By the middle of 1938, the first 50 Hurricanes had reached squadrons and, at that time, it had been assessed that the rate of production was slightly greater than the RAF's capacity to introduce the new aircraft, which had already been accelerated. Accordingly, the British government gave Hawker the clearance to sell excess aircraft to nations that were likely to oppose German expansion. As a result, there were some modest export sales made to other countries; at the earliest opportunity, a former RAF Hurricane I was dispatched to Yugoslavia for evaluation purposes. Shortly after this evaluation, an order for 24 Hurricane Mark Is for the Royal Yugoslav Air Force was received; this was followed by the purchase of a production licence for the Hurricane by Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia Hurricanes saw action against the Luftwaffe during the invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941 by the Axis powers.