Awards & Achievements

National Award for Spitfire Makers

The work of Spitfire Makers Charitable Trust was recognised at the Aviation Heritage UK awards event in Cheshire on Saturday.

Chair, Alan Matlock, was presented with the AHUK Individual Award which he accepted on behalf of the Trust project team.

The nomination referred to the work the Trust has done to raise awareness of how Supermarine managed to continue to produce the vital Spitfires even after the main factories had been put out of action.

Also mentioned was the online petition Alan initiated last year in a bid to save the original Spitfire Flight Shed in Southampton. The petition gathered more than 55,000 signatures world wide but, despite the best efforts of Alan, historian Dave Key of The Supermariners and aviation heritage expert, Julian Temple before, during and after the planning application meeting, the demolition has sadly gone ahead.

However, the campaign Alan set in motion inspired Julian to launch a similar one to save the Miles Aircraft Factory, near Reading which has, at least so far, been successful in blocking demolition.

In his acceptance speech Alan paid tribute to the whole project team’s support in gathering the stories of many Supermarine workers and the dispersed places where they became Spitfire Makers. He also thanked Dave Key of The Supermariners website for all the historical detail he has contributed to both the Flight Shed campaign and the ongoing project to place Blue Plaques at the Spitfire production sites around Southampton and beyond.

The awards day began with a visit to the Hooton Park Heritage Hangars, now home to some wonderful vintage planes and cars. It was great to see what can be done when aviation heritage buildings are preserved and repurposed: the WWI era hangars are the same design as the ones that were demolished at Southampton Airport which were used by Supermarine to assemble the Spitfires.

The awards ceremony was held at the Vauxhall Motors Sports Club, Ellesmere Port, and gave Alan further opportunities to explain the aims of the Spitfire Makers to AHUK members from across the country.