| The Battle of Britain Memorial | |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | |
 Statue of a seated pilot at the Battle of Britain Memorial | |
| For the RAF casualties of the Battle of Britain | |
| Unveiled | 9 July 1993 |
| Location | near |
| Designed by | Harry Gray |
The Battle of Britain Memorial is a monument to aircrew who flew in the Battle of Britain. It is sited on the White Cliffs at Capel-le-Ferne, near Folkestone, on the coast of Kent.
It was initiated by the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust, and opened by the Queen Mother on 9 July 1993. It is formed of a large propeller-shaped base, with the figure of a seated pilot carved by Harry Gray sitting at the centre. The propeller shape has led the monument to be considered a hill figure.
Also on the site are replicas of a Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire and the Christopher Foxley-Norris Memorial Wall, on which appears the names of the almost 3,000 fighter aircrew who flew in the Battle.
In October 2010 The Duchess of Cornwall unveiled a bust of Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park by sculptor Will Davies at the site.
The new visitor centre, 'The Wing' is an eye-catching design in the shape of a Spitfire wing, complete with dihedral angle. Architects Godden Allen Lawn along with consulting engineers Crofton Consulting were appointed to undertake the building design with contractors Epps Construction undertaking the construction work. [1] [2] The building was opened by Her Majesty the Queen on 26 March 2015 and won 'Project of the Year' at the 2016 Kent Design and Development awards. [3]
Conceived as an experience rather than a museum the building contains The Scramble Experience; a central ‘cockpit’ area with an open balcony offering superb views across the Channel to France, from where the Luftwaffe would have appeared in 1940. A high-tech screen is used to superimpose historical film of incoming German aircraft over the real view of the same scene.
The Few were the airmen of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the aviators of the Fleet Air Arm, Royal Navy (RN) who fought the Battle of Britain in the Second World War. The term comes from Winston Churchill's phrase "Never, in the field of human conflict, was so much owed by so many to so few." It also alludes to Shakespeare's famous speech in his play, Henry V: "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers..."
The Kent Battle of Britain Museum is an aviation museum located in Hawkinge, Kent, focused on the Allied and Axis men of the Battle of Britain. The Spirit of the Few Monument is in the grounds of the museum.
Harry Gray may refer to:
Capel-le-Ferne is a village on the White Cliffs of Dover, near Folkestone in Kent, England. Its name derives from a medieval French term meaning "chapel in the ferns". In 2011 the village had a population of 1,884. It is perched on top of the White Cliffs of Dover.
The Supermarine Spiteful was a British Rolls-Royce Griffon–engined fighter aircraft designed by Supermarine to Air Ministry specification F.1/43 during the Second World War as a successor to the Spitfire. It had a new wing design to improve its critical Mach number, and allow safe operations at higher speeds. The new design also had a modern inwards-retracting undercarriage. Other changes included a larger fin to improve the somewhat marginal stability of Griffon Spitfires and changes to the mounting of the engine to tilt it down slightly for better visibility over the nose.
The Battle of Britain Monument in London is a sculpture on the Victoria Embankment, overlooking the River Thames, which commemorates the individuals who took part in the Battle of Britain during the Second World War.
The Supermarine Nighthawk or P.B.31E was a First World War British aircraft, designed by Noel Pemberton Billing and built at Woolston, Southampton after Pemberton Billing's company became Supermarine Aviation Works Ltd. The P.B.31E, as with its predecessor the P.B.29 "Battle Plane", was an anti-Zeppelin night fighter. It was operated by a crew of three to five, and was designed to fly for 9–18 hours. The prototype of the P.B.31E flew in February 1917. It quickly became obsolete when it was found that Zeppelins could be more easily be destroyed by igniting their hydrogen bags using explosive bullets. Only a prototype aircraft was built.
Number 601 Squadron is a squadron of the RAF Reserves, based in London. The squadron took part in the Battle of Britain, during which the first Americans to fly in World War II were members of the squadron.
Joseph Inkerman Johnson was born in 1914 in Hulcote, Northamptonshire. He joined the RAF in June 1935 as an Aircrafthand (Carpenter). He was later remustered as an Airman-in training Pilot and won his wings on 11 August 1939 — three weeks before Britain declared war on Germany.
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griffon-engined Mk 24 using several wing configurations and guns. It was the only British fighter produced continuously throughout the war. The Spitfire remains popular among enthusiasts; around 70 remain airworthy, and many more are static exhibits in aviation museums throughout the world.
RNAS Capel was a First World War airship station near Folkestone, Kent.
Keith Ashley Lawrence was a New Zealand-born British Royal Air Force Officer, who was one of the last surviving members of "The Few".
Flight Lieutenant William Louis Buchanan Walker, AE was, at the time of his death, the oldest surviving pilot from the Battle of Britain. His poem "Our Wall" about the Battle of Britain is inscribed on a special plinth aside the Christopher Foxley-Norris Memorial Wall of the Battle of Britain Memorial, Capel-le-Ferne, Kent.
These awards were created to celebrate design excellence in Kent and were first staged in 2003 and are usually held every two years. They were then renamed 'Kent Design and Development Awards' in 2012. Then have stayed as the 'Kent Design and Development Awards' in 2014.
The Supermarine Spitfire was developed in the mid-1930s as a short-range, high-performance interceptor aircraft by chief designer R. J. Mitchell.
51°05′55″N1°12′21″E / 51.0985°N 1.2059°E
