How Shropshire's wartime fundraiser paid for Shrewsbury's very own Spitfire

This year marks the 90th anniversary of the first time the Supermarine Spitfire roared through Britain's skies, an iconic fighter which has become an enduring national symbol.

And in the dark days of 1940 the people of Shrewsbury and further afield would raise money to buy their very own Spitfire to do battle with the Luftwaffe. By October 1940 they had reached the target set by the Mayor of Shrewsbury, Captain Harry Steward, in double quick time.

The money came from fundraising and donations which were many and varied. Children from the Bog School in south Shropshire sent £2 2s. - £2.10 in modern money - to buy some rivets for the plane. A doll competition in Leighton raised £3. Domestic staff at Brampton Bryan Hall raised £13 10s. And so on.

More money poured in after the initial target of £5,000, which was the nominal cost of buying a Spitfire, was met. In September 1941 Captain Steward sent off nearly £2,000 more, saying he hoped shortly to receive a picture of the Spitfire bearing Shrewsbury's name - which he did, and it was published in the Shrewsbury Chronicle in January 1942.

Although fuzzy - and who knows if the original survives somewhere - it showed a Spitfire with the name "Shrewsbury" just forward of the cockpit.

In addition a grateful Ministry of Aircraft Production sent a plaque to Shrewsbury commemorating the gift.

So what happened to the Shrewsbury Spitfire?

Wally Milne, a wartime RAF pilot, clearly remembered flying a Spitfire bearing the name of Shropshire's county town, and in the last part of his life was keen that modern Salopians knew more about the story.

In early 1941 he was one of the core of a new squadron being formed at Filton, Bristol - 118 Squadron.

"Planes were allocated to various people, and I happened to get 'Shrewsbury'. It was a Spitfire Mark IIb, the first to have two 20mm cannons. I do have a picture of it somewhere but have looked and looked and just can't find it. It was a brand new plane and I was the first to take delivery," said Mr Milne, from Nottingham, speaking a few months before his death in 2010 at the age of 94.

He flew the Spitfire in action and had some narrow scrapes. According to Mr Milne, the plane even featured in the 1941 film starring David Niven and Leslie Howard called "The First of the Few."

Flying Officer Milne left 118 Squadron in November 1941, breaking his connection with the Shrewsbury Spitfire.

The picture of the Shrewsbury Spitfire carried in the Shrewsbury Chronicle is of a cannon-armed aircraft, which coincides with Wally's account.

However these days there is information on the internet listing these so-called presentation Spitfires - there were similar fundraising efforts to buy Spitfires up and down the country.

One list has two Spitfires named Shrewsbury, one with the serial number BL 365, and the other BL 863, neither of which served with 118 Squadron, and both of which were the later Spitfire Vb model, not the Spitfire IIb Wally remembered flying.

Did Wally misremember? He had no truck with that. He was adamant that it was he who first flew the Shrewsbury Spitfire.

"I'm 100 per cent positive. I would stake my life on it." he declared.