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| The Battle of Britain Memorial, Victoria Embakment, London Jan Hyrman |
| A friend who has accompanied me and my girlfriend on our last trip to London was kind enough to lead us to one of the newest war memorials in London - the Battle of Britain Memorial located close to the R.A.F. Memorial at the Victoria Embankment, London. I will not discuss the motivations for building the memorial or its history - not because it is relatively short, but because there are other, more professional accounts available on the official website. What I wanted is to bring you a few pictures of the memorial that will concentrate on the Czechoslovak pilots and other personnel who took part in the fighting while the Battle of Britain was raging over England. |
| The sculptured reliefs on the monument were done by Paul Day, the memorial itself is a large structure standing on the former steam outlet for the formerly steam underground trains. Emblems of fighter squadrons which participated in the air battles and names of pilots killed during the battle are shown on the memorial. It was very heart-warming to see that the Czechoslovak, Polish and other foreign nationalities are remembered on this memorial and that their remarkable contribution has not been forgotten. If you want to find out more about the sculptor and other people involved in the project, as well as about the motivations behind the Memorial and the way in which this undertaking was finally accomplished, please visit the official website of the Battle of Britain Memorial here. |
| The Royal Air Force Memorial on the Victoria Embankment close to the Battle of Britain Memorial. |
| The squadron emblem of the 310th (Czechoslovak) Fighter Squadron on the Battle of Britain Memorial. |
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