I have another addition to yesterday’s press review. This one is worth a separate posting as it offers a bit of good laugh. Beyond doubt, the Spitfire is a symbol of importance in British history but one wouldn’t expect it to become a subject of the current political debate. Yet here it is.

The date for European Parliamentary Elections is approaching and political campaigning has just begun to gain momentum the UK. One of the (probably lesser known outside the country) contestants is the far-right British National Party, known for their rather extremist views on immigrants, homosexuals and anti-Islam focus. Notably, the party’s manifesto includes a ban on Eastern European migrant workers.

Because of non-political character of this site, BNP wouldn’t even be mentioned if it wasn’t for a rather ironic blunder embedded in their new campaign involving the use – or misuse – of our favourite aircraft. The party’s 2009 European Elections poster goes under the slogan “Battle for Britain”. Clearly playing on the national sentiments connected with the Battle of Britain, the poster shows a Spitfire proudly soaring thought the skies.

One thing that no BMP official seem to have realised is that the Spitfire on the BNP’s poster is actually one from the Polish No. 303 Squadron. RF-D was originally flown by Sqn/Ldr Jan Zumbach, one of the leading Polish fighter aces.

This remark was quickly made by someone knowledgeable with Spitfires (I wish I could say it was one of the readers of this site and the story found its way to the press.

An inquired spokesperson at the Royal Air Force museum explained: “The Spitfire in the poster can be identified as belonging to 303 Squadron of the Polish Air Force by the code letters ‘RF’ painted in front of the RAF roundel. 303 Squadron operated Spitfires from Northolt, Kirton-in-Lindsey, Coltishall and other RAF stations in the UK between 1941 and 1945 after flying Hurricanes in the Battle of Britain.”

A piece of better research on the markings on the aircraft on the part of BMP’s PR agency would have revealed this. Somehow the discrepancy went unnoticed and thus the party that wants to repatriate Poles who are working in the UK made this image the central plank of their campaign. So while the intention was using the Battle of Britain as a symbol of Britishness, the poster seems rather to remind that even such a momentous event in history was a multi-national effort on part of the defenders. Possibly not quite in line with BNP’s intentions with the campaign.

Perhaps using the Spitfire as a magnet in a political campaign wasn’t, after all, such a good idea.

You can read more about this in the articles of The Telegraph, The Register, Daily Mail.