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
No comments:
Post a Comment