Supermarine Spitfire. European Users, part seventeen. The Spitfire in Portugal.

 

During late 1942 eighteen Spitfires, which were ordered before the beginning of the war, were delivered to Portugal, to form the bulk of their Aeronáutica Militar (Military Aeronautics - Portuguese Army's aerial branch). Those Spitfires were given the registration numbers of 370 to 387 and were assigned to equip Squadron XZ. Portuguese squadrons were marked with a set of letters that also served as a code painted on the aircraft. 
By virtue of the treaty that granted the Allies the right to use the bases in the Azores islands, Portugal was going to receive, for free, 36 Spitfire Mk. Vb, among many other aircraft. 
Those 36 Mk. Vb were shipped between October 1943 and January 1944.
Eventually thirty-three aircraft were delivered, were given the registration numbers of 1 to 33 and were assigned to aerial base of Ota (located in a civil parish close to Lisbon and officially called as 'Base Aérea Nr. 2'), where they were employed to form two new squadrons (Squadrons RL and MR) that were part of the Fighter Group stationed there.
In 1947 sixty more Spitfire Mk. Vb (mostly of the LF sub-variant) were bought from Royal Air Force's surplus. This new batch received the numbers of 34 to 92. 
Some were assigned to form a new squadron, Squadron ZE, while the rest were sent to supplement the numbers of the already existing ones. 

On 1st July 1952 the Portuguese Air Force (Força Aérea Portuguesa) was created and, as a result, the Aeronáutica Militar ceased to exist, resulting in a deep reorganization of every Portuguese aerial unit. 
Three Spitfire squadrons were merged into two (Squadrons 20 and 21), this time designated with numbers and still based at Ota. At the same time, the aircraft designation system was changed, with the Spitfires receiving a four digit code, in which the first digit indicated the category of the aircraft (in the case of the Spitfire it was the number 4 - 'fighter'), the second the type within the category (Spitfire - 3), while the other remaining two were the aircraft's own number. Example given, the previous Spitfire number 26, was now 4326. 
Anyway one year later, in 1953, the Spitfires were written off service.

Sources:

1st AJ-Press - Monografie Lotnicze 40 - Supermarine Spitfire Part 3 (translated)

2nd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Supermarine_Spitfire_operators#Portugal

Miles M.25 Martinet. Part One, Foreign Users

 

The Miles M.25 Martinet was a target tug aircraft that served with many users, among them, the following ones:

• Belgium: A total of 9 Martinet were ordered by the Belgian Air Force to be used at the Fighter School of Koksijde, West Flanders. All of them were delivered in 1947. However, two machines were in bad shape that they were refused by the Belgians and were replaced by two other Martinets. Initially they served with a ghost unit (IE a de-facto unit) that didn't exist on paper and gathered all available aircraft for the fighter school. They were in active until being replaced by the De Havilland Mosquito TT.Mk.35, the target tug variant, in the early 1950s.
• France: The French Armée de l'Air (French Air Force) employed a total of 41 Martinet TT.1 at many of their Aerial Schools. These were delivered between 1945 and 1948 and, according to some sources, were kept in active until 1958. 
• Greece: Actually, Greece didn't have Martinets, however, some efforts were made to sell some surplus Martinets as artillery spotters, general observations or even close support to the Royal Hellenic Air Force. Eventually they were not sold, however, we drew an hypothetical-looking version of the Martinet serving with the Greeks.
• Ireland: Two Martinet TT.Mk.1 were delivered in 1946 to the Irish Air Corps. They were probably replaced later, during the 1950s by other type of aircraft.
• Portugal: In September 1943 ten Martinets were supplied to the Portuguese Arma da Aeronáutica Militar (Military Aeronautics Arm-AAM). Six were employed by the AAM and four by the Forças Aéreas da Armada (Navy Air Forces).
  When the Força Aérea Portuguesa (FAP) was established in 1952 the Martinets were still in active service, and were transferred to the FAP, however soon after, they were replaced. 
• Sweden: A Swedish regional airline called Svensk Flygtjänst AB bought 9 Martinets and employed 8 of them as tugs between the years 1946 and 1951.
• Turkey: In March 1945 seven Martinets were supplied to the Turkish Military Aviation. They were supplemented by 12 additional ones in the following months. They were used as target tugs in various regiments until they were eventually replaced by the North American Texan in 1948.

Sources:

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

2. https://www.belgian-wings.be/miles-m-25-martinet-tt-1

3. https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/91078-portuguese-miles-martinets

4. http://www.tayyareci.com/digerucaklar/turkiye/1923ve50/miles-master.asp

5. Scale Aircraft Modelling - vol.19 nº08 (1997.10) - Miles Military Trainers

6. Putnam - Miles Aircraft

Miles M.14 Magister. Part four. More European users

 

The Miles M.14 Magister is a British two-seat elementary trainer aircraft designed and built by British aircraft manufacturer Miles, which was used by many foreign users, among them, the following ones:

• Latvia: The Latvian Aviation Regiment (Latvian Air Force of the 1930s) had two Magisters in strength. When the USSR invaded in June 1940, they were captured and tested by the VVS (Soviet Air Force). Later, in June 1941, when Germany invaded, they were re-captured by the Luftwaffe which employed them in the Sonderstaffel Buschmann. Their ultimate fate is, however, unknown.
• Portugal: The Portuguese Arma da Aeronáutica Militar (Military Aeronautical Arm) operated ten Miles Magister supplied by the British during the World War II. They were in active service as trainers until the early 1950s.
• USSR: The VVS evaluated some ex-Baltic Magister planes for a brief period of time. When Germany invaded, they were re-captured by the Luftwaffe.

Sources:

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

2. http://www.airwar.ru/enc/other2/i17.html (translated - there's a mention both Latvian and Soviet Magisters)

3. https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235039699-miles-m14a-magister-estonian-air-force-1938-1940-rs-model-172/

Junkers Ju.52/3m in Portugal

 

The Junkers Ju.52/3m is a German transport plane that also served in Portugal and its colonies, though this colonial usage we already covered it in a previous post.

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

Avro Anson, part Nine, Portuguese, Soviet, Spanish and Yugoslav users

The Avro Anson is a British twin-engined multi-role aircraft which, more than 11.000 exemplars manufactured by Avro in England and Federal Aircraft Ltd. in Canada, it was one of the most used aircraft in the world. It saw service with many air forces and airlines. Among them the following ones:

• Portugal: Twelve Ansons Mk.I which were refurbished by Avro at Langar, Nottinghamshire, were delivered to Portugal in 1946-1947 for liaison and transport duties. They operated from Portela, close to Lisbon and were active for a long period of time with some of them still being active in 1957 when the unit was renamed as 'Esquadra 82' (Squadron 82). Some unconfirmed sources claim that additional four machines were delivered to Portugal in 1947.
• Soviet Union: When the USSR invaded Estonia and the other Baltic countries, the Estonian Air Force had in service one Anson Mk.I. This machine was captured by the Red Army and was pressed into service with the VVS (Soviet Air Force). It was in service during 1940 and 1941 but it seems that it was either destroyed in the opening stages of Operation Barbarossa or it suffered an accident during early 1941. Either way, it was written off.
• Spain: The Spanish Airline Spantax was founded in 1959 with one Anson in its fleet. This Anson, originally registered as G-ACUX, crashed in Villa Cisneros (Spanish Sahara) on 15th December 1951 when it was taking off. It was reconstructed into airworthiness again in 1955 and registered into Spanish Civil Aviation in 1958. One year later it was bought by Spantax and was used to cover the aerial route between Tenerife Los Rodeos airport (Tenerife North) and Villa Cisneros. However it was written off after suffering, again, another accident on 26th November 1960 and was moved to company's main headquarter in Madrid where it was used as ground instructional airframe for crew training. Another source claims it was used for this same purpose but in Tenerife. Anyway, shortly later it was definitely written off and, most probably, sold for scrap.
• Yugoslavia: The Yugoslav Air Force acquired some Avro Anson Mk.I and Mk.V in the very late 1940s where they served from 1951 until 1959 when they were written off. They served in the Liaison Squadron of the 1st Military District, together with other types from various origins, from 1952 until 1959 when they were written off.

Sources:

1. Hall Park Books - Warpaint 53 - Avro Anson

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

3. http://www.aviationcorner.net/gallery_en.asp?aircraft_type=Avro%20Anson&aircraft_type_id=331 (translated)

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spantax

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liaison_Squadron_of_1st_Air_Command

25pdr SP, tracked, Sexton

Today we bring you another tracked land vehicle. The 25pdr tracked Sexton was a self-propelled artillery vehicle from the World War 2 that was based on the Canadian built versions of the M3 Lee and M4 Sherman tanks, which were built in Canada under the name of Ram and Grizzly.
When the production of the Sherman expanded and the supply of tanks wasn't no more a problem, it was decided, in 1943 to switch the Canadian production lines to manufacture the Sexton in order to provide the British and Commonwealth forces with a mobile artillery based on the QF 25pdr howitzer.
It was used by the British and Canadian forces during the Second World War and with South Africa and the Polish Forces in the west. After the war, some Sextons, together with some Grizzlies, were sold to Portugal where they served until the 1980s.
There were three versions of them, Sexton I, which was based on the Ram tank hull and only 125 of them were produced, Sexton II, which was based on the chasis of the Grizzly (M4A1 Sherman) and added boxes to the rear deck in order to carry batteries and an auxiliary generator to charge them and, finally, the Sexton GPO (Gun Position Officer) which was an unarmed command version.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexton_(artillery)
2. Salamander Books - The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the World's tanks and AFV