The Battle of Barking Creek was a friendly fire incident over the East Coast of England in the earliest days of the Second World War. On 6 September 1939, aircraft from several 11 Group, RAF Fighter C
A flight of No. 151 Squadron Hurricanes, a squadron involved in the incident, taking off from RAF North Weald
Supermarine Spitfire Mark Is on 24 July 1940.
IFF Mark II was the first operational identification friend or foe system. It was developed by the Royal Air Force just before the start of World War II. After a short run of prototype Mark Is, used e
The IFF Mark II antenna on this Spitfire can just be made out, stretching across the rear fuselage from the roundel to the tip of the horizontal stabiliser.
The IFF antenna can be seen on the left of this photo, meeting the fuselage in the RAF roundel. The lengthy antennas, which had to be placed on both sides of the fuselage, slowed the Spitfire by about 2 miles per hour (3.2 km/h). Rock of Gibraltar in background.