The Secret Spitfires documentary screens exclusively at Showcase Cinema de Lux Southampton

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The Secret Spitfires documentary screens exclusively at Showcase Cinema de Lux Southampton

Showcase Cinemas Southampton announces the one-off screening of The Secret Spitfires, a remarkable documentary telling the story of inspirational people who secretly made Spitfires in WWII.

Having taken 75 years for this story to come to light, at Showcase Cinema de Lux, Westquay Southampton on Saturday (2nd December) at 2pm, film and history fans will be able to finally hear the incredible story of how WWII Spitfire fighter aircraft were built right in the heart of Southern England.

In 1940, with Hitler's determination to destroy Spitfire production and to achieve air superiority as a prelude to invasion, the Germans succeeded in destroying the fighter aircraft factories in Southampton.

But unknown to them, the British decided to build Spitfires in surrounding rural towns and cities, hidden in sheds, garages, back gardens, bus depots and even a hotel. Main centres were set up in Salisbury, Trowbridge and Reading, which were connected to multiple units and workshops across the South, including dispersed locations around the spiritual home of the Spitfire, Southampton. With a workforce mainly made up of unskilled young girls, boys, women, elderly men and a handful of engineers, thousands of these planes were built, becoming instrumental in winning the war. The secret was so well kept, even the family and friends of the workers never knew what they did and where they worked.

"The Germans never knew of these secret factories even though they had spies in the neighbourhood," says Ethem Cetintas, the film's co-director/producer together with Karl Howman, who discovered the story by a chance encounter with Gary Roberts, Associate Producer/researcher for the project, along with historian and secret factory engineer Norman Parker. "To this day, most local inhabitants don't know what happened, literally on their doorstep."

In the film, witnesses recount times of terrible sadness, as well as joy that include a Glen Miller concert and a Joe Louis boxing match, set against a backdrop of picturesque English countryside, the RAF pilots who fly them today and of course, the iconic Spitfires themselves. This incredible story concludes with Vera Lynn reciting a moving poem written by a Spitfire pilot.

For more information and tickets visit visit Showcasw Cinemas' website.