Italian Cobelligerent Air Force[edit]On 17 August 1944, after training at Canne airfield, 12 kilometres (7.5mi) south of Termoli, an RAF Squadron with Yugoslavian pilots provided 53 Spitfire Vs to theItalian Co-Belligerent Air Force. Only 33 would be used in front service with 20Gruppoof 51Stormobecoming the first Italian unit to receive the Spitfire, with its first offensive mission on 23 October, over Albania. From then on, Italian Spitfire missions included escorting transport aircraft, reconnaissance flights and ground attacks. By 31 December 1944 there were 17 Spitfires Vs on charge (a total of 40 Mk Vs were eventually acquired). Two Spitfire Vs of 20Gruppoflew the Regia Aeronautica's last wartime mission on 5 May 1945, a visual reconnaissance of Zagabria.[167]By 8 May, 13 Spitfires (eight of them operational) were at Canne airport with 356a and 360aSquadrigliaof 20Gruppo. Two more Spitfires were located at Frosinone airport, atScuola Addestramento Bombardamento e Caccia.[168]Spitfires of the USSR[edit]

Ex-RAF Spitfire Vbs being prepared for delivery to the USSR atAbadan,Iranin early 1943. The two Spitfires in the foreground had already seen extensive RAF service.In early October 1942, Iosif V. Stalin wrote to Sir Winston Churchill, requesting the urgent delivery of Spitfires. Churchill agreed to send a batch of 150 Supermarine fighters, along with spares, equivalent to an additional 50 aircraft. Deliveries of Spitfire VBs to USSR started in the spring of 1943. These were the first official Spitfire export.[169]Most of these Mk Vbs had already seen extensive service with the RAF. One of the first units to receive the Spitfire was the 36th Fighter Aviation Regiment, which was part of theVoyenno-Vozdushnyye Sily or VVS. Soviet pilots were ver