Marwell airfield

For work-related reasons, I get to spend time at Marwell Zoo once or twice a year, and this has happened for quite a few years. But it wasn't until quite recently that I became aware that the area around Marwell used to harbour a secret airfield in WWII ...

To make the airfield less recognisable as such, it had removable hedges! Surfing the web, I managed to find a contemporary aerial photo which shows where the runways were.

This is a current Google Earth image of the same area ...

... so, obviously, I tried to overlay the WWII runways as best as I could on that satellite image:

And, of course, we set out to see what is still visible of that secret airfield today ... We started at the one remaining structure from those days: a 'Robin' hangar along Thomson's Lane.

The hangar, still called 'The Aircraft Hangar', is used by CNC Polystyrene.

Looking in roughly southeasterly direction from the Hangar, as indicated by the red arrow here, ...

... and all you see is fields:

We then drove in counterclockwise direction to Portsmouth Road, looking roughly northeast, from where the end of one of the two runways used to be (again, as indicated by the red arrow):

Fields again, but you can just spot the gap in the tree line where the two runways used to cross each other:

Further counterclockwise, along Hurst Lane, and looking southwest (as indicated by the red arrow), along where the other, longer runway used to be:

No sign of anything airfield-related!

Bit further along Hurst Lane, looking southwest along where the shorter runway used to be (as per the red arrow) ...

... and just a field!

So, it appears that, apart from the 'Robin Hangar', essentially nothing is left to show that there was a secret airfield here in WWII. Maybe no surprise, given that the airfield was meant to be secret ...

But did you notice the wind vane in the picture of the hangar above? If not, here it is in close-up:

Spitfire!

I expect this is a more recent addition to the hangar (rather than it dating to the 1940s), but it's certainly a nice nod to the history of the site.

Spitfire with 'Rutter' stripes

One of my Spitfire models has the D-Day invasion stripes, which were painted on allied planes to try and avoid them being shot down by 'friendly fire'. Recently, I bumped into a Spitfire model which had stripes around the nose and on the tail, rather than on the wings. 

Digging a bit further, it appeared that this (earlier) configuration of stripes was meant to be used for Operation Rutter, an invasion plan prior to Dieppe, which was called off when it became clear that the Luftwaffe was aware of the plans. A bit more about 'invasion stripes' generally is here.

And, as far as I can ascertain, this is a picture of the actual Spit that the model is based on.

"They keep coming!"

"They keep coming!" That was in the subject header of an email sent to me by Alan Matlock, the chairman of the Spitfire Makers Charitable Trust. 'They' of course refers to Spitfire Makers plaques, which had already been coming thick and fast in the last few weeks in Woolston (see here and here). Alan alerted me to yet another three that been given their rightful place. 

Two of the three are in the city centre, both linked to Martin's Rubber Co. One is on Oxford Street, where the company was based since 1937, and where they made rubber gaskets, seals, plugs, and hydraulic installations for Spitfires.

The second of these two is a few hundred meters away, in Orchard Place. This is where the company moved to in 1952 (and where they still operate), and where they kept making parts for Supermarine.

The third of this latest trio of plaques is at Langrish House, near Petersfield. Of the 22 plaques unveiled up to today, this one is the furthest away from where the Supermarine factories were in 1940. Based in the stables at Langrish, Talbot-Ponsonby & Co made munitions and parts for Spitfires.

So that's 22 plaques so far! Sure many more will follow ...

'Donald Duck' Spitfire

The 'Donald Duck' Spitfire was a Mk V Spitfire flown by the Polish fighter pilot Jan Zumbach. Actually, he flew three different Spits, all marked with his 'Donald Duck' emblem. 

I found out that one of these is available as a 1:72 model. And you sure know what happened next ...

And here is a picture of Jan Zumbach in the cockpit of one of the real 'Donald Duck' Spits.

'The Girl in Green'

Last week, at the unveiling of the Spitfire Makers plaque at the railway tunnel where about 50 people perished on September 24, 1940, Alan Matlock highlighted the stories of a number of people who died there. One of these stood out for me: Margaret 'Peggy' Moon. Possibly because she was the only woman killed there, possibly because she was just 19 years old, possibly because she was said to be quite a beautiful young woman, possibly because she wasn known at Supermarine as 'the girl in green'. Or, likely, a bit of all of the above. More on Peggy can be found here.

Cyril Richard Russell, who worked at Supermarine in those days and was of the same age as Peggy, wrote in his book "Spitfire Odyssey" many years later:

“Later that Wednesday morning [the 25th], my foreman, Bill Heaver, came over to me and told me quietly that one girl had been killed yesterday. He knew that a few weeks previously I had had quite a crush on her, and we had gone to the grand Theatre together. She was a secretary, and known to the lads as ‘the girl in green’ because of the smart green outfit she wore, with a little fur hat. Her name was Peggy, Peggy Moon from Canada Road, and a lovelier girl one could not wish to know. Now she was dead, and how grateful I am that I was not the one who found her – but what a waste!"

Peggy has become the 'face' of the 'Supermarine Fallen' to me. Sadly, no photo of her has (yet?) been found; I would very much like to put a face to the 'face' ...

Peggy was buried in St Mary Extra cemetery, and we decided to try to find her burial place and pay our respects to the 'Girl in Green'. 

Many thanks are due to Robert Stidworthy, who gave us detailed directions, allowing us to find her grave easily!

As I mentioned in my blog post last week, we kept some of the forget-me-not seeds that we all scattered in the small memorial garden at the tunnel entrance. Plan is to sow them in a dedicated pot for in the garden, but we felt it would also be nice to scatter some of these around Peggy's gravestone. If these come to flower in spring, they would form a direct link between where she perished and where she was laid to rest.

We will definitely come back in spring to see whether any of Peggy's forget-me-nots are flowering!

Back to Hazel Road for plaques #18 and #19

Hot on the heels of the unveiling of plaques #15, #16 and #17, we went back in Woolston for the unveiling of two more plaques along Hazel Road.

The first of the two plaques to be unveiled was on the 'Spitfire House', owned by the Siva Group. This is where the original 'Itchen Works' building stood. Alan of course provided the relevant historical information, and pointed out that the roofline of the current building matches that of the original Vickers Supermarine building.

He also showed an original part of the tail section of a Spitfire which may well have been built in that original building!

Plaque #18!

And then to the site of the second of today's two plaques, and this is the most poignant of all plaques unveiled so far (and quite possible eventually of all Spitfire Makers plaques): the site of the tunnel under the railway which led to the air raid shelters on Peartree Green. The first wave of bombs missed the factories, but hit the tunnel and its surroundings .... about 50 people were killed while trying to flee from the bombs ...

Getting a bit emotional at times, Alan mentioned by name a number of people who were killed here that day, as well as some who miraculously survived. A Roll of Honour will be placed here once the Spitfire Makers Charity is as sure as they can be of the names of all those who perished there.

Plaque #19!

Plants for the small memorial garden were kindly donated by B&Q, and the planting scheme reflects the Supermarine flag.

After a minute of silence, all attending where invited to scatter some poppy and forget-me-not seeds around the 'flag', which I felt was a very nice gesture. Look forward to seeing it in full bloom this coming spring!

We kept some of the forget-me-not seeds to plant in a dedicated pot in our garden.

Following the scattering of seeds, we went back to the rowing club building, like last week, for refreshments.

Three for the price of one: plaques #15, #16 and #17

At all the unveilings of Spitfire Makers plaques that we attended (plaques #9, #11, #12 (my plaque!), #13 and #14), there was a single plaque to unveil. Now, along Hazel Road in Woolston, where the Spitfire factories and associated buildings stood, we got three!

I turned up in 'full regalia' for this event, of course.

First of the three plaques is at the Marine Skills Centre, where the 'Woolston Works' were. Alan presented his usual fount of historical information before the plaque was unveiled.

So there it is, plaque #15!

A bit further, on the other side of Hazel Road, is a building that, among other things, housed a wood mill, paint shop and the canteen, and was linked to the main factory building by a covered walkway across the road.

The rain started to come down, and it was clear that rain water and blu tack don't like each other ... So the unveiling was done quickly, prior to Alan providing the relevant historical information (including the reason behind the name 'Dreadnought Flats').

Plaque #16!

Yet further along the road was the Mould Loft. An umbrella was brought in to hide the plaque before the official unveiling, which had to be done quite hastily (remember, rain and blu tack ...).

And, of course, Alan provided all the relevant information again.

Plaque #17!

We then gathered in the boathouse of the Southampton Amateur Rowing Club, for refreshments ...

... and the launch of the Woolston Spitfire Trail!

Once the sun came out again, a group photo of the 50 or so people attending the unveilings could be made.

Picture credit of group photo: Sarah Penfold (Spitfire Makers Charitable Trust)