The Swedish volunteer air force, F19, operated in northern Finland for 62 days during the Winter War against the Soviet Union. A public subscription in Sweden raised money to buy twelve British-built Gloster Gladiator Mkl aircraft (which represented one third of the entire Swedish Air Force inventory!) and Hawker Harts built on license in Sweden. The force was established in Kemi, on the Finnish coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, in January 1940 and experienced is first air raid alert on 3rd January.