Secret Spitfires

Film followed by Q& A session with historian and secret factory engineer Norman Parker.   Secret Spitfires is the remarkable story of how WWII Spitfire fighter aircraft were built in secret right in the heart of Southern England. It has taken 75 years for this story to come to light. It tells of how hundreds of girls, boys, women, elderly men and a handful engineers built the iconic fighter plane the Spitfire, in secret, hidden in sheds, depots, garages, barns and even a hotel. So hidden, Hitler's spies couldn’t find them and have them bombed. The story starts with Hitler’s determination to destroy Spitfire production and to achieve air superiority as a prelude to invasion. What he and his generals didn’t know was that as they were destroying the main Spitfire factories in Southampton, manufacturing was being moved to secret factories in rural cities, small towns and villages, including nearby Chattis Hill, Salisbury and Winchester. The secret was so well kept, even the family and friends of the workers never knew what they did and where they worked. This documentary demanded to be made to get it on record before no one was left to tell the story first hand.   Tickets: £5.00 available online from 1 June 2020 via our website