Supermarine Spitfire PR.XIX PM651/7758M

The Spitfire PR.XIX was the last variant of the aircraft to see service with the RAF. Unarmed, it was designed as a photographic reconnaissance aircraft.

The PR.XIXs entered service in 1944 and in total 225 were built. It was the last and most successful photographic reconnaissance variant of the Spitfire. The aircraft had fully pressurised cockpits for high-altitude missions, and a Rolls-Royce Griffon engine. It was also the fastest Spitfire of them all, with a top speed of 460 mph - more than an 100 mph faster than the original Mk I Spitfire. The last operational sortie by an RAF Spitfire anywhere in the world was made by a PR.XIX; PS888 of No. 81 Squadron on 1 April 1954, operating from RAF Seletar in Singapore, took off to conduct reconnaissance over Johore in what is now Malaysia during the Malayan Emergency.