In late 1917, the Swedes began to explore the possibility of constructing an effective fighter aircraft. A few years later, four Macchi M.7s, one of the world's fastest aircraft in the 1920s, were bought for evaluation. Naturally a floatplane had a huge advantage considering there were so few airports in the country at the time and could use lakes for takeoffs and landings. The army flight based its four Macchi M.7 in Linköping and flew them extensively on Lake Roxen. This the only M.7 remaining and was taken out of service in 1927 and is now the only surviving example in the world.

Italian single-seat fighter flying boat. The photo shows the only existing copy of this type on display at the Flygvapenmuseum (Swedish Air Force Museum). It was built in Italy around 1918 and was used by the Swedish Air Force from 1921 to 1927. It was originally displayed as 945, but during restoration it was discovered that it really is 951. On the aft fuselage it carries a small number 1907, the significance of that is currently not known.