Spitfire takes off on tour
A Spitfire from the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford will go on tour this summer, visiting regional towns and cities as part of the Museum’s 50th anniversary celebrations.
The iconic aircraft will visit four locations across the Midlands in May, June and July, touring some of the region’s popular landmarks, highlighting and celebrating the area’s rich RAF heritage.
A tour of the rare blue reconnaissance Spitfire PR. XIX will be stopping off in Coventry, Leicester, Shrewsbury, and Telford for a weekend of engagement with families, shoppers, commuters, and festival goers in the heart of each location.
The Supermarine Spitfire PR.XIX PM651 is the last of the specialised photo reconnaissance Spitfires. The much more modern PR.XIX has a number of differences to the Mk1 on display at the museum, fitted with the Griffon engine as opposed to the Merlin engine used in earlier models, and was notably faster than its predecessor. The PR.XIX had extra fuel tanks in place of the machine guns, a retractable tail wheel making its profile more streamlined, and a pressurised cabin critical for the high-altitude reconnaissance flights.
Families are invited to get up close to the aircraft and hands-on with the interactive activities on the ground. Don a battledress uniform, wartime flying jacket, pilot helmet and goggles before taking a seat inside a replica cockpit for an authentic Spitfire experience, perfect for a Spitfire selfie. Museum ground crew will showcase a collection of wartime memorabilia, while sharing local RAF stories.
Look out for the Spitfire ‘flying’ into a town or city near you on the following dates: Telford on 14–15 May, Southwater. Coventry on 18–19 June, Millennium Point.
Shrewsbury on 25–26 June, Quarry Park. Leicester on 16–17 July, Jubilee Square. Barry Smith, RAF Museum Director of Visitor and Commercial Development said: “This year the RAF Museum Midlands is celebrating 50 years of sharing RAF stories, and what better way to celebrate this than to take one of our most iconic aircraft out on tour. The RAF has a long history in the Midlands, and we’re excited to share these stories within the community, and with new audiences who may not have visited the Museum before.”
The Midlands is steeped in RAF history, during the Second World War it was home to the largest Spitfire factory in the UK. RAF Castle Bromwich in Birmingham produced 11,939 Spitfires by 1945, more than half of the 20,000 produced across the UK. Thousands of people from across the Midlands have a connection with the RAF story, from the many men and women who served in the RAF, to members of the public who came together and supported the war efforts through Spitfire Funds.