WITH reference to J C Martin’s comments (Letters, November 26) relating to the Spitfire Memorial, I cannot agree with his comments regarding the aircraft being ‘a violent warplane designed to kill or maim’. The Spitfire aircraft was a fighter plane, its aim being to protect against enemy bombers whose aim was to destroy, kill or maim.

I worked in the accounts department of Supermarine’s Woolston factory, where Spitfire aircraft were assembled. I was in the building on both September 24 and 26, 1940 when the factory was under attack from waves of enemy bombers. There had been no time to reach shelter. We were pounded by bombs and many of my coworkers lost their lives, including my close friend, a girl of 19.

I well remember the feeling of overwhelming relief as I heard the Spitfires arrive overhead, driving the raiders away.

What would have been J Martin’s solution to dispersing the Luftwaffe?

Records show that in June 1940, Germany was ready to invade Britain. Only the power of our fighter aircraft made them hesitate and, in the end, abandon their plan.

The Spitfire was almost our only defence against invaders at that time. Rather than, as J Martin states, such a monument to the Spitfire glorifies war, to me it signifies a victory against evil, and reminds peoples of the gratitude we should feel to the designer of the Spitfire and to the brave young men who flew the plan.

MRS J ROLFE, West End.