Battle of Britain Memorial Flight

The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight is a Royal Air Force flight which provides an aerial display group usually comprising an Avro Lancaster heavy bomber and two fighters, a Supermarine Spitfire and a Hawker Hurricane. The aircraft are regularly seen at events commemorating the Second World War and upon British State occasions, notably Trooping the Colour, celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's 80th birthday in 2006, and the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in 2011, and at air displays throughout the United Kingdom and Europe.
The flight is administratively part of No. 1 Group RAF, operating out of RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire, England.

Aircraft history

Although usually seen flying in a formation of three, the Lancaster flanked by a fighter on each wing, the BBMF comprises a total of 12 aircraft:

1 Avro Lancaster
6 Supermarine Spitfires
2 Hawker Hurricanes
1 Douglas Dakota
2 de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunks

Aircraft currently in the flight have served with the RAF, the United States Army Air Forces, and the Royal Canadian Air Force, as well as having been privately owned; whilst in the RAF, they were flown by Czechoslovak, Polish, South African, American and Canadian pilots. Some were sold for scrapping and later saved, whilst at least one has been on operational service with the RAF for almost fifty years.

Spitfires

Individual aircraft have historic heritages; the oldest of the Spitfires, P7350, is a Mk.IIa, which originally flew in the Battle of Britain in 1940, with No. 266 Squadron RAF and 603 Squadron AAF. It was also used by No. 64 Squadron RAF and No. 616 Squadron RAF. In 2019 she was repainted in the No. 54 Squadron code 'KL-B', which represents the aircraft flown by Al Deere from 10 July 1940 until 31 August 1940.
The Mk Vb Spitfire, AB910, built in 1941 escorted convoys in the Battle of the Atlantic. She then flew escort patrols during bombing raids on the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, then, she fought in the Dieppe Raid. Capping this long career, as part of No. 402 Squadron RCAF, she flew cover patrols over the Normandy beaches on D-Day and in the subsequent weeks – as did another of the flight's Spitfires, with No. 443 Squadron RCAF. As of August 2018, AB910 was adorned with the D-Day colour scheme of Flight Lieutenant Tony Cooper's 64 Squadron Mk Vb 'SH-F' "PeterJohn1".
The Mk LFIXe Spitfire, MK356, was built in March 1944 and fitted with a Merlin 66 engine with a two-speed, two-stage supercharger optimised for low altitudes. Allocated to the Royal Canadian Air Force No. 144 Wing, based in various locations around southern England, she took part in the Rodeo fighter sweep over occupied France in the weeks leading up to D-Day. After the war she served as a gate guardian at Hawkinge and Locking, and was recovered and refurbished in 1992 for the BBMF. From 2017 she was displayed in a desert paint scheme used by No. 92 Squadron in Tunisia in 1943. The aircraft crashed in 2024, killing the pilot.
There are also two PRXIX Spitfires, both built in 1945 with Griffon 66 engines. PM631 was too late to see operational services in the Second World War and carried out civilian duties with the Temperature and Humidity Monitoring Flight at RAF Woodvale until 11 July 1957, when she became part of the Historic Aircraft Flight; she is the longest-serving aircraft in the BBMF and is currently painted in her original PR Blue markings last worn in 1957.
PS915 was operated by No. 541 Squadron RAF and performed various reconnaissance duties at RAF Wunstorf in Germany. She returned to the UK in 1954 and was retired to gate guarding duties. In 1987 she was modified with a Griffon 58 engine and refurbished to flying condition by British Aerospace. She currently carries the markings of PS888 of 81 Squadron based at Seletar, Singapore, during the Malayan Emergency which conducted the last operational RAF Spitfire sortie on 1 April 1954, photographing communist guerrilla hideouts over an area of jungle in Johore. The ground crew painted the inscription "The Last!" on PS915's left engine cowling.
One Mark XIX Spitfire, PS853, was sold in 1996 to defray the costs of rebuilding Hurricane LF363 after her crash-landing on the runway at RAF Wittering due to engine failure in 1991.
Spitfire Mark XVI TE311, built as a low-back with clipped wings and powered with a Packard Merlin engine, was acquired in 2002 and initially allocated for spares, but officially added to the BBMF collection in 2007. TE311 was made airworthy in the later stages of the 2012 display season. Since January 2024, TE311 has worn the livery of No. 322 Squadron and its Squadron code "3W-M", along with the Squadron's mascot, "Polly Grey", a red-tailed African Grey parrot, on its nose. In July 2024 the aircraft's starboard side was repainted to display the fictitious squadron code "L-NG" in memory of Squadron Leader Mark Long, along with his name and rank pennant under the cockpit.

Hurricanes

There are two Hurricanes. LF363 is a Mk IIc and was first flown on 1 January 1944 and the last Hurricane to have entered service with the RAF. She appeared in the films Angels One Five, Reach for the Sky, The Battle of Britain, and a TV series The War in the Air. PZ865, is a Mk IIc, rolling off the production line on 27 July 1944. It was built six months after LF363; originally owned by Hawker Aircraft, it was handed over to the BBMF during 1972. She is the last Hurricane ever to have been built. She once wore the inscription "The Last of the Many" on her port and starboard sides – the original fabric with this inscription is now located in the BBMF Headquarters at RAF Coningsby.

Lancaster

The Lancaster bomber – PA474, acquired by the BBMF in 1973, is one of only two surviving airworthy examples of the type; the other is in Canada. She was completed on 31 May 1945 and assigned to reconnaissance duties at No. 82 Squadron RAF after appearing too late to take part in the bombing of Japan. After various duties, she was adopted by the Air Historical Branch for display work. She appeared in two films: Operation Crossbow and The Guns of Navarone. Having been flown for much of her service with the BBMF as the "City of Lincoln", PA474 previously wore the markings of the "Phantom of the Ruhr", a Lancaster that flew 121 sorties. Originally assigned to 100 Squadron in June 1943, the original "Phantom" was transferred to 101 Squadron in November that year and finished the war as part of 550 Squadron at RAF Ludford Magna. The Lancaster currently carries the markings of AR-L 'Leader', which served with No. 460 Squadron RAAF.
PA474 displays the markings of bombs for operations over Germany, ice-cream cones for operations over Italy and poppies when she releases poppies during exhibition flights. During the 2008 RAF Waddington Air Day, PA474 was flown in formation with the recently restored Avro Vulcan XH558 in an historic display of two Avro "heavy metal" classics.

Dakota

The Douglas Dakota, ZA947, built at Long Beach, California in March 1942, was issued to the United States Army Air Forces and later transferred to the Royal Canadian Air Force where she served until 1971. The aircraft was purchased by the Royal Aircraft Establishment before being issued to the BBMF in March 1993. She is equipped with authentic period 'para seats' and is used in commemorative parachute drops.
The Dakota did serve solely as a support aircraft for the flight and as a multi-engine tail-wheel trainer for the Lancaster, but is now also used as a display aircraft.

Chipmunks

The two de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunks, are the last in RAF service, but are not intended for display use; rather, they serve to give pilots experience in flying aircraft with a tailwheel landing gear, a design that has now vanished from the modern RAF fleet. Chipmunk WG486 flew reconnaissance missions over East Germany, as part of the RAF Gatow Station Flight, in co-operation with the British Commander-in-Chief's Mission to the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, commonly known as BRIXMIS.

Flypasts

The flight also regularly takes part in combined flypasts with other recognisable British aircraft, such as the Red Arrows. It appeared on occasion with Concorde before that aircraft's withdrawal from service in October 2003.
For much of the 2014 display season the flight was joined by Canadian-built Lancaster Mark X FM213. This aircraft is owned and operated by the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum and made the 3,000-mile trip to the UK, via Goose Bay in Canada and Keflavík in Iceland, arriving at RAF Coningsby on 9 August. FM213 is dedicated to the memory of P/O Andrew Mynarski Victoria Cross and is referred to as the "Mynarski Memorial Lancaster". It is painted in the colours of his aircraft KB726 – VR-A, which flew with RCAF No. 419 Squadron, and is affectionately known as Vera. She displayed with PA474 in the first Lancaster two-aircraft formation for 50 years, with both Lancasters visiting a large number of air shows and events before Vera's departure back to Canada in mid-September.

Aircraft

Model	Mark	Registration	Built	Joined BBMF	Status	Notes	Refs
Avro Lancaster	B Mk. I	PA474	31 May 1945	November 1973	Airworthy
Supermarine Spitfire	Mk. Vb	AB910	July 1941	September 1965	Maintenance	Planned maintenance since October 2023. Return estimated July 2024.
Supermarine Spitfire	LF Mk. IXe	MK356	1944	November 1997	Damaged/destroyed	Fatal crash in May 2024.
Supermarine Spitfire	Mk. IIa	P7350	1940	5 November 1968	Airworthy
Supermarine Spitfire	PR Mk. XIX	PM631	1945	11 July 1957	Maintenance	Planned maintenance in progress. Unlikely to return until 2025.
Supermarine Spitfire	PR Mk. XIX	PS915	1945	11 July 1957	Maintenance	Under maintenance since July 2018. Return estimated 2024.
Supermarine Spitfire	LF Mk. XVIe	TE311	1945	January 2000	Airworthy
Hawker Hurricane	Mk. IIc	LF363	1 January 1944	July 1957	Airworthy
Hawker Hurricane	Mk. IIc	PZ865	July 1944	March 1972	Airworthy
Douglas Dakota	Mk. III	ZA947	March 1942	March 1993	Maintenance	Planned maintenance since October 2022. Return estimated April 2025 in a new SAEC scheme.
de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk	T.10	WK518	January 1952	April 1983	Airworthy
de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk	T.10	WG486	January 1952	1995	Airworthy

Model	Mark	Registration	Built	Joined BBMF	Left BBMF	Fate	Notes	Refs
Supermarine Spitfire	PR Mk. XIX	PS853	1944	11 July 1957	1996	Sold to offset cost of LF363 re-build.	Remains airworthy. Operated by Rolls-Royce as G-RRGN.