Articles

Battle of Britain Day

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Web Editor

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12th February 2018

Sunday 15 September 1940 was the day on which massed waves of Luftwaffe aircraft came to attack England expecting little opposition, though were met by a strong force of RAF fighters which hit the enemy formations with might. As dawn broke on 15 September 1940, there was a touch of mist in the air over…
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Messerschmitt Bf 109E cockpit

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Web Editor

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12th February 2018

1 Revi gun sight 2 Clock 3 Magneto switches 4 Altimeter 5 Magnetic compass 6 Boost gauge 7 Air speed indicator 8 Turn and bank indicator 9 RPM gauge 10 Propeller pitch indicator 11 Fuel and oil pressure gauge 12 Undercarriage indicator 13 Fuel contents gauge 14 Oil temperature gauge 15 Coolant temperature gauge 16…
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RAF Bentley Priory – HQ Fighter Command

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Web Editor

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12th February 2018

Once home to Fighter Command and from where the Battle of Britain was organised by Sir Hugh Dowding, plans are in hand for Bentley Priory to become a museum dedicated to the memory of ‘The Few’. From July 1936 to April 1968, Bentley Priory served as the Headquarters of Fighter Command. As well as being…
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The letter that changed the course of history

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Darren Hendley

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6th February 2018

On 16 May 1940 Air Chief Marshal Lord Dowding, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Fighter Command, wrote this famous letter to the Under Secretary of State at the Air Ministry requesting that a sufficient Home Defence fighter force be maintained in Britain and that until the minimum strength was reached not a single further fighter should…
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Birth of a legend

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Darren Hendley

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6th February 2018

The development of the first Spitfire, K5054 On 5 March 1936, a beautiful-looking sleek new monoplane made its first flight from the Supermarine works airfield at Eastleigh in Hampshire – attractive as it may have been, this aircraft was designed to be the leading fighter of its time and intended solely for combat. The Spitfire…
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‘Lancs’ on film

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Darren Hendley

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24th January 2018

With Peter Jackson’s new ‘take’ on the ‘dam busters’ legend currently in production, Jonathan Falconer looks back to the original – and some might say never-to-be-bettered The Dam Busters – when real RAF bomber pilots flew real Lancasters on camera. For many cinemagoers, The Dam Busters is probably the best-known and loved British war film…
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Enemy coast ahead

by

Darren Hendley

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22nd January 2018

In 1944 Wg Cdr Guy Gibson VC DSO* DFC* wrote a fascinating account of his wartime experiences, which was first published in book form in 1946. What follows here are edited extracts taken from his original manuscript that form an article focusing on the famous Dams raid of 16/17 May 1943 – written by the man who formed and led 617 Squadron on this most famous aerial operation.…
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