A SPITFIRE engraving has been presented to the people of Sunderland by the RAF.

The iconic Spitfire in a Battle of Britain scene was created by thousands of rivets placed and fired by visitors at this year's Sunderland International Airshow.

This year is the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain and the outline and silhouette for the Spitfire picture, which is three metres long (nearly 10ft) by two metres, came from technicians at RAF Cosford.

Flt Lt Dan Jones, from the North East RAF Careers office, said: "It could be called a gun engraving and what it shows is a very typical scene from the Battle of Britain.

"With all its thousands of rivets, it was made by the people of Sunderland at the Sunderland International Airshow, and so the RAF thought it deserved to be in the North East.

"In creating the engraving, everybody got to put a rivet in and it was giving people an example of the sort of trades and work that can be experienced in the RAF."

Flt Lt Jones said that Sunderland and the North-East had always been strong recruitment areas for the RAF because engineering and technology are recognised career opportunities.

The presentation to the people of Sunderland was made by Sqn Ldr Jayne Lindley with Flt Jones, and Sgts Pudney and Longmuir, to Cllr Henry Trueman, deputy leader of Sunderland City Council.

The engraving was presented to Cllr Trueman in the Mayor's Parlour, where he was joined the Mayor of Sunderland Cllr Barry Curran.

The council is now looking at a suitable display area for the engraving, which also depicts flags of the many nationalities that were represented in the RAF in 1940.