Patrick Tootal, Honorary Group Secretary of the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust at the launch of The Wing

by Tricia Jamieson

Memories of the dog fights over Kent which saved us from a German invasion in 1940 will be kept alive through an ambitious project.

Visitors to an education centre planned for the National Battle of Britain Memorial at Capel-le-Ferne will be able to experience what it was like to be in the battle.

Details of the £1.5 million centre, called The Wing, have just been unveiled.

The centre will be shaped like the wings of a Spitfire and will be behind the Christopher Foxley-Norris Memorial Wall, which lists the names of all the aircrew who fought in the Battle of Britain.

Already £600,000 of the funding has been pledged and applications for money from the National Lottery and other organisations will be made once planning permission has been granted.

Grp Capt Patrick Tootal, secretary of the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust which runs the site, said: “It is a brilliant plan.

“We realised we had to come up with a way of moving the site forward and show future generations why it is here.

“The aim is to educate and immerse people in the experience. It will give them a flavour of what it was all about.

“We think there are about 70 of The Few, who flew in the battle, still alive and about 22 of them are still active. We want to keep their memories alive.”

The Wing has been designed with the battle experience on the port side, classrooms and conference facilities on the starboard side and memorabilia and a cafe in the centre.

Describing the experience, Grp Capt Tootal said: “It will be unique.

“Visitors will be able to witness streams of German fighters coming across the Channel from Calais.

“There will be an interactive display with gunfire and commentary from the 1940s.”

A planning application is expected to be put in in the next couple of months to Dover council.

If approved and if all goes to plan, the centre could open in July, 2015, to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the start of the Battle of Britain.

For more information and how to donate, go towww.battleofbritainmemorial.org