May 2024

Posted on Facebook by Alan Matlock – 14th May 2024

Hendy’s Garage, Vincents Walk, Southampton

The Spitfire Makers Charitable Trust are planning to unveil our tenth blue plaque in Southampton on Sunday, 26th May.

Did someone in your family, or someone you know work for the Hendy Garage during WWII? Supermarine switched Spitfire fuselage production there after the bombing of the factories in Woolston.

If so, please get in touch via the comments or send a private message, or email: spitfiremakersresearch@btinternet.com and we will send you an invitation with all the details on how to attend the unveiling.

The plaque has been kindly sponsored by Hendy Foundation, the first of two they have funded.

In order to anticipate likely numbers and keep the gathering within safe limits, please respond asap and by Thursday, 23rd May at the latest.

The plaque will commemorate the original premises, now long gone and replaced by a modern building, and honour those who became Spitfire Makers there.

Images – 1930s advertisement; Kelly’s Directory 1940s; The garage in the 1950s or early 60s; Mr. Percy Hendy who led the company during the war years; Spitfire fuselages being made in the garage; Vickers photograph of the requisitioned garage; The workshop and staff in 1959.

Images by Vickers Archive, Hendy Group, and various sources

Posted by Alan Matlock on 29th May 2024

Spitfire Workers in City Centre Garage Remembered

The latest Spitfire Makers plaque has been unveiled at the entrance to the Student Roost building in Vincents Walk, Southampton.

This was the site of the Hendy Garage that was requisitioned by Supermarine after the bombing of their main factories in Woolston. Production of fuselages continued there throughout WWII.

After the shocking news of the death of the BBMF pilot, Sqn Ldr Mark Long, in his Spitfire we paused to reflect on that and how it would be affecting our patron, Senior Engineering Officer, Sqn Ldr Dave Phillips and all in the closely knit BBMF team.

Two family members of former Spitfire Makers were present to carry out the unveiling along with Chief Executive, Mr Paul Hendy and his wife, Rebecca, a trustee of the Hendy Foundation which sponsored the plaque.

One of these original Spitfire Makers, Reg Saffin, a skilled sheet metal worker, had actually worked in the Hendy Garage. We heard how he had only survived the bombing of the factory by going back to collect his coat which was hanging on the front of the aircraft he had been working on. By this time, the shelters he was heading for had been hit and many of his colleagues killed.

Photos by Spitfire Makers Charitable Trust

Looking closely at the wartime photo of the exterior of the garage it came to light that there was a sign in the foreground indicating the way to an air raid shelter. This would have been the trench shelter in the nearby grassed area next to Vincent’s Walk, the second one in the council list.

(Due to unexpected circumstances the actual plaque could not be fixed and a full-sized mock-up was made as a temporary replacement. We expect the real one to be put in place shortly!)

Posted on Facebook by Hendy Foundation 29th May 2024

Well done to Spitfire Makers for organising a great afternoon unveiling their latest blue plaque at Vincent’s Walk in Southampton. This blue plaque which was unveiled at the weekend, commemorates the people who helped build the Spitfire during WW2 at the old Hendy garage in Vincent’s Walk. The Spitfire Makers Charitable Trust aims to install over 30 blue plaques in and around Southampton to remember all the locations that were commissioned during WW2 to build the Spitfire.

Hendy Foundation is pleased to support this project which will help educate people about the importance roles that local people undertook during the war.

The black and white images show how the Hendy garage used to look and an actual photo of the production of the fuselages inside Vincent’s Walk during the 1940s.

You can find out more about the work they do here https://spitfiremakers.org.uk/