102-year-old Dunkirk veteran unveils reconditioned Spitfire given to Stoke in 1972

  • Central

A Spitfire donated to Stoke-on-Trent by the RAF in 1972 is going back on public display as a new £5.4m gallery is unveiled.

A 3,800 sq ft extension to the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery has been attended by the great-nephew of the Spitfire's designer Reginald Mitchell.

Norman Lewis, a 102-year-old Dunkirk veteran unveiled the new centre-piece of the Potteries Museum And Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.

The plane has been fully restored in a two year project by experts in Kent.

It was donated to Stoke-on-Trent in 1972 in recognition of its links with aeronautical engineer and designer of the Spitfire, Reginald Mitchell.

Credit: ITV Central!

The Mark XVI Spitfire, built at Castle Bromwich in May 1945, was used in Germany shortly after the Second World War ended and last flew in 1952, when it was damaged during take-off at RAF Middle Wallop in Hampshire.

It was then used as a "gate guardian" at RAF bases before being donated to Stoke-on-Trent in honour of RJ Mitchell, initially going on display in a large greenhouse-type structure on the city's Bethesda Street.

Julian Mitchell's great-uncle died aged 42 in 1937.

It's hoped the dedicated Spitfire Gallery will help encourage a new generation into engineering.

The display opens to the public on Saturday.

  • Lewis Warner reports.