RAF unveils 'Battle of Britain' Typhoon to commemorate 75th anniversary

The RAF has given a state-of-art fighter jet a retro Second World War era paint job as part of the commemorations for the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

The Typhoon has been painted with the identification numbers of Flight Lieutenant James Brindley Nicholson VC DFC, the only Fighter Command pilot to win Britain's highest award for Gallantry during the battle.

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The Typhoon - stationed at RAF Conningsby in Lincolnshire - will fly as part of a 'synchro-par' with a WWII-era Spitfire at air shows across the UK this summer.

The jet's pilot, Flt Lt. Ben Westoby-Brooks from Coningsby’s 29(R) Squadron, said:

The Battle of Britain is regarded as a major turning point in the Second World War, and ranks with the battles of Trafalgar and Waterloo as one of the most important British engagements in history.

It was the first strategic defeat of the Nazi war machine of the conflict, and the breaking of the aerial Blitzkrieg by the RAF ultimately saved the United Kingdom from Germany invasion and eventually allowed the Allies to mount the invasion of Western Europe in 1944.

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