A statue for RJ Mitchell?

[Wing Nut]

From the Simviation Premier news links...

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Spitfire inventor should be honoured Dec 11 2004


Few people have heard of Reginald Joseph Mitchell - even though he designed the fighter plane which won the Battle of Britain.

But now MPs are calling for the Midland engineer and creator of the Spitfire to receive the recognition he deserves.

Si

[Wing Nut]

Now, I understand the British love for the Spitfire.  It did it's job in a marvelous way, and has rightfully become as much a character of WWII as Monty, Patton Rommel or Audie Murphy.  But it has always been my understanding, that the Spit was not in great supply in the BoB, and most of the true work was done by the Hurricane and it has never been appreciated for the job it did.  Perhaps they should honor the guy that designed the Hurricane?

[ozzy72]

The difference was that Mr. Mitchell died before the war. Sidney Camm (who designed the Hurri) was given a knighthood.
Maybe they feel that this would even things up a little. Both aircraft performed magnificently during the BoB and earned their place in the history books.
Personally as a Spit maniac I feel that RJ does deserve a bloomin' large statue in his honour!

[C]

This is an interesting one. You could argue that if you give Mitchell a statue you should also give Joseph Smith a statue, as it was he who lead the development of the Spit from the Mk 1 onwards. But 99.9% of people have never heard of him.

Also at both Castle Bromwich and Southampton Eastleigh they already have monuments to commerate the Spitfire, a metal monument at the Jaguar factory as it is now, and a large model of K5054 at Eastleigh. I believe Mitchell is also already honoured by a centre in his name at Stoke on Trent (his home town).

I'm not against any planned monument (it would be nice to see in fact), but I think there are a lot more people who also deserve the same recognition. Like the whole of bomber command (but we're not allowed to talk about them are we... )...

Charlie

[Hagar]

There are already tributes to RJ Mitchell in various parts of the country for anyone who cares to look. Two examples that come to mind are the statue at the Southamton Hall of Aviation http://www.airmuseumsuk.org/Southampton1/, (Southampton is the home of the old Supermarine works) & the tableau at the Tangmere Museum including the replica prototype Spitfire K5054 built under the supervision of Jeffrey Quill, Alex Henshaw & RJ's son among others.

Personally, I think the best possible tribute to RJ Mitchell is not a statue but the many examples of his wonderful Spitfire flying on the air display circuit, in their element where they belong, not in some stuffy museum.

[C]

Personally, I think the best possible tribute to RJ Mitchell is not a statue but the many examples of his wonderful Spitfire flying on the air display circuit, in their element where they belong, not in some stuffy museum.

Agreed.

[Craig.]

Would be nice to see a statue somewhere in the area for him. However i agree with Dougs comments with that being a much more fitting tribute.

[Hagar]

I'm not sure that RJ ever visited Birmingham as he passed away long before the Spitfire shadow factory at Castle Bromwich was set up. He is associated far more with Southampton. Mitchell joined Supermarine in 1917, was made Chief Designer in 1919 & Chief Engineer in 1920.

When the company came under control of the Vickers Group it was with the understanding that Mitchell would stay on for at least five years. After several unsuccessful attempts by Vickers to get him to work with their designers, they allowed Supermarine and Mitchell to continue things in their own way.  

He remained with Supermarine at Southampton, based either in the design office at the original Woolston works, at Eastleigh airfield (now Southampton Airport) or working from home until shortly before he died in 1937.
http://www.plimsoll.org/Southampton/FlyingBoats/Supermarine/Ownershipandinfluence.asp

[C]

I'm not sure that RJ ever visited Birmingham as he passed away long before the Spitfire shadow factory at Castle Bromwich was set up. He is associated far more with Southampton. Mitchell joined Supermarine in 1917, was made Chief Designer in 1919 & Chief Engineer in 1920.

He remained with Supermarine at Southampton, based either in the design office at the original Woolston works, at Eastleigh airfield (now Southampton Airport) or working from home until shortly before he died in 1937.
http://www.plimsoll.org/Southampton/FlyingBoats/Supermarine/Ownershipandinfluence.asp

I think a far more fitting place would be Woolston, where they're currently redeveloping the old Vosper Thorneycroft site, which either was, or was very close to, the site of the Supermarine works at Woolston. Unfortunately they knocked down the Supermarine hangars at Eastleigh in the 80's or early 902 to redevelop the airport. At least that secureed the future of the airfield.

Charlie