Supermarine Spitfire. Asian Users, part five. Thailand and Syria.

 

The Supermarine Spitfire was employed by both Syria and Thailand. 

Spitfire's operational history with Syria it's unclear. Some sources claim that the Syrian government bought a total of 20 Spitfire F.22 in 1953, while others claim it was in 1949. Anyway, it seems that most of them were delivered the next year, with Rhodesia selling seven additional ones. It also seems that the original intention of the Syrian Air Force was to have a total of 40 machines in service. 
Most of them were destroyed or phased out around 1958-1960 with some being found on the ground in the Six Days War in 1967. 

Spitfire's operational history with Thailand is, however, different. After World War 2 the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) was looking to modernize its aerial fighter fleet, which back then was composed by the Japanese Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa, so in 1950 they acquired a total of 29 second-hand Spitfire FR.XIVe (the mixed photo-reconnaissance-fighter variant) from Royal Air Force's stocks. However, only 24 could be put to flight with the rest being used for spare parts. 
Of those 24, one Spitfire was of the PR.XIX variant which served with the 1st Squadron of the No.1 Wing. A bit later, in 1954 the RTAF bought four additional FR.14 machines, however they were retired out of service one year later, together with the other machines due to their lack of maintenance. 

Sources:
1st https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Supermarine_Spitfire_operators#Syria
2nd http://www.worldairforces.com/countries/syria/syr.html
3rd http://www.wings-aviation.ch/11-RTAF/2-Aircraft/Supermarine-Spitfire/Fighter.htm
4th https://peterlewisdesign.tripod.com/thaimuseum/spitfire.htm
5th http://www.worldairforces.com/Countries/thailand/thl.html

de Havilland Vampire. Part eight. More Asian users.

The de Havilland Vampire is a British jet fighter developed and manufactured by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was the second jet fighter employed by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and was employed by many users all around the globe, among them, the following ones:

• Jordan: The British Government offered the Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF) 10 Vampire FB.Mk.9 (the tropicalized variant of the FB.Mk.5) in the early 1950s. These machines, ex-RAF ones, were accepted by the RJAF and delivered from November 1955 and February 1956. Once in RJAF hands, the Vampires kept their RAF serials, in spite of having allocated their own serial numbers.
  In July 1955 the RAF gave the RJAF three Vampire T.11 trainers and shortly later in October 1956 Egypt donated seven Vampire FB.52. Two additional Vampire T.11s were supplied in 1960 to assist training as the RJAF had ordered the Hawker Hunter.
  By mid-1958 the Middle East Crisis loomed and there were only six Vampire Fighter-Bomber in service with the RJAF. During the Six-Day War in June 1967, some Vampire were lost on the ground to attacking Israeli aircraft. After the end of that conflict, the last six Vampires remaining were withdrawn from service but the Vampire T.11s were kept in active use until 1972. 

• Lebanon: The Lebanese Air Force (LAF) was constituted following the guidelines of the RAF and, following advice, they ordered some Vampires. On 24th August 1953 one Vampire T.55 was delivered to convert pilots to jet training. Six additional Vampire FB.52 were also delivered between October 1953 and April 1955. By that date two additional T.55 had been ordered and delivered, together with the last FB.52 in April 1955.
  One T.55 which served as a demonstrator, was sold to the LAF in November 1957. During 1958 the Vampires were used against rebel tribesmen in Shouf Mountains and to patrol the Syrian border and the Bekaa valley.
  Some time later, the LAF acquired some Hawker Hunters together with four Vampires FB.Mk.5 and three FB.Mk.9 which were delivered during May and June 1958. They served until 1964 when they were withdrawn. Some exceptions were employed until September 1974 with one T.55 being used by the Geographical Affairs Directorate.

• Saudi Arabia: In July 1957 Egypt offered the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) four Vampire FB.52 in order to promote relations between the two countries. That same year Egypt sent further 15 Vampires FB.52 to train Saudi pilots in jet flight before their Lockheed T-33 and North-American F-86 Sabres arrived. The Vampires were written off in as early as 1958, officially because the lack of spare parts. Some of them were left to rot at Jeddah airport. 

• Ceylon/Sri Lanka: The Royal Ceylon Air Force (RCAF) ordered five Vampire T.55 trainers in 1954. They were built at Chester, Cheshire, and shipped to Katunayake Air Base. Once there, they were believed to be too advanced for the newly founded RCAF and they were returned unopened. The order the RCAF had placed for additional FB.52 fighters was cancelled. The original T.55s were later sold to Finland.

• Syria: There's not a clear consensus about the actual number of Vampires that Syria received. In 1955 eighteen ex-Italian Vampire FB.52 were delivered to Egypt but, apparently, not every one of them ended up there. Macchi (the Italian licensed manufacturer of the FB.52) revealed that, in 1954, they got an order from Syria for 13 Vampire FB.52 and it was these, probably staging through Syria to Egypt, that were retained.
  In 1956 further 10 FB.52 refurbished by Macchi made their way to Syria (although it's doubtful if any machine arrived) and, later that same year, two Vampires T.55 destined for Syria were held at Hatfield as the British Government imposed an arms embargo on the Middle-East country. Both the FB.52s and the T.55s received Syrian markings and were never released from Great Britain and Italy and were eventually scrapped.

Sources:

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

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

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

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19, Asian and Middle-East users

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 is a Soviet-made single-seat twin-engined second generation supersonic jet fighter which is capable of maintaining supersonic speeds in level flight. The MiG-19S has been the most produced and exported variant with more than 1.000 exemplars manufactured it was exported to, among many others, to these next countries:

• Iraq: In spite of the contradictory reports about the MiG-19's career in Iraq, it seems that 15 MiG-19S were delivered to the Iraqi Air Force (IAF) in 1960. Other reports claim that they were complemented with 30 MiG-19s of unspecified origin, most probably, if those reports are right, from North Korea in 1983.
  Anyway, they were based at Al Rashed, Amarah, Karbalah and Jalibah Air Bases. A number of MiG-19 and its Chinese copy, the Shenyang F-6 were destroyed on the ground during Operation Desert Storm in January-March 1991, as Saddam Hussein ordered them to be strategically placed on his air bases as decoys in an attempt to save his real combat aircraft.
  Other reports claim that they were sold to Uganda, Afghanistan and North Korea.
• North Korea: After the mutual assistance and military co-operation treaty the the USSR and North Korea signed in 1961, an unknown number of MiG-19Ss was supplied to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Some sources claim 15 of them but it's most probably that there were at least twice as many.
  Thirty original MiG-19Ss were sold to Iraq in 1983. Given the high secrecy surrounding North Korea, the MiG-19S depicted below is speculative. 
• Syria: Syria became the second non Warsaw-pact nation to operate the MiG-19S as they received 40 from the USSR in 1958-1962. However, according to some report, they were acquired second-hand from Egypt. Many of them were destroyed on ground in 1967 during the Six Days War.
• North Vietnam: Forty-four MiG-19S fighters were supplied to the North Vietnam Democratic Republic Air Force (NVDRAF) in 1968-1969 to equip the 925th Fighter Regiment. They were based at Yen Bai Air Base, close to Hanoi, and saw very active service through the second phase of the Vietnam War.
  Just like any other type of fighter in service with the NVDRAF the MiG-19S was mostly used for point air defence os strategically important targets against USAF bombing raids.  

Sources: 

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-19

2. Midland Publishing - Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19. The Soviet Union's First Production Supersonic Fighter
3. https://www.valka.cz/Mikojan-Gurevic-MiG-19S-kod-NATO-Farmer-C-t12470

4. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17F, part two, Sri Lankan and Syrian users

Continuing with the Asian users of the MiG-17F, now it's the turn for two more countries: Sri Lanka and Syria.

• Sri Lanka: During the March 1971 communist insurrection that placed a left-leaning government in power, the Ceylon Air Force received five MiG-17F from the USSR. They served with the Sri-Lankan Air Force, mostly in the ground support role. After the insurgency, the country became a republic and the name was changed to Sri-Lanka. The Sri-Lankan Air Force kept the MiG-17Fs until the early 1980s when they withdrawn as they were clearly outdated.
• Syria: After the creation of the United Arab Republic in 1958, the Syrian Air Force was merged with the Egyptian one and nearly all of its aircraft and personnel were redeployed to Egypt. There, they were replaced by two squadrons of MiG-17Fs. After the dissolution of the United Arab Republic in 1961, the new Syrian Air Force - designated as Syrian Arab Air Force (SyAAF) - was re-established later in that same year, acquiring aircraft left by the Egyptians; around 40 MiG-17Fs.
  During the Six-Days War of 1967, the SyAAF flew some strikes on Northern Israel's bases but was shortly evacuated to other air bases in remote parts of Syria, preventing this way the destruction of their Air Force on the ground just like it had happened with both Egyptian and Jordanian ones. After that war, Syria kept on buying small amount of MiG-17s from East Germany. After the Yom-Kippur War in 1973, the SyAAF suffered heavy losses, prompting the Soviets to establish an air-bridge with Damascus and, in April 1974 they received the first batch of MiG-23 which redeemed the MiG-17fs as obsolete and replaceable.

Sources:

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

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

3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Aero L-29 part six, African and Middle-east users

As we've said previously, the Aero L-29 was exported to an enormous amount of countries. Here are some of them:

• Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA): Apparently, when the USSR invaded Afghanistan and created the DRA, they received a small amount of Aero L-29s together with some L-39s. As we couldn't find any graphical evidence of this, the drawing should be considered as speculative.
• United Arab Republic/Egypt: The United Arab Republic's Air Force received the Aero L-29 in 1959. It was the main trainer of the Egyptian Air Force during the 1960s and it was used in active combat role during the Yom Kippur War of 1973 when some of them were armed with missile launchers and sent to attack Israeli ground forces. It served as their main trainer until the late 1970s when it was replaced by the more advanced Aero L-39.
• Iraq: It seems that some Aero L-29s were delivered to Iraq after the 1958 coup d'etat that overthrew the King of Iraq. The L-29s served with the 2nd Training Squadron at the Tikrit Air Force Base during the 1960s until they were phased out by the more advanced Aero L-39.
• Libya: Some sources claim that the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (Gaddafi's Libya) received some Aero L-29s to equip the air force. As we couldn't find graphical evidences or even text references, the drawing should be considered as speculative as most probably only the L-39 served in Libya and not the L-29.
• Mali: Just like in the Libyan case, it seems that the Malian Air Force bought some L-29s in the mid-1960s to equip their air force. Apparently they served during the 1960s, however as we couldn't find neither graphical nor text evidence, the drawing should be taken as speculative.
• Syria: It seems that the Syrian Air Force was supplied with some Aero L-29s in the very late 1950s and served through the 1960s. Most of them were either destroyed in the Six-Days war and those that survived, served until the 1970s when they were replaced by some other more modern type like the Aero L-39.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_L-29_Delfín

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Republic_of_Afghanistan#Air_Force

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

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

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

6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mali_Airforce

7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Air_Force

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15bis, various Middle-eastern & African users

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15bis was used by many Middle-Eastern and African countries. Among them we can find:

• Afghanistan: Back in the mid-1950s the Royal Afghan Air Force underwent a modernization process which made it to withdraw from active service completely outdated aircraft like the Hawker Hind. They bought material almost exclusively from the USSR as it was the cheapest option and, by 1960 their air force was composed of around 100 aircraft, including MiG-15bis fighters and Il-28 bombers. As the country was one of the most conflictive in the region, they weren't never written-off and were most likely used in the many conflicts that the country underwent through the 1970s, 1980s and the 1990s and most of the fighters were, most probably, destroyed. As our main source was a quite blurry photo where the registration numbers can't be read, the registration should be taken as speculative.
• Algeria: When Algeria achieved its independence and the Algerian Air Force was created, many Arab countries donated second-hand material, like Egypt, which donated some MiG-15, MiG-15bis and MiG-15UTIs. As, by the 1960s the MiG-15bis were outdated, they were employed as advanced trainers until they were withdrawn when they were replaced by more modern types. As we couldn't find reliable graphical source, the drawing should be taken as speculative.
• North Yemen: As the North Yemen Air Force was supplied, theoretically, by Western powers, the MiG-15bis that served with the North Yemen Air Force were, most likely, captured exemplars. As we couldn't find graphical evidence, the drawing should be considered as speculative.
• Iraq: When the monarchy was overthrown in Iraq, in the 14th July 1958 revolution, the revolutionary government turned to the USSR looking for new aircraft suppliers. They bought mainly MiG-17s but also some MiG-15bis and MiG-15UTIs which, except for the MiG-17 (which was the most advanced type that the IAF had in inventory during this stage), were used as trainers or advanced trainers. As we couldn't find definitive graphical source, the drawing should be considered as speculative.
• Pakistan: Apparently, the Pakistan Air Force had a small number of MiG-15 in the very late 1950s. They were most probably some Afghan or even Soviet defector aircraft which landed there and it was interned and repainted. Their fate is unknown and, as there are very little references to the MiG-15bis, the drawing should be considered as speculative.
• Somalia: Together with the Chinese-built MiG-17s (Shenyang F-5), in the year 1960 they were supplied with both Chinese-built MiG-15UTIs (Shenyang FT-2) and second (or even third) hand MiG-15bis which were intended to be used as advanced trainers. Most likely they were used in the Ogaden war in 1977 and the subsequent wars until they were destroyed. As there aren't graphical references, the drawing should be taken as speculative.
• South Yemen: When the South Yemen Republic was created in 1967, it had the support of the USSR, which supplied their Air Force with MiG-15bis, MiG-15UTIs, MiG-17 and MiG-21. They most likely saw combat in the war against their Northern neighbours and were all of them destroyed. Again, the drawing should be taken with a grain of salt as it's speculative.
• Syria: Back in 1955 Syria ordered 24 MiG-15bis fighters and 4 MiG-15UTIs from Czechoslovakia. This order was followed the next year by another batch of additional 24 MiG-15bis. All those fighters were delivered to Egypt which, by October 1956, their pilots were still undergoing training when Israel, backed by the United Kingdom and France, attacked in the course of the Suez Crisis. Most of them were destroyed in the ground during that conflict and, in the afterwards, the Syrian Air Force, ordered the more modern type MiG-17PF.

Sources:

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

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

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

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

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

6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somali_Air_Force

7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Yemen

8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemeni_Air_Force

9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Air_Force

Armstrong Whitworth Meteor NF.13 - Foreign Users

Today it's the turn for the foreign users of the Meteor NF.13 which weren't few of them.

• Egypt: In 1955 the Egyptian government received three Meteor T Mk.7, six Meteor NF.13 and eight Meteor F.8 as a consequence of an order placed by it's government back in December 1952. As Egypt was under an arms embargo, the United Kingdom allowed the sale with the hope of improving relations with Egypt, however the tensions over the Suez Canal would lead to another arms embargo. They equipped the Egyptian No.10 Squadron and took part in the 1956 Suez crisis. One Egyptian NF.13 claimed to have damaged a British Vickers Valiant bomber during the conflict. However, as the aerial bombing campaign carried-out by the Anglo-French forces in the Operation Musketeer destroyed many Egyptian airplanes stationed in the ground, the Egyptian Air Force decided to withdraw their operation from the Sinai peninsula.
• France: The French CEV (Centre d'Essais en Vol - Centre of in-flight experiments) adquired at least one Meteor NF.13 which was used for experiments. Further details are unknown and the colours displayed in the drawing should be considered as speculative.
• Israel: In early 1956 Israel placed an order to buy six Meteor NF.13, with three being delivered that year, before the month of October (when the Suez crisis sparked) and the other were delayed by an arms embargo, and were handed over in 1958. Those three airplanes played a key role in the crisis as an Israeli NF.13 shot down an Egyptian Ilyushin Il-14 carrying many Egyptian high-ranking military officers in the context of Operation Tarnegol. The Israeli NF.13 remained in active service with the 119 Tajeset (119th Squadron) until 1962.
• Syria: The fledgling Syrian Air Force had only one active squadron back in the 1950s, the 1st one and it was equipped both with Meteor F.8 and one or two NF.13. However they lacked any radar and combat training wasn't provided, so the Syrian pilots had to train with their Egyptian counterparts. It's claimed that, in the context the Suez crisis an unknown Meteor shot down a British Canberra that was performing reconnaissance missions over Syria, more precisely over the city of Homs. Anyway, almost any Meteor was replaced in 1957 by the Soviet MiG-17 as that airplane was cheaper and the USSR offered also combat training. 

Sources:

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

2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

3. Hall Park Books - Warpaint Serie No.22 - Gloster Meteor