Spitfire AB910 and the Dieppe raid

Header image: BBMF Spitfire Mk Vb AB910 in the code letters ‘MD-E’ that it wore whilst serving with No 133 (Eagle) Sqn in 1942. (photo: Crown Copyright.)

Seventy five years ago this month, on 19th August 1942, BBMF Spitfire Mk Vb AB910 was engaged in a life and death struggle, as it flew four sorties in the raging air battles over the English Channel and the French port of Dieppe in support of Operation Jubilee. The ill-fated, costly and ultimately unsuccessful commando raid on Dieppe created the biggest single day air battle of any war in history. During the air combats that day the RAF lost 62 Spitfires, the most ever in a single day of the war. Not only did AB910 survive unscathed, but it also shot down a German Dornier Do217 bomber.

At the time, AB910 was serving with No 133 (Eagle) Squadron, which was manned by American volunteer pilots. For three of its four sorties on Operation Jubilee AB910 was flown by its regular pilot, 20-year-old Flying Officer Eric Doorly from New Jersey. On the third patrol of the day it was flown by Flight Sergeant ‘Dixie’ Alexander, from Illinois, who claimed a Dornier Do217, which he watched crash-land in a field five miles south of Dieppe, AB910’s sole ‘kill’ of the war.

It is remarkable to think that this Spitfire that is such an established part of the BBMF’s fleet, seen regularly on the air show circuit, now in the D-Day colour scheme of Tony Cooper’s 64 Squadron Mk Vb ‘SH-F’, was involved in these dangerous and violent air combats 75 years ago.

Watch out for more on AB910’s time with 133 (Eagle) Squadron and its participation in the Dieppe raid in the forthcoming RAF Memorial Flight Official Club Autumn Journal, due to be published in October. An article on Spitfire AB910 and the Dieppe raid will also feature never before published excerpts from a letter written by Eric Doorly, AB910’s regular pilot with 133 Squadron, written to the BBMF in 1984.