Awards

Operation Spitfire are the winners of the Royal Aeronautical Society (Raes) Education and Skills Committee Team Award 2025

We’re thrilled to announce that Operation Spitfire 4 Schools, together with the wider Operation Spitfire board, has been honoured with the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) 2025 Education and Skills Committee Team Award. For a young organisation working to inspire the next generation of engineers and scientists, this recognition is an enormous honour. It reflects the passion, creativity and hard work of our entire team in developing not only engaging and exciting curriculum and enrichment opportunities, but also the power of partnerships in creating meaningful learning experiences for our young people. Through Operation Spitfire 4 Schools, we deliver a high-quality, history-rich and STEM-focused programme combining curriculum learning, museum experiences, expert talks, hands-on engineering workshops and opportunities that develop confidence, curiosity and aspiration. Our mission is simple but ambitious: to use the story of the Spitfire to inspire futures and widen access to STEM for young people across Stoke -on-Trent, Staffordshire and beyond. This award is a signal to educators, partners, supporters and policymakers that this programme matters — and it works. If you believe in nurturing talent, widening opportunity, celebrating heritage and transforming futures, we’d love you to join us, collaborate with us, or help us spread the word.

Operation Spitfire

Operation Spitfire is a constituted team of volunteers chaired by Julian Mitchell, great nephew of Reginald Mitchell, designer of the Spitfire aircraft. Over the last 15 years, the group have successfully fund-raised for the restoration of Stoke-on-Trent’s Spitfire aircraft; developed a Spitfire cockpit simulator for public use; redesigned a museum’s Spitfire Gallery with the aforementioned aircraft and simulator to increase STEM engagement and interactivity; and launched ‘Operation Spitfire 4 Schools’ – a novel curriculum for KS2 and KS3 pupils centred around the Spitfire aircraft to ultimately strengthen civic pride and the STEM pipeline in one of the UK’s most marginalised regions.

the Royal Aeronautical Society

The Royal Aeronautical Society has been honouring outstanding achievers in the global aerospace industry since 1909, when Wilbur and Orville Wright came to London to receive the Society’s first Gold Medal. Over the years, honouring aerospace achievers in this way has become an annual tradition. The Society’s Awards Programme recognises and celebrates individuals and teams who have made an exceptional contribution to aerospace, whether it is for an outstanding achievement, a major technical innovation, exceptional leadership, or for work that will further advance aerospace.

Collaborate to Innovate Awards

Operation Spitfire 4 Schools attended The Engineer’s Collaborate to Innovate Awards at The Institute of Chartered Engineers in London on Thursday 26th February 2026. We are honoured that the curriculum was nominated in the STEM Initiative Category. This award celebrates outstanding examples of STEM engagement. Neil Young, Global Engineering Capability Director at Babcock International Group in his key note speech stated that, “Now more than ever, we need engineers and we need engineering skills if, as a nation, we are able to defend our country, protect UK sovereignty and build a future for growth. Yet we are facing a future that could be hampered by skills shortages.” Through working in partnership with industry and academia, the Operation Spitfire 4 Schools curriculum raises student’s awareness of the engineering opportunities available to them within Stoke-On-Trent and Staffordshire whilst developing their STEM skills. In so doing we contribute towards building a resilient STEM pipeline that supports prosperity in Stoke-On-Trent and Staffordshire.