Secret Spitfires in Salisbury

When the Supermarine factory in Southampton was bombed in September 1940, dispersal of Spitfire production wasn't just in and around Southampton. Salisbury also became an important hub for this, and many of the secret Spitfire sites in Salisbury have also seen a plaque being unveiled in memory of this. 

So time to head to Salisbury to try and see them all!

Old George Mall car park is now where Wessex Motors Garage once stood. Fuselages and tail units were made here.

McCarthy and Stone retirement homes in Castle Street are now on the site of Anna Valley Motors Garage. Again, fuselages and tail unites were made and assembled here. 

At 141 Castle Street was the Wilts and Dorset Bus Garage, where wing production took place. 

At 152 Castle Street was the entrance to the Wilts and Dorset Bus Depot. This was used for assembly of fuselages and fitting of engines.

At Watt & Vincent, now A.J. Waters garage, on Devizes Road, fuel tanks were built; despite walking around, we somehow missed finding the plaque here ...

Supermarine built 'factory #1' where Salisbury RFC at Castle Road is now. Fitting out of fuselages as well as engine installation happened here. 

Nearby, where Janspeed is now, Supermarine built 'factory #2', where component assemblies and wings were built.

Further north, at Highpost, where the The Stones Hotel is now, was the place for Air Traffic Control,  and accommodation for High Post airfield.

The area for final assembly and flight tests was where Highpost Business Park is now.

Similarly, final assembly and flight tests also took place where the Wiltshire Flying Club was; the site is now occupied by Chemring, Highpost.

And those were all the sites with plaques that we were aware of. But next to where 'factory #1' and 'factory #2' were is now also a Secret Spitfire memorial, a full-size fibreglass replica of the Mk IX flown by Johnnie Johnson.

Next to the memorial is a bench in memory of Ethem Cetintas, one of the authors of the Secret Spitfires book, who passed away a few years ago; notice the shape of the seat and back ...

As we drove away from Salisbury, on our way to the final site, we couldn't not take a picture of a road sign on what used to be the Old Sarum airfield ...

That final site we wanted to visit is the site of Chattis Hill airfield. Two hangars were built here to be used for final assembly, and aircraft were tested here for flight.

Appropriately, the lane along the site of the airfield is called 'Spitfire Lane'.

The site is in private hands, so we couldn't walk around, but as far as I'm aware, not much of the airfield is left other than it being, well, a field.

Driving back towards Stockbridge, we saw this sign along the road, so had to stop to take a picture. Other than carrying the Spitfire name, The Spitfire Shoot has nothing to do with actual Spitfires ...