Dell'Orco - British War Cover APL139, Spitfire!

I spent a big chunk of my youthful summers in the UK and read a lot of war digest comics - like war picture library so pretty cool to be able to pick up painted covers from these comics.

I, like many, have always found the Spitfire to be an especially beautiful piece of machinery so was looking for covers that feature this fighter plane so this one fit my criteria - and it has some great movement.

Dell'Orco did a lot of painted covers for these books and you can see quite a few on CAF - he focused on aviation quite a bit so great to have an example from him.

This cover was published first in 1963 in Air Ace Picture Library 139 then in War Picture Library 1210 - Story titled "The Phantom Squadron" [2026 update - found my copy and added as additional image]. On the original, lost a bit of the edge on my scanner but just a tad.

Picked this and the Air Ace 134 up as a pair - would love more!