Pancevo as twin-engined trainers for the De Havilland Mosquito crews. They were withdrawn from service in 1958.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airspeed_Oxford#Operators

2. https://www.wikiwand.com/no/Airspeed_Oxford (translated)

3. https://codenames.info/operation/oatmeal/

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transair_Sweden

5. http://transairsweden.com/aircraft/airspeed/

6. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7160847?descriptiontype=Full&ref=AIR+29/570

7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Newton

8. http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/waf/yugo/af2/types/trainers.htm

To know more about the Oxford in Norway:

1. https://flyblader.com/onewebmedia/Nr%2012%20Oxford.pdf (in Norwegian)