This Spitfire was spotted by one of our eagle-eyed staff at bet365’s Stoke-on-Trent stadium, which is not too far from our office.
The most interesting part? The original Supermarine Spitfire designer, Reginald Mitchell, was born and educated in North Staffordshire. To know the original inventor was Stoke-based is pretty cool to say the least.
He was born in Talke, which isn’t too far from our Stoke head office. Mitchell designed the spitfire, which became a proud symbol of Stokes rich engineering and industrial heritage.
The city owns a Supermarine Spitfire Mark LF XVI (RW288), which was built in May 1945. It was donated to Stoke-on-Trent by the RAF in 1972. After a big restoration project, the plane was housed in a £5.4 million glass-fronted extension of The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Hanley. This services as an excellent tribute to Mitchell and the plane.
Furthermore, throughout World War II, the local community raised funds to sponsor Spitfires and the plane is still used today.
