Here’s the story about our beloved Halifax bomber, or more precisely the story behind its name – Friday the 13th. It’s the kind of thing you couldn’t make up.

Bomber Command’s 158 Squadron operated Halifax bombers from RAF Lissett in East Yorkshire and each one had a call-sign – a letter designating one aircraft from another within the squadron.

Until March 30th 1944, each Halifax designated F for Freddy – 7 in total – had been lost, so when a new aircraft, LV907, arrived bearing that registration it was assumed to be unlucky – jinxed even.

On its first mission, on the night of 30th/31st March, LV907 F quickly broke that spell.

The pilot was Flight Sergeant Joe Hitchman. He and his crew were meant to be resting that night but were called in for a massive, 800 plane, raid on Nuremberg and took up the new ‘unlucky’ Halifax.

That night, Bomber Command lost 95 aircraft, each carrying a crew of 7. Hitchman’s usual Halifax, assigned to a different crew for the Nuremberg raid, was among them, but LV907 came back unharmed.

After that it was assigned to Pilot Officer Clifford Smith and his crew, who decided to call it Friday the 13th to further prove the jinx wrong. They adorned it with unlucky symbols including skull and crossbones, upside down horseshoe and grim reaper. A broken ladder was even painted over the crew access hatch. They embraced the superstition surrounding F for Freddy, rather than hide from it.

Friday the 13th went on to complete 128 missions, night and day and survived the war intact. No other Halifax flew more sorties than this unbeaten warrior.