The extraordinary story of workers building the aircraft that helped win the Battle of Britain is detailed for the first time in a BBC television documentary.
More than 100 were killed by Luftwaffe air raids that flattened the Spitfire factory in Southampton 70 years ago this month.
But despite the loss of their colleagues and the destruction of the city’s Supermarine workshops, employees found alternative sites within weeks and began producing aircraft around the clock.
Furniture stores, garages, and even a bus depot were commandeered to allow more fighters to be built as the aerial battle with Germany intensified.
The bravery of both the workers and the RAF pilots is told in The South Coast Trail, a BBC programme examining the role of Southampton and neighbouring areas to the cross-Channel aerial conflict.
It also coincides with a campaign, backed by the Sunday Telegraph, for a national memorial to the Spitfire in the city where it was designed and first built.