Competition to design a Spitfire memorial

[Paul K]

This from the Daily Telegraph:

The public are being given the chance to design a national memorial in honour of the Spitfire which will be up to three times the size of the original fighter.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... tfire.html

Rivet counters need not apply .

[Jon.M]

"Our only other stipulation is that we want it to be the recognisable shape of the Spitfire. We don't want interpretations of it, or just parts of it to be featured. We are purists. The Spitfire itself was a fantastic design. Why try to improve on it?"

It sounds to me that they do want rivet counters.

http://www.ukexpert.co.uk/photopost/bir ... sland.html

This one already exists at Castle Bromwich, but it might be too much of an interpretation.

Jon

[SkippyBing]

As far as I can tell their design brief is they want something that looks like a Spitfire but three times bigger and sitting at an angle.
Pretty much all the designer has to do is choose a Mk of Spitfire and an angle to sit it at and job done!

[DaveB]

This one already exists at Castle Bromwich, but it might be too much of an interpretation.

But.. is it art??

ATB

DaveB

[Jon.M]

B******d if I know.

I did pass this one night a couple of years ago and it's definitely impressive.

Jon

[Filonian]

Bugger the spitfire - what about the Hurricane???


Graham

[nigelb]

Good point, Graham. The Hurricanne does get overlooked a lot, even though more Hurricanes than Spitfires were involved in the Battle of Britain.

Nigel²

[DaveB]

Yes.. I thought the same I'm afraid.

There are many ways you can look at the 'facts' and I doubt if any way you looked would give a different answer.. such is the way with facts.. as in hard numbers. There were very many more Hurricanes saw action than Spitfires during the BoB and there's no doubting that they scored very many more 'kills'. However.. and here's the dodgy part.. did the Spitfire tip the balance in our favour? By weight of numbers, I doubt very much if only Spits.. in the numbers we had could have done the job on their own but.. had we not had Spits.. could the Hurricane have succeeded in greater numbers without the Spitfire?? I doubt that also. It's a shame the Spitfire gets elevated to such a degree it overshadows the Hurricane because history has shown that one would not have won without the other. Had there been no Hurricane.. only Spitfires but in numbers equalled by a combination of the 'historical' two.. the kudos/limelight might be more clear cut but that wasn't what happened

ATB

DaveB

[AllanL]

Leo McKinstrey has written two very good even handed - and pretty chunky - books about the Hurricane and Spitfire and the historical background of their development histories. It probably spoils an otherwise unending argument, but we needed the strengths of both designs as well as the tenacity of the pilots to win through in what was a close run battle.

I'm surprised Dave doesn't subscribe to the theory that it was the Royal Navy that won the Battle of Britain.

Can't remember which author floated that one.

[DaveB]

Thank you for that Allan

No.. the RN did their bit, the RAF did theirs and of course, the Army did theirs. I'm more surprised that the Americans don't claim to have won the BoB to be honest.. a far more conceivable theory than attributing it to the RN

ATB

DaveB