BNP shot down after it uses a POLISH Spitfire to front its anti-immigration campaign
The British National Party was ridiculed last night for fronting its anti-immigration campaign with a picture of a Polish Spitfire.
Its poster for the European elections, for which its manifesto includes a ban on Eastern European migrant workers, shows the Second World War plane above the slogan 'Battle for Britain'.
But Air Force history experts have identified that the aircraft was actually flown by the RAF's 303 Squadron - made up of expatriate Poles rescued from France shortly before Nazi occupation.
British National Party chairman Nick Griffin
British National Party chairman Nick Griffin speaks at a fundraiser with the campaign poster featuring the Polish squadron plane in the background
BNP party chiefs defended their use of the image and insisted they knew all about
the background.
But John Hemming, MP for Birmingham, Yardley, ridiculed this claim. He also condemned the far-Right party for using the image of Polish heroism in a campaign that includes stemming immigration from Poland.
The Romeo Foxtrot Delta plane featured in the poster was flown by the RAF's 303 Squadron - made up of ex-pat Poles
He said: 'The BNP often get confused and this happens because they haven't done their research. This is just another example of them getting it wrong.
'They have a policy to send Polish people back to Poland - yet they are fronting their latest campaign using this plane.
'It is absurd to make claims about Englishness and Britishness fronted by this image.
'It's obvious they just picked an image at random and they are really clutching at straws if they say this was deliberate.'
The 303 Squadron was the most effective Polish squadron during the Second World War.
During the Battle of Britain Polish pilots shot down 203 Luftwaffe aircraft which stood for 12 per cent of total German losses in the battle.
A Royal Air Force museum spokesman said: 'The Spitfire in the poster can be identified as belonging to 303 Squadron of the Polish Air Force by the code letters 'RF' painted in front of the RAF roundel.
'303 Squadron operated Spitfires from Northolt, Kirton- in-Lindsey, Coltishall and other RAF stations in the UK between 1941 and 1945 after flying Hurricanes in the Battle of Britain.'
MP John Hemming: 'It is absurd to make claims about Englishness and Britishness fronted by this image'
BNP spokesman Simon Darby said: 'The 2009 election campaign poster features a spitfire plane and represents the Battle of Britain.
'It doesn't matter if it's a Polish squadron plane at all.
'It's a symbol of Britain's struggle at the moment.
'Using that plane doesn't go against our policies.
'It's not a question of disliking the Polish people - it's just a question of economics.'
The poster is being used by the BNP to promote its election campaign in general and specifically a series of black tie dinner events with leader Nick Griffin as the speaker.
In 1998 he was found guilty of inciting race hatred at Harrow Crown Court for denying that the Holocaust took place.
The campaign has already seen the threat of legal action from Dame Vera Lynn over their use of her song White Cliffs of Dover on a BNP album of Second World War songs.
[NB omitted from story - image of Nick Griffin of the BNP with the Spitfire and image of John Hemming MP]