In order to enable the Ratcliffe Spitfire Project to continue the fuselage build stage, we need to construct a large suitable, water-tight and secure building in which to house the entire plane during the next phases of its build. To achieve that we need to raise money from individuals and organisations interested in supporting this type of important, historical work for students.

Once the Spitfire build is complete in 2018, we want to use the building to showcase our full size replica MK1 Spitfire and which will be similar to a great number of Spitfires which were housed at Ratcliffe Aerodrome during WWII

Our aim is to provide an Educational Centre for school children, along with local residents in and around Charnwood and Leicestershire. It will give them the chance to touch and sit inside a full-sized Spitfire, and it will also teach them the crucial role that the Spitfire and their local Aerodrome played in WWII.

Separate from the main aircraft, there will also be a Spitfire cockpit simulator which will be used for flight training and will allow visitors to experience what it was like to fly a Spitfire during those momentous times. The building will also act as a museum for donated parts of the real Spitfire, which was shot down during the Battle of Britain whilst being flown by Paul Baillon. Paul’s daughter was at the College in December 2014 to witness the handing over of the Spitfire from the MoD. She said that her father would have been amazed and very proud that his plane would now be kept at the School forever.

A full size MK1 Spitfire replica is an iconic symbol of British pride. Its construction is a clear, accurate and stimulating tribute to those engineers and pilots who made it and flew it in the 1940s. Our project will honour the hundreds of aircrew who flew from Ratcliffe Aerodrome during WWII, known then as No.6 Ferry Pool with the Air Transport Auxilary (ATA) and those pilots who flew Spitfires and who died in the Battle of Britain 75 years ago.