New home for damaged replica

The Trust is doubly delighted to have worked closely with our friends at the nearby Kent Battle of Britain Museum to secure a new home for our damaged Spitfire replica.

The damaged Mk 1 Spitfire, blown off its wheels in a storm at the end of last year and said to be beyond economic repair, will be given a new lease of life at the museum by Dave Brocklehurst MBE and fellow trustees and volunteers.

And that's just part of the good news. Dave, a long-time friend and supporter of the Memorial, has in return contributed a generous sum to the charity to help close the gap between the insurance payout on the damaged aircraft and the cost of acquiring a new Spitfire replica.

The original replica was bought following a substantial donation by the distinguished Spitfire test pilot Alex Henshaw, who flew around 2,360 Spitfires and its naval equivalent the Seafire - more than 10% of the total manufactured - between 1940 and 1945.

Despite his generous contribution towards growing the Memorial in its early days by adding an exciting new element, he insisted that the Trust used the replica to pay tribute to his boss at Vickers, Jeffrey Quill, who was the second man to test fly the Spitfire.

Quill persuaded his civilian bosses to let him test the fighter under front-line operational conditions, and on 5 August 1940 he joined No 605 Squadron on a short secondment which saw him achieve some combat success as well as allowing him to suggest improvements to the Spitfire's design.

In response to Henshaw's wishes, the Trust painted the replica in the colours of the aircraft in which Quill flew during the Battle of Britain. His generosity in funding the replica will not be forgotten.

The Trust is therefore delighted that the replica, which had endured 20 years of salty air and clifftop wind and rain at Capel-le-Ferne, will now be repaired and put back on display at the impressive and always-expanding museum at Hawkinge.

Meanwhile the donation will be a considerable boost to the Crowdfunder set up by the charity to help pay for a replacement replica, now expected to arrive at the site towards the end of August.

The Museum and the Trust have always worked in cooperation and have just updated a jointly produced map that helps visitors to one attraction locate the other, just a few miles away so that anyone interested in the Battle of Britain can really make a day of it.

The photo below shows Dave handing the donation cheque to Memorial Manager Jules Gomez.