Slipway plaque

The unveiling of a very special Spitfire Makers plaque took place this past weekend. The only substantial part of the original Woolston works that has survived in-situ is the slipway that was used to get the flying boats into the water; I mentioned that in a previous blog post. One of Supermarine's apprentices in the 1930s, Ted Angel, used to sit on the slipway to eat his lunch, which he brought with him in a paper bag (remember that paper bag ...). And it so happens that Ted was the grandfather of Sarah Penfold, one of the Spitfire Makers' project team. Getting a plaque commemorating Ted installed near the slipway has been in the works for a long time, and the day finally came!

As always at a plaque unveiling, Alan Matlock, the Chair of the Spitfire Makers, talked about the early history of the Supermarine works, ...

... before specifically talking about Ted.

And then it was up to Sarah and her family to officially unveil the plaque.

So here it is, the slipway plaque!

And here is a picture of the slipway, taken through the fence (the closest we could come to it).

Following the unveiling, we had been invited by Landau Marine to have refreshments in their conference room.

Coming into the building, it was very nice to see that Landau Marine has really embraced the heritage of the site. A refreshing attitude in this day and age, so all kudos to them for that!

The refreshments were served in the Noel Pemberton Billing room. He was the original founder of the company that became Supermarine a number of years later.

Refreshments there certainly were! Note the print on the cake, ...

... note the Spitfire-shaped shortbread, ...

... and note the paper bags supplied for eating your cake or shortbread from. Such a nice touch to provide paper bags for this!

Time to cut the cake, with Sarah obviously doing the honours.

I mentioned the conference room being named after the original founder of the Supermarine company, didn't I? Actually many of their rooms are named after Supermarine people; two of these name plates shown here:

After a last look at the slipway from the conference room, we left for home.

At the end of this blog post on a special plaque, a perfect place for this picture, created with the help of AI: it shows Sarah and her grandfather sitting together on the slipway, eating their lunches from paper bags, while a Spitfire flies over (picture credit: Sarah Penfold, with a little help from AI, and reproduced here with permission)

AB910

Spitfire AB910 has a rich and varied history. It was built at Castle Bromwich in 1941.

It served in several squadrons, and was also involved in D-Day. One of its most famous wartime stories is when it took off with WAAF Margaret Horton still sitting on its tail! The pilot realised something was wrong and returned to land, not being aware what was wrong. Margaret clung to the tail and survived her flight without harm ...

After the war, it came into private hands under registration G-AISU, and was used as an air racer.

In 1949, it was on display at the Royal Aeronautical Society Garden Party.

And this particular part of AB910's history was immortalised as a 1:72 model. Only 1000 of this model were produced, and I've seen them for up to £290 on eBay. I did get my hands on one of these 1000 in the end, and surely paid far less for it!

AB910 is still flying, currently with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, and sporting invasion stripes. 

We've recently seen ii when we visited the BBMF hangar!

Battle of Britain Museum and Memorial, plus a detour

We spent a few days in Kent, in the Folkestone area, to visit two places associated with the Battle of Britain. First of all, the Battle of Britain Museum.

Near the entrance is a replica Spitfire!

Photography is not allowed inside the Museum (we had to hand in our bags, camera and phone when buying tickets). This prohibition was put in place after requests from the many people who donated items to the museum, often personal items that belonged to their loved ones who didn't survive the war; I totally understand and respect that request.

But they did allow taking some pictures outside, on the grounds of the museum, under supervision from one of their volunteer guides. The centre piece of their outside displays is a set of three (replica) Hurricanes.

And in front of one of the Hurricanes are seven life-size bronze fighter pilots.

If this scene looks vaguely familiar to you, this is basically a recreation of a well-known photograph, originally taken not far from where the Museum is now:

Our guide suggested taking a photo of us sitting among these seven pilots. At first, I felt ambivalent about doing this; somehow I didn't feel worthy .... But in the end, we did sit among them, thereby creating a link between past and present, and keeping their memories alive in that way.

The following day, we visited the Battle of Britain Memorial.

Again, a replica Spitfire near the entrance!

And if you're wondering about that tail popping up from behind the hedge, that's the tail of a 'crashed Stuka' made from polished metal.

The centre piece of the memorial is a round plinth, on which there is a statue of an airman.

And the view of this airman is towards the sea, from where the Luftwaffe came.

The visitor centre's roof is in the shape of a Spitfire wing.

And from the restaurant you can really see the lay-out of the Memorial, with the airman statue in the centre of a 3-bladed propeller.

The whole place breathes serenity and respect, but, for me, the most impressive part is the black marble wall, into which the names of the 3,000 or so pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain were carved. Rather than take a series of photographs, I decided to record a video of me slowly walking past the marble wall and all the names.

On the way back home, we realised that we would more or less pass Biggin Hill, one of the key airfields in the Battle of Britain. It would be shame not to do a brief detour, so we did.

Once again, a replica Spitfire near the entrance (the third one this trip!)

The Museum itself was quite small, and had the usual displays.

And from the Museum, we entered the Chapel.

Some really impressive stained glass windows, several of which included a Spitfire in some way!

Outside, we found a bench to rest our tired legs for a bit, before heading for home.

It has been a very good few days in Kent!