Julian Mitchell's Insights on Operation Spitfire
- 7 hours ago
- 3 min read
During the Spitfire Day on Cheadle High Street, we met with Julian Mitchell, great-nephew of Reginald Mitchell, designer of the Spitfire, who told COGNEWS about his connection to Cheadle and his work on Operation Spitfire.
Julian told our reporter that his mum and his uncle were born in Cheadle - on Cross Street and that he was invited to come up to the event but works with the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, where they have had a Spitfire on display for many years but it is now in a new gallery space.
Julian said, "I've got a small group and together we raised funds for the restoration of the Spitfire and the new gallery where it's displayed. We managed to convince the city council that's what they needed to do. It wasn't just about restoring an old relic; what we use it for is education, so now we go around schools, talk to kids, and we've got a programme around STEM subjects - science, technology, engineering, mathematics all related to history and to the Spitfire."
"I go into local schools, often with kids who are less fortunate. Maybe a couple of generations unemployed, no inspiration, no desire, no role model. And we say, right, there was a lad from Stoke-on-Trent who went through the same school system you're going through. He went on and he built the most beautiful aircraft ever built. So if you need any inspiration, there it is."
"I've got a few other people who go in and speak in schools too. One lad who ended up in the Fleet Air Arm - the aviation branch of the Royal Navy. He flew the first of the F-35s and landed on the new aircraft carrier - HMS Queen Elizabeth, a chap called Nathan Gray. He was from Smallthorne (a suburb of Burslem near Port Vale FC). Growing up, they said to him what do you want to be and he said I want to be a pilot. They said, no, pits or pots*, which do you want to do? He said, I want to be a pilot."
"So, all through his life, his place of birth wasn't encouraging for him, and he falls at, he falls at, he falls but he ended up as the top chief air pilot for the Air Fleet Army, for the country and did amazing things."
"When he visits a school in Blurton, or Smallthorne, and says where he was from, he can demonstrate to them, 'You can do this.' He's gone through all the problems you think you've got and he's overcome it. He is now one of the best pilots we've ever had. Staffordshire has got the best pilot and the best aircraft designer - they came from here. If you needed inspiration, it's there, there's nothing to stop you from going on and achieving. That doesn't have to be the top, just has to be somewhere, just go and be the best you can be."
That's what the council did when they put that money in to build a gallery, they didn't do it as a historic thing. They did it to help people see what was possible. To inspire, it's all about inspiration. So anything is possible, you need to be the best version of yourself that you can be. Only you can do it, but these are the role models, these are people, and the people who built Spitfires, lots of women built Spitfires, lots of women flew Spitfires, the ATA, all creeds, colours, flew them, made them, did everything. You know, it's a wonderful example of what's possible in the whole story of the Spitfire."
"And the story of Reginald Mitchell, it's there for everyone, we should celebrate it, but we should use it as inspiration."
*Operation Spitfire is the name of the programme Julian is involved with.
*Pits or Pots refers to the mining or pottery industries that dominated Stoke-on-Trent.
Julian Mitchell's Insights on Operation Spitfire
