Hobby Master Archive

In 1949 the Swedish Air Force took delivery of 50 former RAF Spitfire PR.XIX and designated them S-31. They came equipped for reconnaissance flights and were based with F.11 Flight Reconnaissance Wing at Nykoping south of Stockholm. These aircraft would penetrate Soviet airspace in the Baltic area and record activity at air and naval bases. At that time the Soviets didn’t have an aircraft that could catch these S-31s. The S-31 was replaced in 1954 by the Saab 29 jet. Ten of the 50 crashed and the rest were scrapped.