The underground control room of 11 Group has been rescued and restored to the condition it was in at 11.30 am on 15 September 1940 – the day which has since been celebrated as ‘Battle of Britain Day’. The action was witnessed by Winston Churchill who asked ‘What reserves have we?’ AVM Park famously replied ‘There are none’.
Bill Burgess explains the layout of the plotting table, which covered 11 Group’s area.
The wall display shows the state of the squadrons.
On the table, the markers show the number of aircraft for each squadron and their altitude, some at just 5000′ others at 25000′
Alongside the plotters stood tellers, who passed on the plots to the sector control rooms at North Weald, Hornchurch, Kenley, Biggin Hill and Tangmere.
P and A show how many pilots and aircraft are available for each squadron. The sectors on the clock tell plotters the colour of counters to be used to show the time of the pilots. Other boards indicate weather conditions and height of balloon defecnces.
An impressive collection of memorabilia of all aspects of the RAF’s operations is on display.
The gate guardians carry the markings of 303 (polish) Sqn’s Hurricane of 1940 and a Spitfire IX 33 Sqn of June 1944
