Dive bombing Spitfire

A depiction of the low-back, clipped-wing Supermarine Spitfire XVI TD240 when it was the aircraft of the Officer Commanding No 131 (Polish) Wing, Gp Capt Aleksander Gabszewicz VM KW DSO DFC - the highest ranking Pole in the RAF - in the spring of 1945.

TD240 was coded SZ-G, the personal codes that Gabszewicz used. It carried his Group Captain’s pennant below the cockpit, the Polish chequerboard and "POLAND" on the nose and Gabszewicz’s colourful boxing dog nose art - painted by Sergeant Wojciech Milewski, one of 316 Squadron's ground crew, who had represented the Polish Air Force in international boxing competitions. He was killed in late April 1945 when the ground personnel encountered some German troops.

This picture was commissioned for the BBMF Yearbook 2017.