Northern France, June 1940: three RAF Hurricanes from No 17 Squadron scramble from their makeshift airfield on another day of sorties against the Germans following the evacuation of the main British Expeditionary Force. The Mk 1 aircraft depicted are those of Count Manfred Beckett Czernin (YB-F), Harold ‘Birdy’ Bird-Wilson (YB-W) and Leonard ‘Popeye’ Stevens (YB-J).

Unusually, 17 Squadron had "sky" coloured propeller spinners at this early stage of the war, before their universal use in RAF Fighter Command from November 1940.