The site for the Moffat Spitfire Project is in the gardens of Dowding House, formerly St Ninian’s Preparatory School and now owned by the Royal Air Force Association as a home for retired service personnel from all three of the armed forces and their dependants.

Dowding was the son of Maud and the Rev Arthur Dowding, who founded St Ninians’s and was headmaster of the school, and so was born in the building that will overlook the garden and the mounted Spitfire.

The man who went on to play such a crucial, history-defining role in the Battle of Britain in 1940 studied at St Ninians before going to Winchester College at the age of 13 and would have known the building and the garden site well.

St Ninians was founded by Mr A J C Dowding and the Rev W H Churchill in 1879.

The founders, Mr and Mrs A J C Dowding (in doorway) and the Rev W M Churchill with Miss Churchill (seated) with the original 9 boys.
Summer Term 1879.

There is another connection between Spitfire PT462 and the site at St Ninians. In 1959, many years before he came across the replica, Dr Hamish MacLeod moved to Moffat to take up the temporary position of science teacher at the school and so is familiar with the site that is to be the aircraft’s new home. He served the community over the years and still lives in the town.

Planning permission for the scheme has been submitted and it is hoped that the replica will be installed in its new home in the spring of 2025.