Hursley & The Spitfire
Submitted by: Laura Watts
This extract from Leo Mckinstrey book "Spitfire" was e-mailed to me from my 84 year old uncle in Cheater.
Spifire Assembly in Hursley After the German bombing of the Supermarine factory in Southampton the assembly of Spitfires was dispersed.
By far the most luxurious site that Supermarine took over was the magnificent 18th Century colonnaded edifice of Hursley House near Winchester, home of the Dowager Lady Cooper. This imposing building, which was in dramatic contrast too the dingy offices where Mitchell had designed the prototype,was here that all the subsequent developments in the plane's design were conceived. From December 1940 the house became the headquarters of Supermarine, providing quarters for the administrative, drawing, design and laboratory staff.
Lady Cooper was an American who had been left an immense fortune by her uncle. The Coopers had an estate in Scotland and a house in Grosvenor Square, where the US embassy now stands.
Despite the inconvenience. Lady Cooper proved far more accommodating than many public officials and businessmen. When the Supermarine team first turned up, she welcomed them with a spectacular floral model of the Spitfire in the entrance hall of the house. Sadly, she had to move out in June 1942 when the government decided that her private staff had become a security risk.
In a plot worthy of a West End farce, an assistant cook had deliberately started a fire in one of the upper floors in order to distract attention from his attempt to break into Lady Cooper's safe in the basement and steal the family silver. Unfortunately for him, he was overcome by fumes from his own decoy fire. She and her retinue moved out to another of her residences nearby, but she was never to return.
Vickers Supermarine remained at Hursley until 1958, when the house was taken over by the American computer giant IBM.
During the war, Hursley underwent a dramatic transformation. Its ballroom became a drawing office, its conservatory was used by the tracing staff, its linen room was turned into a laboratory and its wine cellar into a photographic room. Hangars were put up in stable yards and at one end of the 350-acre park, housing the experimental department which produced the prototypes of the Spitfire variants. An entertainment hall behind the stables was used as a machine shop, oil leaks ruining its fine parquet floor. Layers of heavily reinforced concrete walls and a roof were put round the garages and the coal store, now a document archive.
The Spitfire’s maiden flight was on March 5th 1936. It finally entered service with the Royal Air Force in 1938. It remained in service with the RAF until 1955. During this time, 20,351 Spitfires were built and about 50 are still flying in 2007... more
By the middle of the war, so many staff were working at Hursley that special bus services had to operate from the neighbouring towns, with the buses hidden among the trees during the day so they would not be visible to the Luftwaffe. Various bedrooms on the first floor were occupied by Commander James Bird, the general manager of Supermarine, and other executives and secretaries. Unfortunately, during some refurbishment work the wallpaper of the Chinese Bedroom was thought to look shabby and was consequently given a coat of paint. The maintenance staff had not realized it was silk.
By the middle of the war, so many staff were working at Hursley that special bus services had to operate from the neighbouring towns,
The Supermarine dispersal was an astonishing achievement, which illus- rated some of that mood of wartime defiance so well characterized by the Spitfire itself. In a classic British way, marrying ingenuity with necessity, a large number of this iconic plane were built not in some vast modern, high-tech factory, but in a mosaic of backyards, workshops and municipal depots. 'I am amazed how we achieved so much in such cramped and primitive conditions,' wrote Cyril Russell, who was part of a team assembling Spitfires.
Submitted by: Laura Watts
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