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Battle Of Britain Memorial

By the beginning of June 1940 the Dunkirk evacuation of the British army from France was complete. On the 22nd of June the French government signed an armistice with Germany, ending the battle for France. Following a short pause, the Battle of Britain began, officially starting on the 10th of July. The Luftwaffe aimed to destroy Fighter Command by the13th of August, and failing to do so they attacked airfields, and then turned to mass attacks on London. By the 20th of August it seemed that the RAF would be able to hold out against the Luftwaffe, and on that day in Parliament Winston Churchill made his famous speech in which he said: "never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few."

A memorial to the people who fought in the Battle of Britain has been built at Capel Le Ferne near Folkestone in Kent, an area where a great deal of intense fighting took place in the skies overhead. There is a visitors' centre, a Spitfire and a Hurricane aircraft, a flag mast which stood at Biggin Hill airfield during the battle, and the memorial itself, which consists of a huge representation of a propeller laid out in the grass, with a statue of a young pilot in the middle looking out to sea. I found walking around the memorial a moving experience. The young pilot is staring out over the sea. He looks reflective and peaceful, as though it's all over now and he can sit back and think about the past. There is also a sense, however, that he is still watching the sky for enemy aircraft. He is in full flight kit, ready to go. If the call came you get the feeling he would jump up and run off to the Spitfire parked outside the visitors' centre where people are having cups of tea. This is a thoughtful memorial, fittingly reflective, and yet with an immediacy, which suggests the atmosphere of those months in the summer of 1940. The memorial is peaceful, and yet there is still a feeling that any moment now...

Every year on the closest Sunday to the date of the start of the Battle of Britain a Memorial Day parade is held, with fly past by the Battle of Britain Flight.

Opening Times: the memorial is open everyday, but facilities might not be. The car park will not be open from the beginning of September until the spring, although there is some limited parking in the layby leading into the memorial site.

Directions: the memorial is just off the B2011at Capel le Ferne. Click here for an interactive map of the area around the Battle of Britain Memorial. Use the satellite view to see the propellor design laid out on the ground.

 

Access: disabled access is good. The memorial is on one level.

Contact:

phone: 01732 870809

web site: http://www.battleofbritainmemorial.org/