Flight Tour:

Biggin Hill (Departure)

History:

Biggin Hill Fighter Base was a controlling station in No 11 Group, Fighter Command and played a decisive part in the Battle of Britain with both Spitfires and Hurricanes from a variety of squadrons being based there. It gained the nickname “The Strongest Link”, which was later incorporated into the fighter station’s crest. The squadrons based at Biggin Hill claimed to have destroyed 1,400 enemy aircraft, at the cost of the lives of 453 Biggin Hill based aircrew. Because of its importance to the capital’s defence, the airport itself became a target. Between August 1940 and January 1941, the airfield was attacked twelve times, the worst of which wrecked workshops, stores, barracks, WAAF quarters and a hangar, killing 39 people on the ground.

WP1: White Cliffs Of Dover

The White Cliffs are hugely iconic in Britain - and for the most part, that's due to their place in military history. They sit across the narrowest part of the Channel, facing towards continental Europe at its closest point to Britain and forming a symbolic guard against invasion. On a clear day, the cliffs can quite easily be seen from the French coast. And it was this landmark that greeted the thousands of Allied troops evacuated from Dunkirk by the famous 'Little Ships' of World War II.

WP2: Calais

During the British Retreat in May 1940. The troops defending Calais a little to the north were the only line of defense between the German panzers and the remnants of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), desperately hoping for evacuation from Dunkirk

At the time the defence of Calais was seen as having been of vital importance. Calais was the last defended location before the Gravelines position, the western flank of the Dunkirk beachhead. According to this view, if Calais had not been held for as long as it was, then there would have been nothing to stop the Germans from sweeping into Dunkirk while the BEF was still engaged around Lille.

WP3: Dunkirk

In May 1940, Germany advanced into France, trapping Allied troops on the beaches of Dunkirk. Under air and ground cover from British and French forces, troops were slowly and methodically evacuated from the beach using every serviceable naval and civilian vessel that could be found. At the end of this heroic mission, 330,000 French, British, Belgian and Dutch soldiers were safely evacuated.

Ostend (Landing)

During the Second World War, the Luftwaffe moved the airfield of Ostend-Stene to a site in the territory of the municipality of Middelkerke, five kilometres southwest of Ostend. It played a major role in the air battle with Britain. After the war, the airport of Raversijde-Middelkerke was turned into an international airport by the Department of Airways which had been established by that time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7iTnDxGIF4