5 Pounds - Elizabeth II History of the RAF - Supermarine Spitfires

Gibraltar has issued commemorative five-pound crowns in such volume and variety since the 1990s that distinguishing genuinely collectible pieces from bulk-produced fodder requires some patience. This one marks the Spitfire's role in the Battle of Britain, fought largely over and around the English Channel and southeastern England in the summer and autumn of 1940 — a campaign in which the RAF's Fighter Command was outnumbered throughout and still denied the Luftwaffe the air superiority Germany needed before any Channel crossing.

The Supermarine Spitfire Mk I entered squadron service in 1938, with only 400 available by the time the battle opened in July 1940.