The Supermarine Spitfire was the most well known of British World War II fighters.

The Spitfire V (Mark 5) was produced as a interim version but became very successful and over 6500 were produced between 1941 and 1943.

Development of the Spitfire began in 1933 and the prototype first flew in March 1935.

The prototype of the improved Spitfire V flew in December 1940 and they went on to fly in all theatres of the war with many allied air forces.

At one time the RAF operated more than 140 Spitfire V squadrons but the pace of technical development was so great that only five squadrons of them remained in RAF service by 1944.

This model represents a Spitfire Vb flying with No121 ‘Eagle’ Squadron from Debden, England, in September 1942.

Airfix 1/72 kit with Pro Modeller and Eagle Strike decals completed by Leigh Edmonds in November 2007.