Finland The
Finnish Air Force used both C.V-Ds and C.V-Es. One C.V-E was purchased in 1927, with delivery 20 September, and a further 13 were purchased on 17 March 1934, arriving in the winter of 1935. During the
Winter War, Sweden donated three more C.V-Es. Two C.V-Ds were also flown from Norway to Finland at the closing stages of the Norwegian Campaign. These were interned and turned over to the FAF. The aircraft were used as reconnaissance and light bomber aircraft between 20 September 1927 and 14 February 1945. During the Winter War, the Finnish C.Vs flew 151 reconnaissance and
harassment bombing sorties without suffering any losses. The
Continuation War saw the C.Vs flying an unknown number of sorties and suffering one aircraft loss.
Italy The C.VE was built in Italy by OFM (
Officine Ferroviarie Meridionali, later
IMAM) under licence in 1927 as the
Romeo Ro.1. It was used by the Aviation Corps of the
Regio Esercito (Italian Army) as an observation and ground attack aircraft. Well liked in the civilian market, it was selected for use by Air Marshal
Italo Balbo, as superior to the
Breda A.7 and
Ansaldo A.120. It entered service in 1927, in
Italian Libya against the local rebels. It was used both for reconnaissance and light attack. It was convertible as a three-seat machine, or as a light attack aircraft (two machine-guns), or as a very long range aircraft with an auxiliary fuel tank that increased the endurance from five to twelve hours. The last version had a 410 kW (550 hp) engine instead of 321 kW (430 hp) and produced until 1934, a total of 456, but it was outdated and too slow for the standards of the mid-1930s. Although this was only an army observation aircraft, it still had a quite powerful engine and performance. In 1933, there were 40
squadrons, of seven machines each, related to the Italian Army, with 238 Ro.1s as the main aircraft force. It was the most numerous Italian aircraft in the
Second Italo-Abyssinian War.
Norway Fokker C.V-D The
Norwegian Army Air Service bought its first five C.VEs in 1926. The initial purchase agreement with Fokker included license production rights, and in the period 1929–1931, 15 C.VEs were manufactured at the NoAAS' aircraft factory at
Kjeller. After the production of C.VEs ended, a further 28 C.VDs followed between 1932 and 1939. In total, the NoAAS operated 48 Fokker C.Vs, 43 of which were license built in Norway. When
the Germans invaded Norway on 9 April 1940, 42 Fokker C.Vs were still in Norwegian service. The C.Vs were based on several air bases in different parts of the country and mostly saw service as reconnaissance aircraft and light bombers. Although the planes were outdated, they still saw extensive and successful service in the bomber role during the April–June 1940
Norwegian Campaign, supporting Norwegian ground troops fighting on the
Narvik front.
Netherlands The type was used by the
Luchtvaartafdeeling (
Royal Netherlands Air Force),
Marine Luchtvaartdienst (
Netherlands Naval Aviation Service) and KNIL-ML (
Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force). For the
Luchtvaartafdeling, 67 examples were produced in several batches between 1926 and 1934. Twenty-eight were still operational at the time of the German attack on the Netherlands on 10 May 1940. They were used successfully on reconnaissance and bombing missions using "
nap of the earth" (HuBoBe, short for
huisje-boompje-beestje, literally translated into house-tree-animal, referring to the low altitude at which they flew) flying techniques. Nearly two dozen aircraft were used as trainers and hacks, or in storage and repair.
Sweden In 1927, the Swedish Air Force purchased two C.VDs (
J 3) and two C.VE (
S 6) to serve as models for the eventual license manufacturing of the aircraft by CVM at
Malmen. The four aircraft were flown to Sweden in 1928. They proved suitable and an agreement for licence production was made and a further four C.V-E and six C.V-D were purchased, the latter designated
J 3A. Seven C.VD ordered from CVM were built as C.VE, as by 1929 it was clear the type was unsuitable as a fighter, but still they were designated
J 3B. In 1931, the J 3B were redesignated
S 6, the J 3 and J 3A
S 6A. CVM manufactured 17 S 6 between 1929 and 1932. Some were fitted with floats and designated
S 6H. In 1945, the SwAF sold three S 6s to
Svensk Flygtjänst to be used for aerial application over forest. Two other were sold to
Skåneflyg in 1947. One is preserved and can be seen in the
Swedish Air Force Museum. Lieutenant
Einar Lundborg rescued the Italian General
Umberto Nobile in 1928, with a S 6B,
Germany During their
occupation of Denmark, the Germans seized some Danish Fokker C.V.-Es. Some of these aircraft were used by the Estonian volunteer-manned
Nachtschlachtgruppe 11 (Night Ground Attack Wing 11) at Rahkla in 1944. NSGr. 11 used its C.V-Es on the
Eastern Front to carry out disruptive harassment night bombing sorties against the Russian front lines. These operations were carried out in response to similar nocturnal operations by Soviet light aircraft, such as
Po-2 biplanes. Two of the C.V-Es of the NSGr. 11 were flown to Sweden in October 1944 by four Estonian defectors, and one of them was returned to the Danes by the Swedes in 1947. ==Variants==