Gulf hero joins fight to save Battle of Britain memorial
AN RAF veteran who became the face of the first Gulf War after being shot down urged the public yesterday to help save the Battle of Britain Memorial.
Tornado navigator John Nichol and pilot John Peters were shot down in 1991, tortured and then paraded on Iraqi TV by Saddam Hussein.
Now a successful military historian, Mr Nichol yesterday threw his weight behind the memorial’s struggle for survival as the 80th anniversary of the fight for national survival approaches.
As revealed by the Daily Express last week, the lockdown means the centre on top of white cliffs at Capel-le-Ferne near Folkestone is running out of money.
It costs £240,000 a year to run the museum, the Scramble Experience and maintain the wall with the nearly 3,000 names of The Few overlooking the Channel. Daily Express readers have rallied marvellously to the cause, helping raise about £15,000 in less than a week and taking the total so far to £20,000.
Mr Nichol, author of Spitfire – A Very British Love Story, joined a fellow historian, an RAF veteran and celebrities in supporting the memorial. He said: “I’m a former RAF Tornado navigator who was shot down in the first GulfWar.
“But my experiences of combat are nothing compared to the experiences of The Few in the Battle of Britain in 1940.
“It is the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust that helps to keep their memory, their contribution, their sacrifice alive and now it is our turn to help keep the Trust alive.
“We are about to mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain when Churchill’s Few took to the skies to defend our nation against what then was its greatest threat. If we allow that memorial, that sacrifice, that service and that honour to be diminished, we as a nation will be diminished.”
Paul Beaver, author of Spitfire People, said: “Capel-le-Ferne is a fitting memorial to the 3,000 young men who fought in the skies over southern England and the English Channel in 1940.
“To have a memorial on the white cliffs looking across to France is fantastic. We should do everything we can to support it.
“It is particularly upsetting that this memorial should be in financial trouble around the 80th anniversary of the Battle it commemorates.
“It has invested a huge amount in keeping alive the memory of The Few with not only the museum but also the memorial wall with the names of all who served.”
One of the first women to fly in combat for the RAF, Mandy Hickson, said the memorial was vital in helping to preserve Britain’s history.
She said: “I was the second woman to fly the Tornado
GR4 on the front line, but as a young girl I grew up hearing stories of my grandfather, a
Second World War fighter pilot himself. It’s time for us to step up to the mark as we approach this 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.”
Among celebrities backing the appeal is the actor who played Boycie in TV’s Only Fools And Horses, John Challis. He said: “The trust does a fantastic job highlighting the sacrifices made by the Few in 1940.”
The Secretary to the Memorial Trust, Group Captain Patrick Tootal, said: “We are delighted by the generosity of Daily Express readers.”