Appeal for Battle of Britain museum to honour 'The Few'
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.
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 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.
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 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....
Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)
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 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.
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 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....