The Battle of Britain, July – October 1940, was the first decisive battle fought entirely in the air and to this day remains the greatest air battle in history. The battleground was the skies above Kent and the orchards, fields and villages below where hundreds of aircraft crashed.
Spitfire Mk I in flight, Ma y 1940. © IW M.
0 f No. 61 tfires o i . p M S W I e e © r f th 940. o 1 w y l e i u v J eye , 24 g un ner’s ing’ a Blen heim Germ an k c a n, ‘att Squadro
This floral Spitfire is in memory of the airmen who became known as ‘The Few’ that took to the skies to defend Britain from the German Luftwaffe.
Spitfires of No. 610 Squ adron, bas Hill, ban ki ed at Bigg ng left, 2 in 4 July 194 0. © IW M.
- Winston Churchill, Prime Minister on 20 August 1940. Winston Church ill. © IW M.
Kent has a great affiliation with the Spitfire, not only because it fought in the skies above Kent in the Battle of Britain, but also because the people of Kent donated money to purchase a squadron of Spitfires. In fact, Kent remains the only county in the UK to have paid for an entire RAF Squadron.
This donation came about due to the unfortunate luck of Wg Cdr Robert Stanford Tuck. Taking part in a ferocious dogfight, Tuck’s Spitfire was unfortunately shot down and he was forced to abandon his aircraft. Under parachute, Tuck landed in the grounds of a large Kentish house near Maidstone called ‘Plovers’. This was the Kent home of Lord Cornwallis and several hours later, Cornwallis received a cheque for £5,000 from Stanley Johnson of Bearsted to purchase a new Spitfire. After chatting to Tuck, Lord Cornwallis promised that the money would be the first instalment towards a flight of Spitfires to be known as ‘The Invicta Flight of Spitfires’.
The Kent squadron leader in the Spiri th t of Kent Lord Corn e cock pit of wallis. © IW M.
Lord Cornwallis made an appeal to the people of Kent and after a meeting of the War Emergency Committee came the inauguration of the Kent County Spitfire Fund. Soon £29,370 had been collected, enough to purchase three Spitfires, ‘Man of Kent, Kentish Man, and Fair Maid of Kent’. By March 1941 the fund had risen to £67,677 and in November to more than £100,000, enough for an entire squadron.
The final sum was obtained by bringing together the funds of Ashford, Bexley, Beckenham, Chislehurst and Sidcup, Crayford, Dartford, Faversham, Folkestone and Hythe, Gillingham, Gravesend, Snodland, Tonbridge and finally Royal Tunbridge Wells. Later Lord Cornwallis presented two flags bearing the White Horse of Kent and the motto ‘Invicta’ to No. 131 (County of Kent) RAF Squadron.
-Tuck, bert Stanford Ro er ad Le on Squadr e cock pit uadron, in th Sq 7 25 . No CO of I at Hurricane Mk of his Hawker IW M. © nuary 1941. Coltishall, Ja
Im ages © Ashf ord Museum
one of the Spitfires of Cannon-armed ight. © IW M. uadrons in fl Sq a di In st Ea
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Full name: Supermarine Spitfi re Designer: Reginald Mitchell of Maiden Flight: 5 March 1936
Supermarine Ltd
Engine: 1,000-horsepower Ro lls-Royce Merlin engine. In 1943, Spitfires were produced with Rolls-Royce Griffon engines. Performance: The Merlin engi ne could reach 34,000 feet (10,400 meters) with a top speed of 360 miles (580 km) per hour. Th e Griffon engines altitudes of 40,000 feet (12,200 meters) and top speeds of 440 miles (710 km) pe r hour. Weapons: Eight wing-mounted 0.303-inch (7.7-mm) machine guns.
The Mk XIV Sp itfire in the air, 1944 . © IW M.
Production: By the end of the war, the Spitfire had been produced in more than 20 versions. When production ceased in 1947 , 20,334 Spitfires had been produced. Fighter versions of the Spitfire were dropped from RAF service durin g the early 1950s, while photo-reconnaissance Spitfires continued in service until 1954.