Whitehall fly-past to mark Battle of Britain

The 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain will be marked by the Churchill War Rooms museum next month with a special Spitfire and Hurricane fly-past by over Whitehall.

A full-size replica Spitfire, dressed in Battle of Britain camouflage, will be displayed outside the museum allowing visitors to see up close the iconic plane which played a crucial role in securing Britain’s victory.

The museum will also be staging a reading of Winston Churchill’s famous “the few” speech on Friday 20 August at precisely 15:52pm, the time Churchill originally delivered it.

Phil Reed, Director of Churchill War Rooms commented: “In this speech Churchill epitomised his ability to capture in the most stirring way the spirit of a nation fighting for its existence, as Britain stood firm against the Nazi War machine. Now part of the general folklore of the Battle, the speech is today considered a defining moment of the conflict and one of Churchill’s most emotive and stirring pronouncements.”

Visitors to the War Rooms over the August Bank Holiday weekend will be able to see a reenactment of an RAF operations room complete with replica plotting table, demonstrating how they tracked the progress of the large scale air raid on London on the 15 September 1940 and the RAF’s response.

Venue: Churchill War Rooms
Location: Clive Steps, King Charles Street, London SW1A 2AQ
Opening hours: 9.30am-6pm; last admission at 5pm
Tickets: £14.95 adults; £12.00 seniors and students; £9.00 visitors with disabilities (Free Carer);
Website: www.iwm.org.uk/churchill