Manston Spitfire fuselage display marks efforts of Kent pilots

The fuselage of a Spitfire shot down during World War Two has gone on display at a museum to mark the efforts of Kent pilots who served as "spies in the sky".The Spitfire AA810 was part of the RAF photo reconnaissance unit (PRU), which played a crucial role in obtaining intelligence for Allied commanders to plan military operations.Shot down in 1942 and later pulled from a peat bog in Norway by a group of volunteers, the Spitfire AA810 was later rebuilt on the Isle of Wight.Its fuselage is now on display at the Spitfire and Hurricane Museum in Manston, Kent, as part of a bid to raise awareness of the Spitfire reconnaissance team.
Museum manager Robert Westbrook said that while people normally associate the Spitfire's role as a "fighter plane during the Battle of Britain" it actually flew unarmed. He said it could only escape enemy fire due to its "speed and manoeuvrability".The museum is working with the Spitfire AA810 project team to highlight the stories of the pilots from Kent who flew these essential missions.Spitfire PR.IV AA810 on display was piloted by a young Scottish apprentice engineer, Flt Lt Alastair "Sandy" Gunn, who was attempting to photograph a German battle ship.Gunn bailed out but was captured, interrogated, imprisoned and later executed after the Stalag Luft III "Great Escape".The escape attempt was cemented in popular culture in the 1963 film of the same name, which starred Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough and James Garner.
Descendants of Kent pilots who were part of the PRU have told the BBC their stories.Jane Wilson, from Deal, said her father joined the RAF when he was 21 and the family were "very proud" of his contributions to the war.She said: "What he did was very brave but he was modest about it."She felt he should be "recognised and appreciated" for his role during the conflict."Even though each generation has changed - it's important to remember what happened in the past," she said.
Guy Leaning, whose father Sqn Ldr Anthony Leaning also served as a "spy in the sky", said the PRU's efforts in the conflict were largely overlooked.He said the intelligence they provided helped the Allies win the war. He added: "I think the PRU isn't well known because they carried out secret operations but I am pleased my father, his friends and my two godfathers are recognised for their efforts."He said his father never talked about those who did not return."He lost a friend but they just carried on fighting," he said.
The PRU was formed in September 1939 and during World War Two, the team captured more than 26m images of enemy operations and installations.Anthony Hoskins, from West Sussex, is the director of the Spitfire AA810 project.In 2018, Mr Hoskins and his team recovered Gunn's aircraft from a peat bog in Norway and rebuilt it on the Isle of Wight.
He said it was important to tell the stories of the brave pilots, adding: "More than 1,700 PRU pilots and navigators came from 23 different nationalities."According to the Spitfire AA810 project, 39 of the pilots were from Kent; 17 were killed during the operations while four were either captured or evaded capture.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

BBC News

41 minutes ago

• BBC News

Minster SEN school may have to move if cable plans are approved

A special educational needs (SEN) school may have to relocate if controversial plans for 90 miles (145km) of undersea electricity cables are approved, the headteacher Kelly, of Great Oaks Small School in Minster near Ramsgate, has said the noise from works will negatively impact their neurodiverse students and teachers. National Grid's Sea Link project would see undersea cables coming ashore near Sandwich in Kent, and Thorpeness and Aldeburgh in company said it had listened to local views and had invited communities to register to comment on the planning progress by 23 June. Great Oaks is an independent school which serves up to 60 children with SEN aged between 11 and 19 - many with sensitivities to noisy Ms Kelly said she was "speechless" when she first heard the National Grid's plans to build a grid stability facility, sub station and converter station said constant noise from drilling and extra traffic would create problems for students and interrupt said: "Sound is really important to them as it is to myself, also being neurodiverse." Ms Kelly said she raised her concerns around noise with National Grid and was not satisfied with their offer of sound said relocation of the school could have huge implications for children who rely on familiarity and routine. She said: "When they very first come to us it is a programme of work to getting them confident to actually come into school when they've had such horrendous times elsewhere." Kent Wildlife Trust previously set up its Rethink Sea Link campaign calling for the National Grid to consider a different route for cables which would minimise the effect on Pegwell Bay, near Grid said it recognised the "sensitive habitats" in the area and had "studied the likely significant effects" of the project. The planning application, which is near the end of the pre-examination stage, will next be scrutinised by the Planning Inspectorate ahead of an official decision.A decision on the plans is expected in late 2026, National Grid approved, construction could begin in 2026 and be completed in 2031.

The National

2 hours ago

• The National

The proscription of Palestine Action has frightening implications

The legal proscription of groups such as Palestine Action is founded upon Islamophobic counter-terror legislation, which has disproportionately targeted Muslims and securitised issues related to the Middle East. It risks criminalising not only membership of an effective activist group but also a host of pro-Palestinian statements and actions. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is expected to announce the ban today after Palestine Action members broke into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire last week and sprayed two military planes with red paint. Proscribing Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation sets a dangerous precedent against anti-war activism but also represents the suppression by successive UK governments of activism drawing attention to British support for Israeli war crimes in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran. READ MORE: 'He should be in the Hague': Laura Kuenssberg slammed for Israeli president interview One reason why Palestine Action is facing such a harsh reprisal is the clear embarrassment the Brize Norton event has caused the British Government. By breaking into an RAF air base, Palestine Action has sharply highlighted the limits of British power and security, at a time where Keir Starmer's Government seems keen to impress a reactionary US administration and show support for Israeli aggression in Iran. Meanwhile, the tactics of Palestine Action,have proven to be highly effective. Targeting institutions complicit in the genocide of Palestinians – such as Israeli-based military contractor Elbit Systems UK – it has used highly visual forms of direct activism to great effect, with occupations, the scaling of public structures and the spray painting and daubing of buildings. Such activism has both disrupted the British military and British-based businesses profiting from war and genocide, and tapped into a widespread sense of disapproval and disgust across the public at UK Government for Israel, a country which has carried out mass killings. The use of counter-terrorism powers against Palestine Action may seem surprising, but it represents a long process by which successive UK governments have sought to clamp down on activism highlighting British hypocrisy on the international stage. For many years, counter-terror police have been conducting intelligence gathering on climate activists, to see if their activity could 'indicate a path towards terrorism'. Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil have regularly faced harassment and threats of counter-terror action. The proscribing of Palestine Action not only forms part of an assault on activism, but also showcases how counter-terrorism has become increasingly anti-Palestinian in its orientation, with British authorities deliberately and systematically conflating support for Palestine with terrorism. Academics and human rights groups, such as Amnesty International, have long detailed experiences of harassment by counter-terror police, based on actual or perceived support of Palestinian rights. The UK Government Prevent programme has played a significant part in securitising Palestinian activism, with schools students as young as five being reported to authorities after expressing sentiments in support of Palestine. Since the start of massive Israeli violence in Gaza in October 2023, such reports have skyrocketed by 455%, with students told to remove badges, stickers and T-shirts that have 'free Palestine' on them, alleged retaliatory measures against college students for tweeting support or joining pickets for Palestine; and reports of university exclusions, suspensions and investigations, as well as the cancellations of pro-Palestinian events. This normalisation of targeting of pro-Palestinian activism has had severe legal impacts, leading to prosecutions based on anti-activist sentiment. These include the prosecution of three women who displayed images of paragliders during a protest and a man for wearing a green Saudi Arabian headband containing the basic statement of the Islamic faith 'shahada', on the charge of 'carrying or displaying an article in a public place in such a way as to arouse reasonable suspicion' that they were supporting Hamas. In addition to the long trend by successive UK governments of criminalising Palestinian activism, proscription now frames it as a terror threat – equating Palestinian activism with, for instance, the 2005 London bombings, the murder of 51 Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand, or the execution of 77 left-wing youth at Utøya, Norway. The use of such powers has frightening implications for Palestinian activism, not just because it will be framed as a security threat to the British state, but also because of how such legislation is constructed. The Act of Proscription, as detailed under Part II of the Terrorism Act 2000, not only makes it illegal to be a member of a banned group, but also criminalises a host of other actions that are, or can be perceived as, being linked to the aims or objectives of the group. It is not just a terror offence to belong, or profess to belong to, a proscribed organisation, in the UK or overseas – it is a terror offence to engage in acts that may be considered as supportive. Under Part II, Section 12 of the Act, supportive acts are defined as 'moral support or approval' of a proscribed organisation, expressing an opinion or belief supportive of a proscribed organisation, or encouraging support for the activities of such an organisation. The implementation of this law, when used against a non-violent Palestinian activist group, is the criminalisation of anyone who publicly expresses sentiment in support of Palestine Action's aims. Its website lists these as 'ending global participation in Israel's genocidal and apartheid regime' and seeking to 'make it impossible for … companies to profit from the oppression of Palestinians' Proscription also criminalises the wearing of clothing or carrying of signs that may 'arouse reasonable suspicion' that an individual supports a proscribed organisation, under Section 13 of the Act. This includes publishing images of such items online. Pro-Palestinian clothes, the Palestinian keffiyeh, Palestinian flags and signs are now very squarely in the crosshairs of counter-terror police, creating a vast array of possibility for prosecution of activists. The proscription of Palestine Action places people in Scotland and across Britain in very dangerous legal territory. Heavy-handed measures are increasingly being deployed by the British state to prosecute non-violent groups and activists as 'terrorists'. Successive UK governments have sought to roll back human and democratic rights under the guise of counter-terrorism, prevent activism critical of the British state, and to conflate Muslim communities and Middle Eastern issues with terrorism. The banning of Palestine Action represents an attempt to crush dissent that highlights British complicity in war crimes and embarrasses the UK Government. It also introduces a host of deeply worrying possibilities for the prosecution of activists, journalists, academics – indeed, anyone who speaks out in support of Palestinian rights, an end to the genocide and the use of public activism. Proscription shows the contempt the UK Government has for Palestinian freedom, and should be a loud alarm for those who value democracy and human rights, in times of genocide. Richard McNeil-Willson lectures in the Islamic and Middle Eastern studies department at the University of Edinburgh

Daily Mirror

4 hours ago

• Daily Mirror

UK military bases on 'highest level' red alert after US bombing of Iran

The British armed forces are on the highest level of alert for drone strikes after the US bombing of Iran, the Defence Secretary has confirmed British forces stationed throughout the Middle East have been placed on heightened alert for potential drone strikes after the US airstrikes on Iran, as per Defence Secretary John Healey. Healey has affirmed that protection of UK Armed Forces is now at "highest level" amid escalating concerns that the US action might ignite a broader conflict, as published in The Telegraph. ‌ Since the strikes took place early Sunday morning, security measures at British bases in the Middle East have been significantly intensified, with staff preparing for the possibility of not only drone attacks but conventional rocket and missile assaults too. ‌ The increased state of alert also comes at a time of growing worry over threats to UK bases both domestically and abroad. On Saturday, a British national was apprehended in Cyprus under suspicion of conducting espionage on an RAF base for Iran, closely following an incident where two pro-Palestinian activists infiltrated RAF Brize Norton and caused damage to two planes, reports the Express. In his column for the newspaper on Sunday, Mr Healey penned: "The safety of UK personnel and bases is my top priority. Force protection is at its highest level, and we deployed additional jets this week." Senior defence officials are particularly cautious of the use of drones following an event where Ukrainian drones wreaked havoc on 40 Russian aircrafts –including those capable of carrying nuclear warheads– across Russia. With the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Russia's employment of Iranian-made Shahed drones has led to widespread power outages and significant destruction of infrastructure. ‌ The Shahed-136's explosive payload, originally designed to demolish buildings, can now also deliver lethal fragmentation or thermobaric blasts. Iran has recently deployed these drones against targets in Israel. Earlier this month, Sir Keir Starmer confirmed that additional RAF jets would be dispatched to the region to enhance security. British bases in the Middle East include RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, where 14 RAF jets are currently stationed, as well as naval hubs in Bahrain and Oman and shared airbases in Qatar and the UAE. Potential extra security measures could involve increasing armed guards, issuing live ammunition and deploying more radar systems. The US acted independently in its strikes on Iran, and so far Iran's threats of retaliation have been solely directed at America. It is understood that British bases are not yet preparing for any immediate, targeted attack, but the heightened alert reflects the broad range of threats - from rockets to improvised explosive devices - that UK forces could potentially face.