Wolverhampton Spitfires display goes virtual
An exhibition and talk marking the 80th anniversary of Wolverhampton's effort to pay for two Spitfires to take on Hitler's air force has had to go "virtual."
"It may have been the first Second World War fighter aircraft fund of any UK town," said organiser Jim Barrow, who has been working with Wolverhampton aviation historian Stephen King on the project.
Jim's talk had been scheduled for June 13 at an exhibition at Wolverhampton’s Central Library. Due to the library's closure through the coronavirus pandemic, it has gone online.
The exhibition had been due to run from May 26 to June 18 to commemorate thousands of people in Wolverhampton, the Black Country, Shropshire, Staffordshire and the West Midlands, who had given to two fundraising campaigns in 1940 which bought Spitfires called "The Inspirer" and "Wulfrun."
A first fund was prompted in June 1940 by Express & Star journalist Wilfred Byford-Jones, who wrote under the pen name Quaestor.
Jim says it raised £6,746 to buy a fighter – a Spitfire was not specified.
"Later the fund was linked to Spitfire Mk Vb, serial number AB917 – 'The Inspirer,' supposedly named because it inspired other funds.
"After this other towns, cities, companies, individuals and overseas groups all joined the drive to provide hundreds of planes of all types with Chesterfield first to specify a Spitfire in fundraising on July 5, 1940.
"Later in 1940 the Mayor of Wolverhampton’s fund – specifically for a Spitfire – raised £5,076, so just above a £5,000 target then set by the Ministry of Aircraft Production."
This second Wolverhampton Spitfire was named "Wulfrun".
Sadly both Spitfires went on to be lost in action, and their pilots, both members of the Royal Canadian Air Force, were killed.
Jim added: "No photographs of 'Wulfrun' have come to light, unlike 'The Inspirer', but modellers Neil Willis and Andy Walker of the Aero Space and Vehicle Club, which meets in Wombourne, have built scale models of both aircraft to go in the exhibition if and when it can be reorganised."
A fuller outline of the exhibition and some of the material which was due to be in it can be seen here.
