5 Pounds - Elizabeth II Battle of Britain - Supermarine Spitfire, Silver Proof

The Battle of Britain commemorative series issued by Guernsey in 2010 drew on the island's own wartime history with particular weight: Guernsey was occupied by German forces from June 1940 through May 1945, making it one of the few British territories to endure the full duration of Nazi occupation. The RAF's victory in the skies that summer was, for Guernsey's population, not an abstraction but a matter of survival — the difference between relief and deeper isolation.

The Supermarine Spitfire was designed by R.J. Mitchell, who died of cancer in 1937 and never saw the aircraft fly in combat.