Spitfires over Tunisia black and white version

A depiction of Desert Air Force Spitfire IXc EN152 QJ-3 with 92 Squadron, and others, escorting P40 Kittyhawks on an anti-shipping sortie over the Gulf of Tunis in the spring of 1943.

This is the scheme that the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's IXe, MK356, is being repainted to represent. The picture was commissioned for the BBMF Club Yearbook.

Note: there is a popular misconception that if it was a Spitfire in the desert then it must have had a clunking great dust filter under the nose. Not so on the Mark IXs, which were game changers in the RAF's struggle against the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica in North Africa.