USAAF Spitfire

I've got Spitfire models with German, Soviet and Australian markings, but not one with USAAF markings. Until now, that is!

The registration of this Spit is LN853, which wasn't listed in my Spitfire International book ... 

... and I also couldn't find in the Spitfire database.

Supermarine factory sites - then and now

This is an aerial photo of the Supermarine Woolston factory on the banks of the Itchen in the 1930s, prior to it being bombed by the Luftwaffe.

And this an image from Google Earth, slightly tilted, of the same site now. 

The rectangular shape of the plot of land, with a slight 'kink' on the riverside edge, looks pretty much the same still. There are two obvious differences: one is, of course, that the Supermarine factory is gone. And the other is the Itchen Bridge, which was opened in 1977. 

But one structure from the original factory is still there ... did you spot it?

Before I get to that, let's first look at the southern part of the site (on the right in the aerial photos). That part of the site is now fully occupied by housing. Looking down from the Itchen Bridge, you can clearly see the Spitfire laid out in paving stones in Spitfire Court. 

We were actually in Spitfire Court recently to see that Spitfire 'paving' on the ground.

Looking down from the Itchen Bridge on the northern part of the site (on the left in the aerial photos), you can clearly see the original slipway of the Supermarine factory, which is currently an officially 'listed structure'. 

On the ground, there is some housing on the northern part of the site, with the rest being occupied by the Marine Skills Centre and Aggregates Industries. It wasn't possible to get close to the slipway itself, but I still managed to get a picture of it through a fence.

Just north of the Woolston factory was the Itchen factory, which was also bombed, and this is a current aerial photo of both sites (north is left in the photo).

See the (larger) slipway?

Here is an aerial picture of the factory then; the slipway is in top right corner.

And here an aerial photo of the site now (north is up; slipway is pointing to the left). 

There is basically nothing left of the Itchen Supermarine factory, but several places on the site clearly hint at its former presence!

The site as a whole is now called 'RJ Mitchell Centre'.

The Siva Group occupies a building known as the 'Spitfire House'

Opposite the Spitfire House is the Spitfire Joinery

Turn the corner and you find yourself on Spitfire Quay.

And one of the premises on Spitfire Quay is occupied by the Spitfire Garage

The slipway proved inaccessible because of the industrial premises (aggregate and concrete plants, cement terminals, recycling plants, etc) that are currently on the site, cheek by jowl. We couldn't get to the water's edge anywhere on the site, and also tried from the other bank of the Itchen, with the same result.

The best we could do is catch only merest glimpse of the slipway, through a fence (yes, that flat darker structure almost totally hidden behind the piles of sand ...)

So there you go! Virtually nothing is left of either of the two Supermarine factories, but look more closely and you'll see clear hints and traces of their history. And I wouldn't be surprised if we missed some of these traces ... watch this space?

'Grey Nurse' Spitfire

Got a model of this 'Grey Nurse' Spitfire mostly because of its 'shark face', but also because it served in the Royal Australian Air Force, so it has roundels which weren't yet sported by any of the Spitfire models in my collection. 

Does add something to the collection, doesn't it?

Checking my 'Spitfire International' book, I found a picture and some operational history of the actual airplane that the model is based on.

The 'shark-faced' Spit still exists!

Spitfire ales

If you're interested in Spitfires, and made aware of Spitfire beer, you just can't not, can you?

Spitfire beers come from the Shepherd Neame brewery and there are two versions: Golden Ale and Amber Ale. Took us a bit of searching around to get both, but here they are on a sunny Saturday:

I'm not good with tasting notes for beer, so these come from the web.

Golden Ale:

vibrant fruity and flowery hop character balanced with sweet biscuit, caramel and toffee malts combining to deliver a soft bittersweet finish. sweet malt base built upon with delicate floral and pine aromas 

Amber Ale:

gorgeous orange marmalade flavour with sweet biscuits and caramel malts, this then leaves a peppery dry finish on the palate beautifully balanced, blood-orange tinted British bitter with an acutely aromatic allure. Hints of marmalade, red grapes and pepper are thrust from a springboard of warm, mellow malts.

My personal favourite from these two? Amber ale, as it has a bit more depth and character.

'Barbie' Spit

Some Spitfires were adapted for photo reconnaissance (PR) sorties, and they usually had a different paint scheme, pink or blue. Pink paint was used to make them less conspicuous against a sunset sky. I've seen those pink aircraft being referred to as 'Barbie' Spits in at least one source. 

Clearly, I had to have a 'Barbie' Spitfire in the collection; here she is!

And as far as I can tell, this is a picture of the actual aircraft the model is based on.

The pink PR Spitfire seems to only come as a set together with a blue PR Mosquito, so I took that one as an extra, as I definitely wanted a 'Barbie' Spitfire!

Spitfire Makers plaque #10

If you are a loyal follower of this blog, you may have noticed that I posted about the unveiling of the Spitfire Makers plaque #9 and plaque #11, but not plaque #10. Here's why ...

During the unveiling of plaque #10 at Vincent Place in the city centre a few months ago, it turned out that the plaque couldn't be fastened to the building. A temporary plaque was used in the unveiling, but the real plaque is now in place, so we quickly popped by to take some pictures.

Fuselages were built in the Hendy Garage which stood in this place in the 1940s.

ATA memorial

Very little is left of Hamble airfield, other than an information board. 

The airfield had an important role WWII as a repair base for Spitfires and one of the ferry pools for the Air Transport Auxillary. Pilots in the ATA, many of them women, flew aircraft (including Spitfires, Hurricanes and even Lancasters) from factories or repair sites to the RAF airfields and so (re)join their allocated squadron. 

So it's fitting that, next to the information board, there is a memorial to the ATA pilots.

And look what the next side road is called ...

Anyone interested in the ATA, and especially their women pilots, should consider getting a copy of this book: