The Ju.52/3m was used in metropolitan Portugal by Aero Portuguesa, which was the first official Portuguese airline with scheduled international flights. The airline was founded in 1934 and shortly later some Ju.52/3m were acquired. They covered various routes between Portugal and French Morocco and later a new link with Brazil was opened. The Ju.52/3m served until 1953 when Aero Portuguesa was merged with TAP (Transportes Aéreos Portugueses - Portuguese Air Transports - the main Portuguese airline nowadays) and the Ju.52/3m were replaced by more modern types.
Regarding its usage by armed forces, to write about the Ju.52/3m in Portugal, is to write about the history of Esquadra 502 (Squadron 502). This unit was founded in 1937 and since December was equipped with Ju.52/3m as it was intended to fulfil the role of night bomber. They were kept in that role until mid 1940s when, given their obsolescence as a bomber, they were redistributed to various units located in Sintra and Ota, all of them close to Lisbon, to serve as aerial transports.
Later, in 1952 the Portuguese paratrooper unit was created in Tancos, dependant on the Portuguese Air Force (PAF) with one Ju.52/3m being assigned to this unit to serve as a paratrooper transport.
On 12th April 1956 a mixed squadron was created with two subordinated flights (though they were flights in name only as they were over-strengthened), one with 22 Piper L-21 mixed with Airspeed Oxfords intended to serve in the training and liaison role and another one with five Ju.52/3m to serve in the pure transport role. This squadron was disbanded in December 1959 in order to be reformed and create the Esquadra de Instruçao Complementar de Pilotagem e Navegaçao em Aviôes Pesados (EICPNAP - Complementary Instruction Squadron for Piloting and Navigation in Heavy Airplanes) whose purpose was to train pilots for paratroop drops. In order to keep the Ju.52/3m active for longer time, two of them were retrofitted with Pratt & Whitney R-1340 engines.
The EICPNAP was reinforced during November and December of 1960 with 15 additional AAC.1 Toucan machines bought directly from France in order to increase the amount of trained paratroopers to fight in the tumultuous Portuguese colonies of Angola, Guinea and Mozambique. In late 1963 the EICPNAP was disbanded only tu be succeded by the Esquadra de Treino e Transporte de Tropas Pára-quedistas (ETTP - Paratroop Training and Transport Squadron) which was a change in name only as their location, aircraft and mission was maintained. Shortly after this change, the old Ju.52/3m and Amiots were replaced by American Douglas Dakota C-47.
Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Junkers_Ju_52_operators
2. https://esquadra.emfa.pt/link-502-005.002.001.002.001-junkers-ju-52 (translated)
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_Portuguesa
4. Signal Squadron - Aircraft In action 186 - Junkers Ju-52 in Action
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