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.