THE chosen design for Southampton’s Spitfire monument has attracted overwhelming public support.

The Daily Echo revealed the winner of national competition to design the £2m tribute to RJ Mitchell iconic fighter plane on Saturday and so far city residents have given it their full backing.

An online Daily Echo poll found that nine out of ten respondents liked the design.

While some questioned whether it would ever get built almost half said it “ticked all the right boxes”.

Just one in 20 people said they didn’t like it. A handful were unsure.

More than 300 entries flooded into the design competition in just three weeks.

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A shortlist were tested for their feasibility by the city’s Spitfire Tribute Foundation which picked a fully costed concept by renowned Australian designer and Spitfire enthusiast Nick Hancock.

He said his team was ecstatic and immensely proud to be chosen to take the project forward.

The public support is also a welcome boost for the fundraising campaign that aims to raise £2m to begin construction of the monument by the end of next year to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the maiden flight of the Spitfire.

The cash will be raised from corporate sponsors, donations from individuals and grants.

Alan Jones, the curator of Southampton’s Solent Sky Museum and a member of the Spitfire Tribute Foundation, said: “I’m really pleased the public are behind this. Nick’s design ticked every one of our boxes.

“It’s elegant and graceful. It has a lot of movement in it. And what’s also very important is it doesn’t detract from RJ Mitchell’s original design.”

The national landmark will sit on land beside the Trafalgar dry dock alongside the state-of-the-art £19m Ocean Terminal, two miles from the Supermarine Aviation site where RJ Mitchell developed the aircraft.

The monument will be almost as tall as New York’s Statue of Liberty.

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown launched the official fundraising drive at a Downing Street reception. The project has also received the backing of current premier David Cameron and his Defence Secretary Liam Fox.