Imperial War Museums Partners with Retro51

Imperial War Museums (IWM) has collaborated with U.S. pen company, Retro51, for a collection of Tornado Rollerball pens. The pen is themed to the N3200 Spitfire, a Duxford icon. Built in 1939, this Supermarine Spitfire Mark 1a was issued to No. 19 Squadron at RAF Duxford in April 1940. After crash-landing on a beach near Calais during the Dunkirk emergency evacuation, Operation Dynamo, the Spitfire sank under the sand. Revealed by strong currents in 1986, after 45 years, the plane was recovered. After a complete restoration in 2015, it was donated to the Imperial War Museums, where the Mark 1a fighter can be seen flying over the airfield again.  

The Spitfire N3200 rollerball has been acid-etched with rivets and panels and then painted in the matching camouflage pattern to recreate the famous plane. The plane’s tail numbers have been printed alongside the British Roundel, and the top disc is printed with Britain’s tri-colour fin flash. It is complete with black-nickel accents with the IWM logo on the top ring and the pen’s serial number engraving. Each Tornado comes with commemorative packaging incorporating foil stamp graphics representing the plane.   

The pen is a celebration of the history of this iconic aircraft, a favourite at IWM Duxford, where it is a sight to see both up close in the exhibition space or in the air flying above the historic airfield. The partnership will see more of IWM’s unique stories told through writing instruments, getting history into people’s hands.  

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