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Article: Reach for the SKY; With the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War, two new books reveal the vital role Birmingham played in winning the war... thanks to the Castle Bromwich factory that produced the Lancaster Bomber and the iconic Spitfire.
- Article from:
- Sunday Mercury (Birmingham, England)
- Article date:
- September 13, 2009
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 Birmingham Post & Mail Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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IT was in 1938 that the Minister for Air, Sir Kingsley Wood, attended the opening of a huge new factory at Castle Bromwich in Birmingham, built at a cost of pounds 3 million, to produce Spitfires in the face of the looming threat of war.
Newsreel of the event shows the Minister arriving by air to be greeted by Lord Nuffield of Morris Motors, who had been asked to run the factory.
In his speech the Minister said that the Spitfire was central to the RAF's expansion and promised an order for 1,000 planes.
As he appeals for men to volunteer to fill the ...