Polish No. 302 Squadron was one of the units that participated in the invasion of Normandy in June, 1944, as can be deduced from the D-Day stripes painted on the lower sides of fuselage and wings. The pointed rudder was freshly painted and so accordingly, the colours appeared darker than the rest of the aircraft. Nose art was not particularly common within the RAF, so the girl sitting on the bomb is a nice exception. Note the Polish stencil right of the cockpit door ‘Wycierac obuwie’ (‘wipe your shoes’).
Spitfire LF Mk.IXc, MH712, flown by W/O Henryk Dygala, No. 302 Squadron, Summer / Autumn, 1944
– Eduard colored PE seatbelt/harness
Hi,
My grandfather (Henryk Bieniek) flew this very Spitfire during his time with the 302 Polish Squadron. WX-D (MH 712) according to his log book, he flew ‘Pat’ from RAF Tangmere to Lille (B-51) on the 16th September 1944.
I’d love to have a replica of this Spitfire as it’s very personal to me and our family as my mother, the youngest of 5 children was named Patricia, ‘Pat’ for short. Sadly my grandfather was killed when his de Havilland Vampire crashed July 1954.