Junkers Ju.52/3m various European Users

 

The Junkers Ju.52/3m is a German cargo aircraft which was widely used all around the globe. It was used, among many other ones, by the following countries:

• Slovak Republic: Two Ju.52/3mg7e were purchased from Germany in 1942 when the Slovak Air Force (SVZ) replaced their old inherited Czechoslovak-made material. They were destined to their flying school. Their fate is not known, but they were most probably destroyed on the ground during an aerial strike. 
• USSR: The Soviet Union employed the Ju.52/3m both before and after World War 2. Before the war, the type was evaluated by the NII-VVS (Soviet Air Force's Technical Research Unit) in 1937. 
  The Soviet State airline, Aeroflot, began operating captured Ju.52/3m on the Perm to Samara aerial route in the summer of 1944. These aircraft were also used to transport sulphur from mines in Central Asia to Soviet factories. Many of them were retrofitted with Soviet RPK-10 radio compasses and remained in active service until the late 1950s.
• Sweden: The Swedish national airline, AB Aerotransport, bought five Ju.52/3m, (according to some sources it was just 5 of them) in 1932. Though the airline's main aircraft was the famous Douglas DC-3, the Ju.52/3m was kept in service for routes from Sweden to Germany. They were extensively used, even during the war years, with neutrality markings. After the War, they served until 1948. 
  In order to prepare the country for a possible invasion during World War 2, the Swedish Air Force hired five Ju.52/3m from Aerotransport which gave them the designation of 'TP-5'. They were employed in many different roles, like cargo, personnel and VIP transport, but also as trainers and some of them were allocated to train the first Swedish paratroopers, though, eventually, they never served as such.
• Yugoslavia: During the very end of World War 2 and the immediate postwar, the Yugoslav Air Force operated some ex-German Ju.52/3m. They were complemented in 1946 with two French-made AAC.1 Toucan which were ordered in late 1945. In 1950 they acquired four more Toucans and two years later they were replaced by the Soviet Lisunov Li-2, the Soviet copy of the Douglas DC-4. The AAC.1s were passed on to JAT, the Yugoslav state airline, which operated the type until 1964. Nowadays one of them is preserved in Belgrade.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Junkers_Ju_52_operators

2. https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABA (translated)

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AB_Aerotransport

4. http://www.vrtulnik.cz/ww2/slovac.htm (translated)

5. http://www.lietadla.com/historia/slov-heinkel.htm (translated)

6. https://wwiiafterwwii.wordpress.com/2020/04/11/aac-1-toucan-frances-post-wwii-ju-52/

7. https://www.avrosys.nu/aircraft/Transport/255tp5/255Tp5.htm

8. Signal Squadron - Aircraft in Action 186 - Junkers Ju.52 in Action

Arado Ar.196 - Foreign users, part three

Now it's time to tell the story about the Arado that fell in British hands.
When Germany invaded Norway in April 1940, an Arado Ar.196 belonging to the German Heavy Cruiser Admiral Hipper was captured in the Norwegian city of Lyngstad by a Norwegian made Marinens Flybebaatfabrikk MF.11 on 8th April.
It was towed to Kristiansund by a Norwegian torpedo boat where it was repainted with Norwegian markings. Later, on 18th April, it was flown to the United Kingdom by a Norwegian pilot. It was crashed shortly after when it was on transit to Helensburg naval air base to test it.
When the war ended, at least one operational Ar.196 was left behind by the Germans and it was used by the post war Royal Norwegian Air Force until 1946, operating on Norwegian west coast.
Two Arado Ar.196 were interned in Sweden during the war. The first one when was on its way from Copenhagen to Borholm, it lost its way due to a compass malfunction and entered Swedish airspace, where it was forced to ditch. It remained in Sweden, where it was tested by the F.2 Squadron based in Hägenäs and then it was sold to the Kontinentagentur AB company. After the war, it was flown to Norway where it served with the 8801 RAF Wing and in June 1945with the No.330 (Norwegian) Squadron based in Stavenger Sola.  

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arado_Ar_196
2. http://www.kagero.pl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=303:arado-ar-196&catid=95&Itemid=688&limitstart=4