Iconic Spitfire returns home after restoration
WWII fighter back at museum in tribute to designer Mitchell
AN iconic Spitfire is finally back in its Midland home – after more than 9,000 hours of painstaking restoration work.
The RW388 Spitfire, which has spent the last three years at Medway Aircraft Preservation Society’s workshop in Kent, arrived at Stoke’s Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in two lorries – one carrying the fuselage and the other carrying the wings.
Now experts from RAF Museum Cosford will have the job of reassembling the aircraft in its new home, a £6.5 million glass-fronted gallery at the museum.
The multi-million pound extension is set to open in September.
It will also feature images and information about the plane and its designer – Staffordshire-born Reginald Mitchell – as well as a simulator that will allow visitors to experience what it would have been like to pilot the aircraft.
RW388 was one of a batch of 1,500 Spitfire XVI’s manufactured at Castle Bromwich in 1945, too late to see any war service. First taken on charge by No. 6 MU at RAF Brize Norton on July 18, 1945 a month later it was issued to No. 667 Squadron where it sustained damage in a flying accident.
The plane was first presented to Stoke-on-Trent as a tribute to Mitchell in 1972 by Air Chief Marshal Sir Neil Wheeler.
The Spitfire became the iconic aircraft of the Battle of Britain in the Second World War and the symbol of British defiance in the air. Thousands were built at Castle Bromwich in Birmingham.
The gallery will also enable visitors to view the plane outside of museum opening hours when it will be lit up at night.
City council cabinet member Lorraine Beardmore said the plane’s return was ‘a bit like Christmas’.
She added: “It was a really poignant day when the Spitfire left Hanley – there was a lot of excitement when it went away to be restored.
“It’s been three long years so this is highly anticipated and it’s really exciting to see it back in the city. It’s had more than 9,000 man hours of work go into it, which shows just how important the Spitfire is not just to the city, but to the country as a whole.
“It’s really exciting because a lot has gone into this project and this is the next step in our journey of getting the gallery open. It’s a bit like Christmas for a lot of people.
“It’s time to celebrate our heritage – the Spitfire means a great deal to a lot of people. You go back generations and people have memories of the Spitfire in the glass greenhouse building – where it was housed for many years.
“Now we’re going to have a new wave of visitors who will remember it in its purpose built home where it will be on display all day and all night.”