Spitfire Fund

Date(s) occurred: 15 November 1940 - 15 May 1941

Account of events: Launched at the Fall Formal of 1940, the Spitfire Fund intended to raise funds to contribute toward the war effort. The goal was to raise enough money to purchase a Spitfire plane.

In its first year—under the direction of chairman of the Spitfire Fund Committee, Darrell "Dag" Munro—students spent the year raising funds through a variety of means. The Spitfire Fund Committee organized the sale souvenirs made from pieces of the Lieutenant-Governor's flag-pole, the sale of soft drinks at the Fall Formal, a coat-check and canteen in the new Lady Beaverbrook Gymnasium, and the raising of funds at the annual Conversazione. The UNB Dramatic Society also greatly contributed to the fund by donating the proceeds of several one-act plays presented in the fall of 1940. The Ladies Society sold approximately 125 flag-pole souvenirs; they also donated all the proceeds from a sing-song hosted at Memorial Hall and, over several "Penny Days," collected pennies from the male students across campus to contribute to the fund.

By May of 1941 the students had raised five hundred dollars which they then cabled to Lord Beaverbrook, the British Minister of Aircraft Production at the time.

In its second year the Spitfire Fund organized a series of informal "Spitfire Dances" hosted at Memorial Hall. At formal dances they sold refreshments and auctioned off an orchid corsage at the Fall Formal. During that week of the Fall Formal, a Penny Drive was instigated with the goal of filling a Rugby Referee's Cup; upon arriving at the dance that evening, this "Cup of Coppers" campaign had raised a total of fifty dollars.

See also: The Second World War at UNB

Source(s):

• Up the Hill, Organizations, 1941.
• UA Case 128; Section 2; File 7; Spitfire Fund.