Capel le Ferne; The Battle of Britain Memorial
New Dover Road, Folkstone, Kent
Photography by Steve Brunsden (Copyright Reserved)
The idea for a National Memorial to The Few came from one of their number. Wing Commander Geoffrey Page had been a 20-year-old Hurricane pilot with 56 Squadron in the Battle.
On 12 August 1940, Pilot Officer Page was shot down and baled out into the sea with terrible burns. He went on to become a founding member of the Guinea Pig Club for RAF personnel treated at the Queen Victoria Hospital by the team of plastic surgeons led by Archie McIndoe.
Determination and courage ensured that Geoffrey returned to operational flying, becoming a wing leader. He was awarded the DFC and bar and at the time he received the DSO in 1944 he was credited with having destroyed 15 enemy aircraft. A crash late in the war seriously injured him again and he returned to East Grinstead.
Years later, Geoffrey realised to his astonishment that there was no memorial to his comrades who had flown with him in Fighter Command in 1940.
His determination that The Few should be remembered found a focus at “Hellfire Corner”, the area of Dover and Folkestone over which so much of the fighting had taken place in 1940. The Battle of Britain Memorial Trust was established and fund raising began.
On July 9 1993, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother opened the National Memorial at Capel-le-Ferne to see Geoffrey’s dream realised. He died in August 2000, shortly after attending the Memorial Day marking the 60th anniversary of the Battle.
The central stature was carved by Harry Gray of the Carving Workshop in Cambridge.
He later revealed that after being asked by the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust to create the focal point of the site, he settled on the idea of a pilot but found it difficult to come up with a design he was happy with.
Then one day, during a break, Harry’s trainee sat down and adopted a contemplative pose that provided the sculptor with the inspiration that had previously eluded him.
The Christopher Foxley-Norris Memorial Wall is named in tribute to the late Air Chief Marshal Sir Christopher Foxley-Norris, a Hurricane fighter pilot in 1940. He was the first President of the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust and, together with Lady Foxley-Norris, provided the funds that allowed the wall to go ahead.
The Christopher Foxley-Norris Memorial Wall was unveiled by HRH Prince Michael of Kent in July 2005.
The wall contains the names of all those aircrew known to have flown at least one sortie with an accredited squadron or unit of the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain in 1940.
Hawker Hurricane Mk 1 Replica US-X
The Hawker Hurricane Mk l replica US-X was generously donated to the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust by the Tory Family Foundation. It represents as precisely as possible the No 56 Squadron aircraft in which 20 year-old Pilot Officer Geoffrey Page was shot down and terribly burned on 12 August 1940.
Supermarine Spitfire Mk 1 Replica
The Supermarine Spitfire Mk1 replica represents as precisely as possible the aircraft YT-J, serial number R6675, flown most by Flying Officer Jeffery Quill OBE AFC during his short operational attachment to No 65 Squadron from 6 August to 24 August 1940.
