ACTOR Bill Pertwee, who played the grumpy air raid warden in the Dad's Army TV series, visited Kent to receive a cheque on behalf of the RAF Guinea Pig Club.

The club was formed by Second World War airmen who suffered horrific burns as a result of crashes and combat, and who became the "guinea pigs" for revolutionary plastic surgery pioneered by Sir Archibald McIndoe at the Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead.

Fittingly, the cheque for several hundreds of pounds presented to Mr Pertwee came from the Shoreham Aircraft Museum, near Sevenoaks, and represented money raised from opening its collection of air artefacts and memorabilia to the public on summer afternoons.

During the presentation, those attending were delighted to witness a low-level fly-past by a Hawker Hurricane fighter, part of the RAF's Battle of Britain Memorial Flight based at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire.

Powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, the Hurricane - in conjunction with the Spitfire - was the mainstay of Britain's air defence against the German Luftwaffe during the early years of the war.

* Shoreham Aircraft Museum is in the High Street at Shoreham, near Sevenoaks, and is open every Sunday until the end of September, 10am to 5pm. Admission is £2 adults, children free. Call 01959 524416 for further details.