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

de Havilland Vampire. Part Twelve. Swedish Users

 

The Royal Swedish Air Force (RSAF) was committed to incorporate jet fighters in their squadrons from a very early stage. That's why in 1946 they ordered enough Vampires to equip a full fighter wing. 
In an unusual order for the time, they ordered a total of 70 Vampire F.Mk.1 fighters on 9th February 1946 plus some spare Goblin 2 engines and a license to manufacture Goblin 3 engines at Svenska Flygmotor Factory in Tröllhattan, Götaland. 

The Vampires were ferried in June 1946 with the last one arriving in August 1947 and they were known in Swedish service as J-28A. 

The next year, an enormous order for 310 Vampires FB.50 was placed. These were known as J-28B in Sweden and were intended to be used as an interim fighter while the SAAB J-29 Tunnan was developed. Most of the Vampires from this second batch were built at Hatfield with some few machines being completed at Chester. They were delivered between 27th May 1949 and summer 1952. 
In 1953 the Vampires began to replace the SAAB B-18 piston-engined bombers in the ground-attack role, equipped with rockets. These Vampires were re-designated as A-28B, where the letter A stood for Attack while J stood for fighter. The Vampires, however, didn't live long in this role as they were withdrawn in 1955 and assigned to the Combat Flying School of the RSAF at F.5 Ljungbyhed where they would finally be withdrawn from active service in 1967. In 1953 the RSAF ordered 20 Vampire T.55 of the earlier variant, with framed canopy and no ejection seats. They were designated as J-28C. They were manufactured at Hatfield and were delivered between February and July 1953 to be assigned to the Basic Flying School at Ljungbyhed. This unit operated SAAB 91 Safirs for elemental flight training and Vampire trainers for jet conversion. A second batch of T.55s were ordered, this time of the upgraded sub-variant with ejection seats and bubble canopy. They were designated as Sk.28 C-2s and the earlier T.55 Sk.28 C-1. Twelve Sk.28 C-1s were upgraded in 1956 to C-2 standards with new front fuselages supplied by Chester. De Havilland called these upgraded machines as T.55A and the RSAF Sk.28 C-3. They served until 1968 when every remaining Vampire was sold for scrap or sent to museums.

Sources:

1. Hall Park Books - Warpaint 27 - De Havilland Vampire

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

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

Arado Ar.96, various users

 

The Arado Ar.96 was a German single-engined monoplane made entirely out of metal which was used by the Luftwaffe and many other users around the world, among them, the following ones:

• United Kingdom: At least one Ar.96B was used by the 435 Disarmament Service and Repair Unit of the Royal Air Force, located in Schleswig-Holstein, in the British Occupation Zone of Germany in 1945, as it was captured after the war. This aircraft was moved to the United Kingdom and, in 1946 it was at Woodley aerodrome, in Berkshire where it was flight tested. By 1947 it was scrapped with other captured Ar.96Bs.
• Slovak Republic: Shortly after the creation, in 1939 of the Slovenské vzdusne zbrane (Slovak Air Force or SVZ) four Ar.96A (the initial production version) served with the SVZ. Their fate is unknown but they were, most likely, destroyed during the war.
• Spain: There are some reports of two Ar.96A serving with the Nationalist Air Force during the Spanish Civil War. However, those reports seem to be false as the Ar.96A entered service in 1939, after the end of the War. However, we've drawn an hypothetical Ar.96A serving with Spain in 1940 just for the fun of it.
• Sweden: The Swedish company AB Norrlansdflyg acquired one Ar.96B after the war (aircraft which defected to Sweden at the end of the World War 2) and, in July 1946 it was in service with this company at Lulea registered as SE-AOA. It was used to train pilots of this Swedish airline.
• United States of America: The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) used at least one captured Ar.96B-7 after the war in Mannheim-Sandhofen, in the US Occupation Zone. Further details, however, are unknown.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arado_Ar_96

2. https://modellbygge.ifokus.se/discussion/1216512/lite-arado-ar-96-researchfragor-se-aoa (translated)

3. https://gustavsviksflygfalt.se/text/tengler_arne/Bilder_Norrlandsflyg.htm (translated)

4. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_arado_ar_96.html

5. https://www.valka.cz/Arado-Ar-96-t54856 (translated)

6. http://bioold.science.ku.dk/drnash/model/spain/didnt.html

7. http://silverhawkauthor.com/axis-warplane-survivors-german-aircraft-part-i-arado-ar-96-to-fockewulf-fw-58_320.html