Wednesday 13 March 2024

Supermarine Spitfire. Asian Users, part one. Burma.

 
The Burmese Air Force (BAF) was created on 16th January 1947 when the country was still under British colonial rule. One year later, when the country was granted sovereignty, the BAF had in inventory various numbers of aircraft, among them, three Spitfire Mk.IX transferred from the Royal Air Force (RAF).
In 1953 the BAF bought thirty second-hand ex-Israeli Spitfire Mk.IX and twenty Supermarine Seafire F.XV (the naval variant of the Griffon-powered spitfire) which were converted to operate from land. 
The Spitfires and the Seafires constituted the main aerial fighter of the BAF and, some years later, in 1957 (although some sources state it was one year earlier, 1956) Israel sold some additional Spitfire Mk.IX, which were acquired from Czechoslovakia and Italy. Both the Spitfires and the Seafires remained in active service with the BAF until the early 1960s, albeit they had already been relegated to training duties as BAF's main fighter during the late 1950s was the Hawker Sea Fury.
When, in 1964, the BAF purchased the Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star (the trainer variant of the P-80 Shooting Star) the Spitfires and the Seafires were, most likely, written off service and sold for scrap.





Sources:
1st https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Supermarine_Spitfire_operators#Burma
2nd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myanmar_Air_Force

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