Spitfire Island
Saturday, 5th November 2005 by
The metal structure in the middle of the traffic island is a memorial to the factory and industrial area of Castle Bromwich near Birmingham which produced the famous WWII fighter plane the mighty Supermarine Spitfire.
The Supermarine Spitfire was a single-seat fighter used by the RAF and many Allied countries in WWII. The Spitfire's elliptical wings gave it a very distinctive look; their thin cross-section gave it speed; the brilliant design of Chief Designer R.J. Mitchell meant the Spitfire was loved by its pilots. It saw service during the whole of World War II, in all theatres of war, and in many different variants. The aircraft was dubbed Spitfire by Sir Robert MacLean, director of Vickers at the time, and on hearing this, Mitchell is reported to have said, "...sort of bloody silly name they would give it." š
The original works have long since been replaced by new housing. The large factory that can be seen to the north-west is a Jaguar Motor Car factory.
Thanks: Alastair Booker!
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Talking of great British aircraft, here is an AVRO Vulcan. It is at the AVRO factory (now BAE) at Woodford, Cheshire.
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I dont think this one flies and it just on permanent display here, because this was where the Vulcan made its maiden flight. If you want a former nuclear bomber (cruise misssles not included) you can buy one here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/01/vulcan_for_sale/
good
Try the above link with vulcan_for_sale instead. An ‘interesting’ fact was that the Vulcans were built in North Manchester here:
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but the factory didnt have a runway so they had to transport the Vulcans by road in the dead of night to Woodford , which is well south of Manchester. The company had to pay for all the lamp posts along the route to be replaced by pivoted ones that could be swung down flat to accomodate the huge wings (think of the palm trees in Thunderbirds).
This may look like a dull road:
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but click on hybrid or map and you will see it is named after Reg Mitchell. It is in Stoke on Trent – the birth place of Reg and, amongst others, Robbie Williams and (more bizzarely) famous axeman and silly hat wearer Slash. You cant see it on this photo but there is sometimes a Spitfire shape carved into the hillside along side the road.
I drive past that monument every day to work and never really think about the history. All it is to me is a heavy traffic point!
Here’s the Vulcan on display at Blackpool Airport:
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What a find, looking for more info to produce scale decals, always a help to find info like this