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Memorial to honour 'secret' Salisbury Spitfire factory

Secret Spitfires Computer image of how the new memorial will lookSecret Spitfires
A computer-generated image of how the new memorial might look

Plans to build a life-size memorial of a Spitfire to honour the people who secretly built the iconic plane have been unveiled.

During World War Two more than 2,000 Spitfires were built in secrecy in Salisbury after Southampton's Spitfire production facilities were bombed.

The £100,000 campaign will see the memorial placed next to a wartime Spitfire factory site in Castle Road.

It is planned to be ready for the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

Unskilled and unqualified young girls, boys, women, elderly men and a handful of engineers worked in requisitioned garages, sheds, bus depots and factories to build the planes.

Salisbury was the main site but Spitfires were also made in Trowbridge and Reading.

The achievement only became wider public knowledge after the release of the 2016 film The Secret Spitfires.

British Pathe Young women building a Spitfire in a secret factory in SalisburyBritish Pathe
Girls working at a secret factory in Salisbury finishing a Spitfire ready for testing

Norman Parker, the film's historian and a Spitfire engineer, said the memorial would be "the latest chapter in an incredible tale".

"The people of Salisbury should be very proud of the contribution their city made to winning World War Two," he said.

Sir Christopher Benson, patron of the Secret Spitfires charity, said the memorial would "eternally recognise the fortitude of those unsung heroes" who "got on with the job of defeating" the Nazis.

Planning consent for the memorial has already been given.

Secret Spitfires Sarum and South Wiltshire sponsored Spitfire during WWIISecret Spitfires
Spitfires were built in sheds, bus depot and garages by unskilled workers after production factories in Southampton were bombed