50 Euros Spitfire

Issued as part of Monnaie de Paris's ongoing "Plane Legends" series, this piece commemorates the Supermarine Spitfire, the elliptical-winged fighter that became the defining British aircraft of the Second World War. The Spitfire's development was almost derailed entirely when Reginald Mitchell, its chief designer, died of cancer in 1937 — two years before the aircraft entered RAF service. Production was later dispersed across dozens of small workshops and garages across southern England after the Supermarine factory in Southampton was destroyed by Luftwaffe bombing in September 1940.