page_title: List of Supermarine Spitfire operators
section_title:  Soviet Union
hierarchical_section_title: List of Supermarine Spitfire operators / Operators /  Soviet Union
caption_attribution_description: English: Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vb, ready for delivery to USSR VVS
context_page_description: This is a list of operators of the Supermarine Spitfire.
context_section_description: Britain answered to Stalin's request and sent 143 second-hand Spitfire Vb fighters to the Soviet Union. Due to these aircraft being misidentified frequently as Bf 109s by Soviet anti-aircraft artillery batteries and VVS fighters, a number of Spitfires were lost to "friendly fire". The Spitfire closely resembled Messerschmitt Bf 109 aircraft so Spitfire unit markings were made more prominent, however this did not appear to help (the 57th already displayed a yellow lightning bolt down the entire side of their fuselages) and the Mk.V was withdrawn from combat duties after only three months of service as part of defensive operations in the Kuban sector.
  The Soviet Union was then supplied with some 1,200 Mk.IXs from 1943. Soviet pilots liked them but they did not suit Soviet combat tactics and the rough conditions at the forward airfields close to the front lines. Spitfires Mk. IXs were therefore assigned to air defence units, using the high altitude performance to intercept and pursue German bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. By 1944, the Spitfire IX was the main fighter used in this role and would remain so until 1947.
  The Soviet Air Force modified some Spitfires as two-seat trainers and in the post-war period some were used as trainers.
  Soviet Air Force
  57th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment (April–June 1943)
  821st Fighter Aviation Regiment (April–June 1943)
caption: Line of the Spitfire VBs ready for delivery to the Soviet VVS
exif: {"Image Software": "Picasa 2.7", "Image ExifOffset": "50", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0210", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "126", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "84077917bacc1a11595487569f30627c"}