STORNOWAY BRANCH

LEWIS & HARRIS SPITFIRE

'Lewis & Harris Fighter' at Castle Bromwich factory

PRESENTATION SPITFIRES

      Early in World War II, Lord Beaverbrook, who had been recruited into the War Cabinet by Churchill as Minister for Aircraft Production, proposed the idea of 'Presentation' aircraft. An individual, organisation or community could donate the cost of an aircraft to the government and an aircraft would be allocated to bear the name of the donor. Any aircraft type could be selected but, as at the time the Battle of Britain was in everyone's mind and, the aircraft type best known to the public was the Spitfire, the vast majority of donations were directed towards that aircraft.

      The cost for a Spitfire was set at £5000 (although the real cost was nearer £12,000). At the time, increased production was sorely needed to make good losses suffered during the intense aerial fighting over the south coast during the evacuation from Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain.

LEWIS AND HARRIS SPITFIRE APPEAL

      Upon announcement of the 'Presentation' aircraft scheme, a meeting was held in Stornoway, on Tuesday 20 August 1940, at which it was decided to open a 'Lewis and Harris Spitfire Fund' to raise the £5000 needed.

      At 1940 prices £5000 was a large amount for such a small community to raise, especially as the target date set for raising the sum was Saturday 31 August 1940, barely more than a week! A full-page notice appeared in the Stornoway Gazette newpaper of 23 August 1940, encouraging everyone to donate to the fund and stating that almost £2000 had already been pledged by donors, including the Monday night's takings from the local cinema. The last sentence of the notice read, 'Let us show the Nazis how Blitzkriegs are waged in the Hebrides'.

      By the deadline of midnight on Saturday 31 August 1940, a total of £6416-16s-2d had been raised! The final total being announced in the 6 Sept. 1940 edition of the Gazette. The eventual total raised, when the account was closed on 24 October 1940, was £6606-19s-10d. This was a remarkable achievement for the islands and showed just how strong was the public's desire to do their bit towards the war effort.

P8149

      The money raised on Lewis and Harris went towards funding Supermarine Spifire Mk. IIa, RAF serial number P8149. This aircraft was one of the first batch of 1000 Mk. II Spifires, ordered under contract No. 981687/39 dated 12/3/1939 and built between June 1940 and July 1941 at the Castle Bromwich works near Birmingham. The aircraft was fitted with a Rolls-Royce Merlin XII engine and eight Browning machine guns. The aircraft was named 'Lewis & Harris Fighter'.

      Upon completion, the aircraft was taken on charge by the RAF at 24 MU (Maintenance Unit) at Ternhill on 6 March 1941. Here it was fitted out for its operational duties and converted to Mk. IIb standard by the installation of two Hispano 20mm cannon.

      On 6 May 1941, the Lewis & Harris Spitfire was handed over to 72 Squadron at RAF Acklington, Northumberland where it was re-grouping and resting after having seen action in support of the evacuation from Dunkirk in June 1940. This squadron carried the identification code letters 'RN' on its aircraft at the time, with each individual aircraft carrying its own code letter, that of P8149 is unknown.

      72 Sqn. were engaged on convoy escort patrols and the occasional scramble. The first operational flight of P8149 was on 13 May 1941, when Pilot Officer Bocock was scrambled in response to a raid warning over the airfield at Acklington but was recalled only minutes later The aircraft then appears several times in the operational record of the squadron until the last entry on 4 July 1941, when Sgt. Gledhill flew it on a base patrol sortie. The aircraft remained with 72 Sqn. for only a short period as, on 8 July 1941 the squadron moved south to Gravesend, where they relieved 74 Squadron and exchanged their Mk. II aircraft for the newer Mk. V of 74 Sqn. In turn, 74 Sqn. departed for Acklington with 72 Sqn's old aircraft, P8149 amongst them.

      74 Squadron, the famous 'Tiger' squadron, were stationed at Acklington, like 72 Sq., for rest and re-grouping after having seen much action during the Battle of Britain flying from Hornchurch over London and the Thames estuary. During this period 74 Sqn. carried the code 'ZP' on its aircraft. P8149 only served for just over a month with74 Sqn. before being damaged in an accident on 8 August 1941 when Sgt. A. V. Hopkinson swung on landing, to avoid contractors personnel running across the runway, and hit a lorry, but he was exonerated of blame. Two days later P8149 went to a civilian repair depot for repairs and then back to 24 MU at Ternhill on 13 October 1941.

      By 17 December 1941, the Lewis & Harris Spitfire was back with an operational squadron, this time 350(Belgian) Squadron, at RAF Valley in Wales. This squadron was formed from Belgian air force personnel who had escaped from their own country when it fell to the Germans and had made their way to the U.K. At Valley, Sqn. Ldr. John Thompson DFC, who had already seen plenty of action with other fighter squadrons within the RAF and was one of the few non-Belgian aircrew, commanded the squadron. The squadron aircraft wore the code 'MN'.

      The squadron came to readiness on 22 December 1941 with the influx of aircraft, P8149 amongst them, and undertook convoy escort duties and scrambles. On 4 January 1942, Pilot Officer DeWever hit a Magister training aircraft (N3286) at the end of his landing run, injuring the Magister pilot Pilot Officer J. D. Fox. P8149 was repaired on site but, just two days later, Sgt. D. C. Goodie swung off the runway whilst taxiing and hit Spitfire P7544, which was parked. Again, repairs were made on site. The squadron then moved south to RAF Northolt, just outside London where, on 11 February 1942, the official inauguration of the squadron took place, Shortly afterwards, on 23 March 1942, P8149 was assigned to the Northolt Station Flight.

      Here the trail of P8149 goes cold, but it was finally struck of charge on 1 April 1945 when it was damaged beyond repair, presumably in an accident.

Spitfire of 72 Squadron

Spitfire of 74 Squadron

Spitfire of 350 (Belgian) Squadron

'THEY ALSO SERVE.........'

      Although the Lewis & Harris Spitfire P8149 didn't have a particularly gallant or famous career, it did, by its very existence contribute to this country's ultimate survival and eventual victory at a time of extreme danger. The final victory was achieved by many seemingly small gestures, such as the financing of the Lewis & Harris Spitfire, by the people of these islands, made especially noteworthy by the short period in which the money was raised. The public of Lewis and Harris could be justifiably proud of their war effort.

THE PHOENIX ARISES

      In 2005, 72 Squadron, the first operators of the Lewis & Harris Spitfire in 1941, initiated a program to name their present day squadron aircraft after 'Presentation' Spitfires which had served with the squadron during the war. One of these aircraft, Tucano T1 trianers based at RAF Linton-on-Ouse, Yorkshire was named 'Lewis & Harris Fighter' in memory of the original and so, for the present at least, the name lives on. On 8 September 2005, the 'Lewis & Harris' Tucano ZF349 flew into Stornoway Airport to commemorate the funding of the original Spitfire by the people of Lewis and Harris 65 years ago.

Visit to Stornoway of 72 Squadron Tucano aircraft 'Lewis & Harris Fighter' 8 Sept. 2005

Postscript:-    Further information on 'Presentation' aircraft can be found in the excellent book 'GIFTS OF WAR - Spitfires and other Presentation Aircraft in Two World Wars' by Henry Boot and Ray Sturtivant, published by AIR-BRITAIN Publications.