1939 - VEF requested their British contact, Phillip d.W. Avery to purchase a Miles Magister
on their behalf. Surprisingly, he was successful and the aircraft was shipped to Latvia in
the summer of 1939. VEF quickly assembled it, flight tested it (Rudzitis & Mikelsons, pilots)
and passed it on to the Aviation Regiment where it received the serial number 181.
The Magister was acquired only as a temporary measure - the intent was that the
new aircraft being designed and built by VEF would fulfill the monoplane trainer function.
Nov.11, 1942 - the Magister, captured by the germans and being used
in Estonia, is crashed and destroyed in a forced landing by an Estonian pilot (Aleksander Lepa), who survived.
Sources
- Bruvelis, Edvins Latvijas Aviacijas Vesture
- Irbitis, Karlis Of Struggle and Flight
- Johnson, G.H.R. The Miles Magister
