Spitfire replica being sent from Cornwall to Lesotho

[Phoenix1969]

A full-size replica Spitfire has been built in a Cornish shed to give to the King of Lesotho | The Cornishman (http://www.cornishman.co.uk/a-full-size-replica-spitfire-has-been-built-in-a-cornish-shed-to-give-to-the-king-of-lesotho/story-29693657-detail/story.html)

Hope in right part of forum. Didn't know about Lesotho's contribution to WW2.

[Wander00]

From the article it seems the country, formerly Basutoland, gave 24 Spitfires to the UK during the war. Seems an appropriate gift to mark 50 years of their independence

[Wander00]

Half page (nearly) article with pictures in today's Times

[Phoenix1969]

More on this story, this time with a video - Replica spitfire built in Cornwall as thank you for WW2 help - BBC News (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-37368295)

[gruntie]

I used to live in Lesotho - or Basutoland as it was then - in the early 60s. The capital would have been called a "one horse town", if someone hadn't forgotten the horse. They only got their first fire engine about then: 24 state-of-the-art fighters in the 40s must have been a significant slice of their GDP, if not all of it.

[Allan Lupton]

More on this story, this time with a video - Replica spitfire built in Cornwall as thank you for WW2 help - BBC News (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-37368295)
A pedant he say it's a full size model not a replica!
I note the muddled geographical thinking of the BBC's reporter has invented Lesotholand :rolleyes:

[Herod]

From an earlier article I read, only a small proportion of the money came from the occupants of the "white highlands". Most of it came from the tribes. Now that's something worth celebrating.

[gruntie]

...only a small proportion of the money came from the occupants of the "white highlands".

Probably because there weren't any. Basutoland was a Protectorate, not a Colony: European population was always relatively minimal.