picture 181734

30 Supermarine Spitfire LF.Mk. IXs were supplied by Great Britain in late 1945 and first used by the AdA around the Plain of Reeds, as French forces began to hunt down the Viet Minh. The example with the serial number TD202 was a LF.Mk IX equipped with Merlin 66 engine of 1580hp, optimised for low-altitude operations. It was originally manufactured to the 17th Contract for Spitfires, passed in April 1944 and including 5,663 aircraft, mostly constructed b Vickers Armstrong. Originally, it was equipped with a camera port on the left side of the fuselage, behind the cockpit, but this was removed by the time it entered service with the GC II/7, in 1946. (Artwork by Jean-Marie Guillou)