ianstone
09-10-2010, 04:43 PM
Appeal for Battle of Britain museum to honour 'The Few' at Bentley Priory HQ
Seventy years on from the Battle of Britain an appeal is being launched to open a new museum at Bentley Priory in Hertfordshire, the headquarters of RAF Fighter Command during the Second World War.
By Nicholas Milton
Published: 3:25PM BST 10 Sep 2010
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01712/raf_1712883c.jpg The memorial stain glass window at Bentley Priory
The 57 acre estate, the centre of which is a magnificent house designed by Sir John Soane dating back to the 1770s, is famous for being Lord Dowding’s operation room from where he coordinated 'the Few’.
Bentley Priory stopped being an operational RAF base in 2008 and has now been sold off to a developer for luxury houses and flats. This weekend the public will have a last chance to see the estate in its original glory as part of the English Heritage Open Days (http://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/) before it is developed. This will include a re-enactment of the operation room in its heyday and a fly-past by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight based at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire.
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The appeal is being led by a retired RAF officer, Air Chief Marshal Sir Brian Burridge, who is chairman of the Bentley Priory Battle of Britain Trust (http://www.bentleypriory.org/home/home.php?page_id=1)and was the last Commander in Chief there when it was an RAF base. “Bentley Priory is pivotal to the history of the Battle of Britain and the Second World War in this country. It is often said the Battle of Trafalgar saved England. Well the Battle of Britain saved the world. Who knows what would have been the outcome had we lost? That’s why it’s vital we commemorate what happened here. A museum dedicated to the Few is the most fitting way to do this”.
The development will see the house divided into two with the museum created on the ground floor and the upper floor being given over to luxury flats. As part of the planning agreement the developer VSM Estates will then provide the Battle of Britain Trust with a one off payment of £9 million to fund museum. However, another million pounds is needed to cover the running costs.
The appeal is being launched at a time when fund raising is particularly difficult given the economic climate. “It was clear to us from the outset there was no way we could have made the museum self sustaining and I don’t think it is appropriate for the taxpayer to contribute” Sir Brian said “That is why the site was sold off to a developer. So in the next two years we need to raise a million pounds, a lot of which I hope will come from lottery money. We then hope to open the museum to the public in 2013”.
Typical of the stories Sir Brian wants to tell is that of Flight Lieutenant William Walker, now 97. He was one of hundreds of Spitfire pilots scrambled by Dowding and was with 616 squadron based at RAF Lakenfield in Yorkshire. “I thought Dowding was a brilliant commander but it was lucky he didn’t know how rookie many of his pilots were.” Walker said “Training was very perfunctory. I’d never flown with my flight commander, he couldn’t care less. And I’d never seen my squadron leader either. You had to pick it all up solo, it was very hit and miss”
After just five hours training Walker was sent into action against the Luftwaffe in June 1940. “Three of us in Spitfires intercepted a Dornier bomber. I opened fire and saw the tracer fire riddle the sky. It was only when I got back that the Sergeant told me the canons were not loaded. The tracer fire was the German firing at me. After that I became the squadrons lucky mascot”. Yet Walkers luck was to run out just two months later when he was shot down over Dover by the Luftwaffe ace Werner Mölders and he spent the rest of the battle recovering in hospital. His story, Sir Brian maintains, is just as valid as that of more well known Battle of Britain heroes like Douglas Bader and Stanford Tuck and needs to be told so that people get a real idea of what it was like to fight in the battle.
Bentley Priory was also the location for the 1969 film the Battle of Britain starring Michael Caine and Ian McShane. The movie, which used some of the original combatants as advisers, will feature in the museum and during the Heritage Open Days there will be a fly-past over the house. The pilot will be Ian Smith or ‘Smithy’’, the Commanding Officer in charge of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (http://www.raf.mod.uk/bbmf/). “This will be a particularly special fly-past. Not only was Spitfire P7350 in the movie but it is also the only plane still in active service which fought in the original Battle of Britain,” he said.
At the end of the film Dowding, played by Lawrence Olivier, steps out onto the veranda and looks out over the sculpted Italianate garden to Harrow-on-the-Hill and the city of London beyond which he has just saved. Visitors will see Dowding’s office recreated just as it was in the dark days of 1940 and will be able to literally follow in his footsteps. This will include seeing how the operation room worked and learning about the ‘Dowding system’ which linked radar and the Royal Observer Corps to intercept incoming German aircraft.
Dowding is now rightly seen as the hero of the Battle of Britain but at the time his nickname was ‘Stuffy’ because he was considered aloof and remote. Sir Brian wants the museum to re-evaluate Dowding’s stiff upper lip and show this human side. “Dowding’s wife died early and he was a single dad for many years at a time when this was uncommon. Therefore he didn’t socialise much. He was already at retirement age when he was asked to stay on to lead RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain. After doing a brilliant job he was unceremoniously sacked in November 1940. History has treated him a lot better than the RAF”.
Seventy years on from the Battle of Britain an appeal is being launched to open a new museum at Bentley Priory in Hertfordshire, the headquarters of RAF Fighter Command during the Second World War.
By Nicholas Milton
Published: 3:25PM BST 10 Sep 2010
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01712/raf_1712883c.jpg The memorial stain glass window at Bentley Priory
The 57 acre estate, the centre of which is a magnificent house designed by Sir John Soane dating back to the 1770s, is famous for being Lord Dowding’s operation room from where he coordinated 'the Few’.
Bentley Priory stopped being an operational RAF base in 2008 and has now been sold off to a developer for luxury houses and flats. This weekend the public will have a last chance to see the estate in its original glory as part of the English Heritage Open Days (http://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/) before it is developed. This will include a re-enactment of the operation room in its heyday and a fly-past by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight based at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire.
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Battle of Britain museum at Bentley Priory under threat amid downturn (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/5070892/Battle-of-Britain-museum-at-Bentley-Priory-under-threat-amid-downturn.html)
The appeal is being led by a retired RAF officer, Air Chief Marshal Sir Brian Burridge, who is chairman of the Bentley Priory Battle of Britain Trust (http://www.bentleypriory.org/home/home.php?page_id=1)and was the last Commander in Chief there when it was an RAF base. “Bentley Priory is pivotal to the history of the Battle of Britain and the Second World War in this country. It is often said the Battle of Trafalgar saved England. Well the Battle of Britain saved the world. Who knows what would have been the outcome had we lost? That’s why it’s vital we commemorate what happened here. A museum dedicated to the Few is the most fitting way to do this”.
The development will see the house divided into two with the museum created on the ground floor and the upper floor being given over to luxury flats. As part of the planning agreement the developer VSM Estates will then provide the Battle of Britain Trust with a one off payment of £9 million to fund museum. However, another million pounds is needed to cover the running costs.
The appeal is being launched at a time when fund raising is particularly difficult given the economic climate. “It was clear to us from the outset there was no way we could have made the museum self sustaining and I don’t think it is appropriate for the taxpayer to contribute” Sir Brian said “That is why the site was sold off to a developer. So in the next two years we need to raise a million pounds, a lot of which I hope will come from lottery money. We then hope to open the museum to the public in 2013”.
Typical of the stories Sir Brian wants to tell is that of Flight Lieutenant William Walker, now 97. He was one of hundreds of Spitfire pilots scrambled by Dowding and was with 616 squadron based at RAF Lakenfield in Yorkshire. “I thought Dowding was a brilliant commander but it was lucky he didn’t know how rookie many of his pilots were.” Walker said “Training was very perfunctory. I’d never flown with my flight commander, he couldn’t care less. And I’d never seen my squadron leader either. You had to pick it all up solo, it was very hit and miss”
After just five hours training Walker was sent into action against the Luftwaffe in June 1940. “Three of us in Spitfires intercepted a Dornier bomber. I opened fire and saw the tracer fire riddle the sky. It was only when I got back that the Sergeant told me the canons were not loaded. The tracer fire was the German firing at me. After that I became the squadrons lucky mascot”. Yet Walkers luck was to run out just two months later when he was shot down over Dover by the Luftwaffe ace Werner Mölders and he spent the rest of the battle recovering in hospital. His story, Sir Brian maintains, is just as valid as that of more well known Battle of Britain heroes like Douglas Bader and Stanford Tuck and needs to be told so that people get a real idea of what it was like to fight in the battle.
Bentley Priory was also the location for the 1969 film the Battle of Britain starring Michael Caine and Ian McShane. The movie, which used some of the original combatants as advisers, will feature in the museum and during the Heritage Open Days there will be a fly-past over the house. The pilot will be Ian Smith or ‘Smithy’’, the Commanding Officer in charge of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (http://www.raf.mod.uk/bbmf/). “This will be a particularly special fly-past. Not only was Spitfire P7350 in the movie but it is also the only plane still in active service which fought in the original Battle of Britain,” he said.
At the end of the film Dowding, played by Lawrence Olivier, steps out onto the veranda and looks out over the sculpted Italianate garden to Harrow-on-the-Hill and the city of London beyond which he has just saved. Visitors will see Dowding’s office recreated just as it was in the dark days of 1940 and will be able to literally follow in his footsteps. This will include seeing how the operation room worked and learning about the ‘Dowding system’ which linked radar and the Royal Observer Corps to intercept incoming German aircraft.
Dowding is now rightly seen as the hero of the Battle of Britain but at the time his nickname was ‘Stuffy’ because he was considered aloof and remote. Sir Brian wants the museum to re-evaluate Dowding’s stiff upper lip and show this human side. “Dowding’s wife died early and he was a single dad for many years at a time when this was uncommon. Therefore he didn’t socialise much. He was already at retirement age when he was asked to stay on to lead RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain. After doing a brilliant job he was unceremoniously sacked in November 1940. History has treated him a lot better than the RAF”.