Following the bombing of their Southampton factories in September 1940 Vickers Armstrongs (Supermarine) Ltd. were forced to 'disperse' the design and production of the Spitfire across the south of England. In December 1940 the Design Office and Production departments arrived at the newly requisitioned Hursley Park. They were to remain for almost 18 years during which time their designs had help win World War II, create many variants of the legendary Spitfire and go on, in the post-War period, to design some of Britain's early jet fighters like the RAF's Swift and the RN's Attacker and Scimitar.