[Smithy]

As others have mentioned L1043 left 610 before the BoB officially started. The famous photo of her in flight is sometimes quoted as being taken during the BoB but it's not, it's from early June. To find out who piloted the airframe it's very easy, just go over to the National Archives site and download the ORB records for the months that L1043 was with 610, these will list all operational flights with the airframe and the pilot flying.

A little piece of trivia, L1043 had the fin flash applied incorrectly, so with the blue on the leading edge rather than the red. It's also possible she was wearing one of the darker squadron applied approximations of Sky on the undersides - this at a time when stocks of the new colour were still very scarce. Paul Lucas has postulated that it's possibly BS 361 (1930) No.1 Sky Blue but that is by no means certain nor definite.

Cheers,

Tim