Postwar Service
Following the Second World War, the Spitfire remained in use with many air forces around the world. The main foreign air force to use Spitfire was France's Armée de l'Air that ordered more than 500 Supermarine fighters, Mark V, VIII, IX, and XVI variants. Other main users were Dutch Air Force, that received 76 Mark IX, Turkey, with 273, Greek, with 242. The Belgian Air Force received 134 Mark XIV plus 69 Mark IX and XVI. The Indian Air force received 159 Spitfires and the Aeronautica Italiana, 140 Mk IXs. The Southern Rhodesian Air Force received 22 Spitfire XXIIs from surplus RAF stocks in 1951.
Read more about this topic: Supermarine Spitfire Operational History
Famous quotes containing the words postwar and/or service:
“Fashions change, and with the new psychoanalytical perspective of the postwar period [WWII], child rearing became enshrined as the special responsibility of mothers ... any shortcoming in adult life was now seen as rooted in the failure of mothering during childhood.”
—Sylvia Ann Hewitt (20th century)
“Let the good service of well-deservers be never rewarded with loss. Let their thanks be such as may encourage more strivers for the like.”
—Elizabeth I (1533–1603)