What's On at RAF Museum London
Battle of Britain Weekend
11 September - 12 September
FREE EVENT
A family weekend consisting of re-enactors, talks, tours and much more.
At time of writing we are able to confirm that a Battle of Britain Memorial Flypast of the Flight's Spitfire and Hurricane aircraft will take place at the Museum on Sunday 12th September, subject to prevailing weather conditions on the day. The Museum will receive the actual timings of the flight a few days before-hand. As soon as we have this information we will post it on this page and will announce the Flypast on the day, giving people sufficient time to make their way onto the Museum's Helipad to view it.
In addition to this the Museum will be operating a vintage bus route between Colindale Train Station and Mill Hill Broadway throughout the weekend courtesy of red-RF.com; and providing members of the public with the opportunity to make and take home to keep, courtesy of the Airfix events team, their own 1:72 model Spitfire free of charge.
Both the Barnet Band and the Royal Air Force President's Band will be giving Battle of Britain inspired concerts underneath the Museum's Lancaster in our Bomber Hall; and members of the Museum's Department of Research and Information Services will be revealing the secret history of the Battle of Britain, with a series of talks in the Museum's Battle of Britain Hall.
On Saturday 11th September the museum will be hosting a unique debate' The Battle of Britain - From Both Sides' at 12.30pm
Bestselling Historians Patrick Bishop (Fighter Boys and Bomber Boys) and Roger Moorhouse (Berlin At War)will talk about the Battle of Britain, viewed from both the British and German perspectives. The authors will also take questions and sign copies of their books.
On Sunday 12th Sunday Times Bestselling Historian Patrick Bishop (Fighter Boys, 3 Para)will give a talk at 12.30pm about the myths and realities of the Battle of Britain - The Few, the Spitfire and Winston Churchill. Attendees will be able to join in and ask questions, as Patrick talks about and signs copies of his bestselling History Books.
Our helipad will be transported back to September 1940 with a life sized Spitfire taking pride of place in our Scramble re-enactments, which will run throughout the day. Whilst we will be demonstrating courtesy of Belmont Children's Farm the type of animals that our Land Girls would have worked with to keep the nation fed.
For film aficionados the Museum will be showing rare archive film footage from the Battle of Britain from 10.30 am to 12 noon as well as two epic movies about the Battle – 2001 English/ Czech production ‘Dark Blue World’, the most expensive Czech movie ever produced, on Saturday 11th and the seminal 1969 film ‘The Battle of Britain’, starring Lawrence Olivier, on Sunday 12th. Both screening will be free of charge and will commence at 3pm on both days.
On the Sunday, to persuade people to get into spirit of the summer of 1940 we will be running a Fancy Dress Competition, next to our replica Spitfire on the Helipad for the ‘Best 1940s Family’ and ‘Best 1940s Children’s Costume’. The prize for both set of winners will be £100 worth of goodies of their choice from the Museum shop. So now is your opportunity to follow Mrs Sew-and-Sew and make do and mend with your every-day clothes!
The Museum will also be hosting a range of tours with our experts around the Battle of Britain Hall and explaining how an Operations Room operated during the Battle. For full details of various activities taking place during the weekend please download for free our programme of events.
Download your free programme of events from here
Alternatively, please dial 020 8205 2266.
Please note: given the popularity of this event we would recommend that people travel to the Museum via public transport and take advantage of our free vintage bus service.
We make every effort to adhere to our published schedule. However, dates may vary without notice. Please confirm dates and times prior to the event to avoid disappointment.
