This year is the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain. Many people will already have heard about the fly past taking place today to mark the start of the battle. This Sunday 12 July has also been designated as Memorial Day at the National Memorial to the Few at Capel-le-Ferne between Dover and Folkestone.
Wessex Archaeology has been involved in some of the key aviation archaeology projects off the English coast in recent years. It is therefore a good time to pay our own archaeological tribute to Ian Thirsk and his colleagues at the RAF Museum, who took the courageous decision to undertake the difficult recovery of an almost complete Battle of Britain German Dornier 17 bomber from the Goodwin Sands off the Kent coast in 2013. We were closely involved in studying this unique survival whilst it was on the seabed and the museum first learnt about its existence through us. You can read more about the aircraft and the museum’s extremely challenging work to conserve it at http://rafmuseum.mobi/cosford/things-to-see-and-do/dornier-17-conservation.aspx
By Graham Scott, Senior Archaeologist/Dive Superintendent