Spitfire Monument
We are delighted to have won the national competition to design a memorial to the Spitfire and its designer, RJ Mitchell, on Southampton’s docks. The momument, which will rival Gateshead’s Angel of the North, features a Spitfire soaring from a spiralling stainless steel mast.
Standing 40m tall, it has a 16m wingspan and will be a Southampton landmark.
At its base is a viewing platform shaped like an RAF roundel, with a pool of remembrance, and a map showing the 28 Southampton workshops and garages where Spitfires were built after the main factory was bombed.
The Spitfire’s engineering history is woven into its structure: it uses the semi-monocoque structural system developed for the Spitfire’s fuselage by RJ Mitchell. This comprises an internal frame, over which a thin skin of stainless steel plate is formed. Frame and skin work together, making it both lightweight and sturdy.