Originally Posted by Proofide

I don't know much about the Spitfire, other than that it's very beautiful. I do know that that particular one was called "Borough of Lambeth" because it was paid for by public subscription among the people of that rather poor London borough, who must have made sacrifices to raise the money. These Spitfire Funds were quite a regular thing, so I anticipate that others, too, were named in recognition of those who raised the money for them. They were in need of constant replacement - my uncle had the dubious distinction of writing off three of them, the last time ending up a prisoner in Germany. Ironically, his step-brother worked for A.V. Roe in Manchester, and worked on the design of the Lancaster bomber.