'The statue depicts Mitchell wearing a suit, pen in his right hand, book in his left. The low relief panel attached to the pedestal depicts two images of Mitchell from the waist up; in one he is smartly dressed in jacket and tie; in the other he at his drawing board, shirt sleeves rolled up. Above the two portrait images is a depiction of the Spitfire he designed.'
Inscription.
(On plaque on pedestal in raised lettering)
THIS STATUE OF
REGINALD J. MITCHELL C.B.E.
WAS UNVEILED ON 21ST MAY 1995 TO COMMEMORATE
THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS BIRTH
BY
AIR CHIEF MARSHALL
SIR MICHAEL KNIGHT
K.C.B., A.F.C., F.R.A.E.S.,
THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL THE LORD MAYOR
OF THE CITY OF STOKE-ON-TRENT
COUNCILLOR J.E. DUNN
AND TRUSTEES OF THE
REGINALD MITCHELL MEMORIAL TRUST
CHAIRMAN, J.A. HUMPHREYS (FREEMAN OF THE CITY),
COUNCILLOR E. SMITH, (LEADER OF THE CITY COUNCIL),
JOHN RIDGWAY. JUDY RIDGWAY AND JOHN ABBERLEY.
MICHAEL TALBOT(SCULPTOR)
(on relief plaque below)
REGINALD MITCHELL
C.B.E. A.M.I.G.E. F.R.Ae.S.
DESIGNER OF THE SPITFIRE
BORN
20 MAY 1895
'Reginald Joseph Mitchell (1895-1937) was born in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. He trained as an engineer then joined the Vickers Armstrong Supermarine Co. in 1916, rapidly becoming chief designer. He designed sea-planes during the 1920s and early 1930s, and from one of them, the Supermarine S6 which set speed records and won the Schiedner trophy in 1931, he developed the Spitfire. Mitchell did not live to see the success of his Spitfire in combat in World War Two.'
'The statue in Stoke-on-Trent is a second bronze casting. The original is sited in the Museum of Aviation in Southampton, where it stands between two of the Spitfires Mitchell designed. It was installed there in 1990 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.'
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