Supermarine Spitfire. European Users, part ten. Irish & Swedish Spitfires plus Estonian what-ifs.

 

The following countries employed or would have acquired the Supermarine Spitfire:

• Estonia: The first export contract for the Spitfire was signed in February 1939 with Estonia, to supply the Estonian Aviation Regiment with 12 Spitfire Mk. I. Those aircraft were not ready until August and, given the shortage of fighters the Royal Air Force (RAF) was suffering at the time, those 12 Spitfires were never delivered. We, however, have drawn some what-if Spitfire Mk. I in Estonian colours.
• Ireland: In 1947 the Irish Government acquired 12 Seafire Mk. III and three years later, in 1950 six Spitfire T.IX  two-seater trainers to equip their No. 1 Fighter Squadron and the Central Flying School respectively. At Air Corps' request, the Seafires were de-navalized, with their arrestor hooks removed, but they retained the engines and four-blade propellers. The Irish Seafires served from February 1947 until 1954 while the T.IX trainers of Central Flying School served from May 1950 until September 1961!.
• Sweden: In 1948 Sweden ordered 60 refurbished ex-RAF Spitfire PR.19 (an advanced recon variant). Eventually that order was reduced to 50 machines.
  However, the total amount of that order is somewhat mysterious. During those years other neighbouring Scandinavian countries such as Denmark had three Spitfire PR. XI and Norway another three PR. XI (the PR. XI was another reconnaissance sub-variant). For strategic reconnaissance over the coast of south China the RAF maintained a flight of three Spitfire PR. 19 in Hong Kong during the post-war years and early 1950s, so that made a total of approximately 100 recon Spitfires of both PR. XI and PR. 19 and half of that number belonged to Swedish PR. 19s. 
  Deliveries began in October 1948 and lasted until May 1949. They were designated as S.31, from Swedish word 'Spaning', meaning 'Reconnaissance' and were given five-digit registration numbers, where the first two digits were '31' (the aircraft type code) and the following three digits were the individual seria number of each aircraft ranging from 001 to 050.
  The Spitfires were assigned to Flottilj 11 at Nyköping, composed of a headquarters squadron plus four additional ones, listed as 1, 2, 3 and 5 squadrons. In early 1950 plans were made for reconnaissance flights over Soviet bases in Murmansk and Polyarny on the Kola Peninsula, so some S. 31 were rebased to Lulea, closer to the Arctic Circle, however, those plans were called off as the risks were too high, resulting in a very tense diplomatic situation. However, at least two recon flights were made over the Soviet Baltic Coast in September 1950.
  The PR. 19s remained in service until 1954, when they were put into reserve and in August 1955 they were withdrawn and written off. One aircraft was donated to the Stockholm University of Technology, where it disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
  In 1981 a PR. 19 was bought for the Swedish Aviation Museum. The Spitfire, PR. 19, which served with India after the war, did not receive markings of one of the scrapped aircraft, but got a new serial - 31051 - and is nowadays at exhibition at the aforementioned museum.
  

Sources:

1st AJ Press - Monografie Lotnicze 40 - Supermarine Spitfire part 3.

2nd https://www.key.aero/article/swedens-spitfires-cold-war

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