"Hearing the engine start made my heart flutter, that is the best part of a Spitfire,” he said. “We can't forget what happened in the war. So many soldiers lost their lives and young people don't realise that, but they should.”

Ron Dearman, 93, who flew a DC3 Dakota with the 267 Pegasus squadron during the war, added: “The Spitfire looks smashing. Everybody should know about these planes which helped us fight in the war.”

Spitfire NH341 was flown by nine pilots of the Royal Canadian Air Force's 411 Grizzly Bear Squadron, including Warrant Officer Jeffrey, before it was shot down after engaging in a dogfight with a Focke-Wulf 190 near Caen.

The squadron was part of 126 Wing, the highest scoring allied Air Force Wing of World War Two - claiming 336 enemy aircraft destroyed - and NH341 is credited with shooting down two Messerschmitt 109s.

WO Jeffrey managed to bale out when the plane was hit, before being taken in by the Soetards, a local farming family.

With the help of the French resistance - who brazenly took him into a local town for a haircut and to buy cheese under the noses of the Germans - he managed to return to his unit at the airfield of Beny-sur-Mer, occupied by the Allies following the D-Day invasion.