BBMF Spitfire AB910 is 85 years old
Header image: BBMF Spitfire Mk Vb AB910 displaying at Cleethorpes on 28th June 2026 during Armed Forces weekend. (Photo: Claire Hartley)
Spitfire Mk Vb AB910 was built at Castle Bromwich and, after being flight tested, it was delivered to No 6 Maintenance Unit at RAF Brize Norton on 17th August 1941, 85 years ago this month.
AB910 is one of the most historically significant airworthy Spitfires in the world as, unlike many surviving warbirds, it served virtually continuously on the front-line for nearly three years during the Second World War and flew a remarkable 143 wartime operations, making it one of the most extensively combat-flown surviving Spitfires.
Having entered service in August 1941, AB910 served with several RAF and Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) units, including 222 Squadron, 130 Squadron, 133 (Eagle) Squadron, 416 Squadron RCAF, 402 (City of Winnipeg) Squadron RCAF, No 53 Operational Training Unit and 527 Squadron (a radar calibration unit). During Operation Jubilee (the Dieppe Raid) on 19th August 1942, an American ‘Eagle’ Squadron pilot, ‘Dixie’ Alexander, shot down a German Dornier Do 217 while flying AB910, so this Spitfire has a combat kill to its credit. It was still on the frontline in June 1944 and flew beachhead cover patrols in support of the D-Day invasion of Normandy with 402 Squadron RCAF, making it a D-Day veteran. AB910 is now painted in the markings it actually wore on D-Day.
Right: Jeffrey Quill with AB910 on 15th September 1965, after his last ever flight in a Spitfire.
After the war AB910 was purchased privately, registered as G-AISU and flown as an air racer. In 1953 the aircraft was acquired by Vickers-Armstrong Ltd and was subsequently displayed regularly by the renowned Spitfire test pilot Jeffrey Quill and other Vickers test pilots. On 15th September 1965 the company donated AB910 to the BBMF, which was then based at RAF Coltishall. AB910 was flown to Coltishall that day by Jeffrey Quill. He had flown the prototype Spitfire 29 years earlier and this was his last ever flight in a Spitfire.
It is astonishing that AB910 is still airworthy today and flying with the RAF BBMF 85 years after it was first delivered to the RAF. What a history this Spitfire has and what stories it could tell.
