A pair of Supermarine Spitfires of the Royal Air Force, Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, at Old Warden Aerodrome during the Shuttleworth Season Premiere Airshow 2021.
Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vb AB910 flew 143 operations in a remarkable wartime ‘career’ of almost 3 years. This started with 222 (Natal) Sqn at North Weald in August 1941 before subsequently being re-allocated to 130 Sqn, at Perranporth, Cornwall and 133 (Eagle) Sqn at Biggin Hill. ‘AB’ flew 29 operational sorties with this unit, including four sorties on 19 August 1942 during the fierce aerial battle in support of Operation ‘Jubilee’, the Dieppe Raid.
AB910 continued to fly up to July 1944, serving with 242, 416 and 402 (RCAF) Squadrons, flying numerous cover patrols with the latter over the D-Day invasion beach heads on 6th June 1944 and afterwards. From mid July 1944, AB910 was relegated to support duties, initially with 53 Operational Training Unit at Hibaldstow and later 527 Squadron (a radar calibration unit). On 14th February 1945, whilst at Hibaldstow, ‘AB’ famously flew with a girl on the tail, Leading Aircrafts Woman Margaret Horton, a Women's Auxiliary Air Force ground-crew fitter who had been sitting on the tail whilst the aircraft taxied out to the take-off point. The aircraft was recalled by the tower whilst in the circuit, without informing the pilot that she was on the tail for fear of panicking the pilot, who went on to land safely with Margaret still clinging on.
Post-war, ‘AB’ flew as an air racer for 6 years before being returned to Vickers-Armstrong for refurbishment in 1953. After this it was displayed regularly by Spitfire test pilot Jeffrey Quill until being donated to the Royal Air Force, Battle of Britain Memorial Flight in 1965.
AB910 wears the colours of a 64 squadron Spitfire during ‘D-Day' - Spitfire Vb BM327, ‘SH-F’, “Peter John I”, the personal aircraft of Flt. Lieutenant Tony Cooper, a flight commander with 64 Squadron in 1944. Tony flew his Spitfire twice on D-Day and three times on D-Day+1, for beach-head cover patrols over the ‘Utah’ and ‘Omaha’ beaches, with some sorties flown at night. He continued to fly at a high intensity for the rest of June 1944.
Spitfire TE311 is a low-back/bubble-canopy Mk XVI with ‘clipped’ wingtips. Some 58 years after it last flew, TE311 was put back into the air in 2012.
It was built at Castle Bromwich and delivered to the RAF on 8/6/45 after the end of WW2. After 9 years flying service in the UK it was grounded and later placed on the main gate at RAF Tangmere from 11/8/55 until 1967.
The aircraft was loaned to Spitfire Productions Ltd for the movie 'The Battle of Britain' in 1967. It was restored to taxiing condition and modified with a false rear fuselage to resemble a Mk.I. It was then used at North Weald and Duxford in 1968 marked with serial N3321 & N3324 and codes AI-C, AI-M, DO-H.
On 11/8/68 it went to RAF Henlow and was returned to LF XVIe standard for display at RAF Benson. It was exhibited at the Battle of Britain Display on 20/9/68 and then allocated to Abingdon as part of the RAF Exhibition Flight. During this time it was loaned to SERCO in Wolverhampton and to the Bayeux Museum in France where it was marked as MK178/66Sqn/LZ-V.
In October 1999 it was transferred to the BBMF and dismantled for spares along with TB382.
In 2004 restoration work began on TE311 and it made its first post restoration flight on 19/10/12 painted as Spitfire XVI TB675 '4D-V', the aircraft of Squadron Leader Tony Reeves DFC, who was the Commanding Officer of 74 Squadron in 1945.
For the 2015 season invasion stripes were added as a reserve aircraft for the 70th Anniversary of D -Day.
In February 2017 it’s paint was removed and replaced with a black undercoat which remained for the 2017 season, before emerging in March 2018 in this colour scheme. The markings are of a Spitfire from 131(Polish) Wing, SZ-G, flown by Group Capt. Aleksander Gabszewicz VM KW DSO DFC, between April and June 1945. Formed in April 1941 from 302 and 303 Polish Squadrons, RAF, the Wing was known as the 1st Polish Fighter Wing.
Gabszewicz was a Non Commissioned Officer in the Polish Army before World War Two and in 1938 was attached to the air wing of the Border Defence Corps. He is regarded by some as having downed the first German Aircraft over Poland in the Second World War - a Heinkel He 111 over Ciechanow. He came to the UK and served in the ranks with 607 Squadron and 303 Polish Squadron. He became Flight Commander and Commanding Officer of 316 Polish Squadron. With further postings to 11 Group HQ and as an instructor with 50 OTU he became Wing Commander of the 2nd Polish Wing and finally the 1st Polish Wing and the Commanding Officer of RAF Coltishall in February 1945.
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