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#1545 Spitfire Vb AB910

Spitfire Vb AB910
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£10.00 €11.68 $12.51
43.8 cm x 29.2 cm
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Spitfire Vb
AB910 'SH-F'
BBMF; 64 Sqn
RAF Coningsby
UK - Air Force
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Description

Squadron Prints Lithograph No. 1545 - AB910 'SH-F', Spitfire Vb, 64 Squadron, Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vb AB910 flew 143 operational missions in a remarkable wartime ‘career’ that spanned almost 3 years.  Her operational career 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 operationally up to July 1944, serving with 242, 416 and 402 (RCAF) Sqns, flying numerous cover patrols with the latter over the D-Day invasion beach heads on 6 June 1944 and afterwards.  From mid-July 1944, AB910 was relegated to support duties, initially with 53 OTU at Hibaldstow and later 527 Sqn (a radar calibration unit).  On 14 February 1945, whilst at Hibaldstow, ‘AB’ famously flew with a girl on the tail, LACW Margaret Horton, a WAAF ground-crew fitter who had been sitting on the tail whilst the aircraft taxied out to the take-off point (as was standard practice in rough weather).  Post-war, ‘AB’ was ‘demobbed’ and 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 the renowned Spitfire test pilot Jeffrey Quill until being donated by the company to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight in 1965.  

AB910 is now painted in the colour scheme of a 64 Sqn Spitfire at the time of ‘D-Day,’ with full invasion stripes.  Spitfire Mk Vb BM327, ‘SH-F’, named “Peter John I” after his new-born son, was the personal aircraft of Flt Lt Tony Cooper, one of the flight commanders on 64 Sqn in 1944. Tony flew his invasion-striped Spitfire twice on D-Day and three times on D-Day+ 1, providing beach-head cover patrols over the ‘Utah’ and ‘Omaha’ beaches, with some of his sorties flown at night. He continued to fly at a high intensity for the rest of June 1944 and by the end of the month his personal flying total was 75 hours, of which 71 were operational and 25 were at night.

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