Supermarine Spitfire. European Users, part four. Denmark & Spitfire Danish pilots in World War 2.

 

Although there was not a Danish squadron in the Royal Air Force (RAF), there were some Danish pilots serving with the No.234 Squadron of the RAF as the Dane community in England raised funds to buy three Spitfires, to be piloted by Aksel Svendsen, Jorgen Thalbitzer and others. 
There were Danish pilots serving with the No.234 Squadron until the end of the war and it was the closes thing to a pure Danish squadron serving with the Royal Air Force.

The Spitfire also served with the Royal Danish Air Force after the war. During the year 1947 Denmark bought three Spitfire PR.XI (the reconnaissance version of the Spitfire Mk.IX) plus forty-five Spitfire Mk.IX, among them, four airframes for teaching purposes. 
Initially all of them were assigned to the Royal Danish Naval Aviation (Marinens Flyvevaesen), where a special unit called Spitfire Group  was formed at Kastrup Air Base  in August 1947 for pilot training. In January 1948 that unit was moved to Karup airport where it operated until autumn as the Spitfire School. From June 1948 the Spitfire formed the II Luftflotille (2nd Air Flotilla).

Every Spitfire was transferred to the 4th and 5th Squadrons (Eskadrille) of the Danish Army Aviation (Haerens Flyvertropper) until the Royal Danish Air Force was funded (Flyvevabnet) on 1st October 1950, and were passed to 722 and 725 Squadrons (Eskadrille). The first Eskadrille, 722, operated both Spitfire Mk.IX and the PR.XI from January 1951 until 1955 when it was decided to turn the squadron into a SAR unit equipped with helicopters. The Eskadrille 725 operated the Mk.IX only from May to September 1951. 

Sources:

1st https://www.danishww2pilots.dk/articles.php?article=40

2nd  AJ-Press - Monografie Lotnicze 40 - Supermarine Spitfire Part 3 (translated)

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

4th https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskadrille_722 (translated)

5th https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarine_Spitfire#Operators

Fairey Firefly, various users

 

The Fairey Firefly was a British World War II era carrier-borne fighter and anti-submarine aircraft that in its TT (Target Tug) version was produced in small numbers from various of the original fighter variants like the Mk.I or the Mk.4. It was exported to various countries, among them, the following ones:

• Denmark: The Royal Danish Air Force (RDAF) received two Firefly TT.1 originally converted from the Swedish Svensk Flygtjänst AB. The TT.1 was adopted by the RDAF as the standard target-towing equipment for all their three aerial branches of the Army, Navy and Air Force. 
  The first TT.1 was flown to Copenhagen on 4th October 1951 by Cpt. A.M. Kock. Additional four Fireflies were received from the Royal Canadian Navy one year later in 1952. Those ones were converted to the target-towing role in Denmark using Fairey's conversion kits. They served until 1957 when the three surviving Fireflies were sold back to the Svensk Flygtjänst AB which employed them only for spare parts.
• Sweden: Back during World War 2 the Swedish civilian company Svensk Flygtjänst AB, provided airborne target services for the Swedish Army. In order to fulfil this task, the company looked in 1948 for an effective target-tug and asked Fairey to develop a version of the Firefly. Therefore, Fairey modified 14 Fireflies Mk.I to TT.1 standards by adding windmill-operated type B.Mk.2B winches.
  A total of 12 Firefly TT.1 were delivered to Svensk Flygtjänst AB, being the last two ones diverted to Denmark. Fairey's chief test pilot, Group Cpt. G. Slade, delivered the first Firefly TT.1 by air to Sweden in December 1948. Four further Fireflies were acquired later and served until as late as 1964.
• India: The, back then, newly founded Indian Naval Air Arm bought two Firefly TT.1 which were delivered to Cochin, in the Indian State of Kerala, on 14th February 1955. Three further TT.1s arrived in India three months later. Another five Firefly TT.4 were exported in September 1958.
  Indian Fireflies were used by the 550 Squadron of the Indian Navy at Cochin Air Base to tow drogue targets for the Fleet's anti-aircraft gunnery practices. The TT.4 versions were fully armed with four 20 mm guns and were able to carry offensive stores beneath the wings, in addition to long-range fuel tanks.

Sources:

1. Hall Park Books - Warpaint 28 - Fairey Firefly

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairey_Firefly

3. https://www.valka.cz/Fairey-Firefly-T-Mk-1-t113116

Armstrong Whitworth Meteor NF.11 - Various foreign users

Note: So far we're only covering those variants of the Gloster Meteor built and designed by Armstrong Whitworth.

The Armstrong Whitworth Meteor in it's night fighter variant was used by many countries, those countries were:

• Belgium: In July 1949 Belgium decided to create three night fighter squadrons before the end of 1951 and, in May 1948 the No.10 night-fighter squadron equipped with De Havilland Mosquitos NF.30 was formed at Beauvechain. On 1st July 1951 the No.11 Night-Fighter Squadron was formed and the Mosquitos were split between those two squadrons until the Armstrong Whitworth Meteor NF.11 arrived in the summer of 1952. Initially they were used by both squadrons but later all of them were allocated to the No.11 Night Fighter squadron. In 1953 the Mosquitos were written-off and the pilots were allocated to the No.11 Squadron. Later, in 1956 more second-hand Meteors were bought in order to re-equip both squadrons. They were replaced by the Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck. 
• Denmark: The Royal Danish Air Force equipped their night-fighter squadron, Eskadrille 723 with the Meteor NF.11. They were replaced in 1959 by the North American F-86D Sabre Dog.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloster_Meteor

2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

3. http://www.belgian-wings.be/Webpages/Navigator/Photos/MilltaryPics/post_ww2/Gloster%20-AW-%20Meteor%20NF.11/Gloster%20Meteor%20NF11%20Frontpage.htm

4. https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskadrille_723 (translated)