A younger visitor to the Museum was 12-years old Callum, who skillfully managed to drop-in and land [Oh alright then! - pedal] and park up his little brothers Gee Bee Racer in front of the Museum entrance without pranging into the adjacent Luftwaffe bombs on display. Young Callum is a bit of a star who has already developed a strong interest in wartime history and he is keen to be a volunteer at the Museum, so we’ve signed him up!

With the Bank Holiday weather proving to be reasonably warm and sunny helped to fill up the Museum Teagarden as evidenced in the accompanying picture of the lower terrace. Hopefully this is a sign of many more warm and bright summer Sunday’s to come during 2008 - fingers crossed of course!

The relic which could possibly be a piece of Merlin engine casing, originally came from the crash site of the Spitfire flown by 22 years old Flying Officer Oswald St.John Pigg who was shot down and killed on Sunday 1st September 1940.

Oswald Pigg was born in 1918 and joined the RAF in early 1937, and after flying training was posted to No.72 Squadron and was still serving with the Squadron at the time of Dunkirk when he claimed a Junkers Ju87 ‘Stuka’ shot down. His Spitfire however was hit by return fire from another ‘Stuka’ and he crash-landed at Gravesend in Kent with a slight wound to one of his legs.

During the Battle of Britain whilst No.72 Squadron was based at Acklington in Northumberland, Flying Officer Pigg claimed a Messerschmitt Me110 destroyed off the East Coast near Newcastle when Luftflotte Five based in Norway carried out its one and only large scale daylight attack against England.

At the end of August 1940, No.72 Squadron were posted to the Biggin Hill Sector. During a late morning patrol on the first day of September, a Messerschmitt Me109E attacked and shot down Flying Officer Pigg who was at the controls of Spitfire MkIa serial P9458 which crashed at Elvey Farm, Pluckley near Ashford in Kent. He is buried at St.Oswald’s Burial Ground in Durham.

The Shoreham Aircraft Museum is grateful to Mr Wooler for handing on this fragment of history, which allows us to remember another brave sacrifice by a Battle of Britain pilot.

‘Red’ Blumer as he was known on account of his bright ginger hair had a very dramatic albeit short flying career, which started in early 1941 upon joining the RAAF and then undergoing flying training in Canada where he crashed an aircraft due to unauthorised low-flying. Possibly as a result of his misdemeanours, Sgt Blumer was retained as a Staff Pilot in Canada on gaining his ‘Wings’ and it was not until February 1943 that he was posted to England and after conversion training then joined No.91 Squadron at RAF Hawkinge to fly on cross-Channel fighter sweeps.

Flight Sergeant Blumer claimed his first success in air combat on 8^th September 1943 when he destroyed a Focke-Wulf Fw190 over Northern France and at the end of the month his ‘tally’ stood at 2 ‘Destroyed’ Fw190’s and one half-shared ‘Destroyed’ Fw190. After one more success, this time against a Messerschmitt Me109 in October 1943, ‘Red’ Blumer’s luck ran out.

On 6^th November 1943 he was shot down by flak north of Rouen during a ‘Rhubarb’ sortie, but managed to avoid capture by the Germans and eventually made contact with the French Resistance who guided him to neutral Switzerland . Classed as an ‘Evader’ by the Swiss authorities, he was sent to an RAF Camp in that country, but weeks later the young RAAF pilot again made contact with the French Resistance who guided him down towards Spain, but this time the Germans caught him. His plucky nature however saw ‘Red’ Blumer slip away from his captors and he then managed to reach Spain before heading to Gibraltar and a safe return to England .

After a period of convalescence, W/O Blumer re-joined No.91 Squadron at RAF West Malling during the early days of June 1944 as the Allied invasion of Occupied Europe gained a foothold in Normandy . Soon however, V-1 Flying Bombs began to appear over the skies of southeast England and No.91 Squadron were put to task on ‘Anti-Diver’ patrols to combat the menace of the pilotless missiles heading towards London. After one such ‘Anti-Diver’ patrol on Sunday 25^th June, ‘Red’ Blumer put down his Spitfire RM617 at Staplehurst Advanced Landing Ground to refuel and after taking-off again for the short return flight to West Malling, the Spitfire suddenly spun in and crashed killing the 23 years old Aussie. Today ‘Red’ rests at Brookwood Military Cemetery in Surrey and his gallant sacrifice is remembered by the Shoreham Aircraft Museum.

Imprisoned in Camp PG59 at Servigliano to the south of Ancona for about a year, it was after Italy surrendered in September 1943, that Ralph took his opportunity to escape. As one of the many Allied Prisoners of War who managed to flee from captivity, Ralph headed into the mountains to join up with Italian partisans that were resisting the occupying German troops. Some months later during 1944, Ralph managed to reach the advancing Allied forces and was subsequently returned home.

As is a Museum tradition, Ralph was kindly asked to sign the ‘Bomber Boys’ propeller blade, which he obligingly did. There is also a propeller blade in the Museum for ‘Fighter Boys’ to sign.

For anyone intending to visit the Museum and you have a relative who was a wartime RAF ‘flyer’, then do bring them along if at all possible to see the Museum and to sign the propeller blades.

Despite the freezing conditions, the usual warm atmosphere of the Museum kept spirits high, and comments from visitors ranged from:-

“The exhibits look great and are very informative.”

“I will definitely re-visit when the weather is warmer, and will bring friends too.”

“The steaming hot mug of tea and the jam-filled scone were delightful and welcome.”

“Thank you for the plastic bags to put over my muddy wellies!”

It’s fingers crossed for a pleasantly warm and sunny year ahead – on Sunday’s at least!

As the Museum gears up to celebrate its 20th anniversary, one co-founder will be sadly missing.
Born in 1924, the young Frank Walter Nutkins grew up in the family home at Plumstead in Southeast London where he cultivated a talent for drawing, and in 1940 with the Battle of Britain raging in the skies above his home he would often watch the dogfights from a vantage point up on Shooter’s Hill. When he wasn’t spectating, he would depict the fierce air battles on paper and despite the excitement generated by the sound of roaring engines, the rattle of machine gun fire, the thump of cannon and the boom of the anti-aircraft guns, Frank was witness to the sharp reality of that summer when he saw aircraft fall from the sky.
With the coming of age, duty called and Frank joined the RAF as a Wireless Operator/Air-gunner and he carried out some of his training in the Middle East, where the gunnery practice didn’t always meet with favour from the local natives who became very adept at running from what can be best described as wayward shots!
Frontline operational service came when Frank was posted to ‘2nd TAF’ or the Second Tactical Air Force operating in the skies across Western Europe. Serving as a crewmember in North American Mitchell twin-engine bombers with No.180 Squadron, he served through 1945 to the end of the war attaining the rank of Warrant Officer.

Post-war, Frank carved for himself a career in the print industry and settled into family life. A combined interest with his son Geoff in aviation art and archaeology, especially from the Battle of Britain period, eventually led to the present day Shoreham Aircraft Museum. For many visitors to the Museum, it was the sight of being greeted by Frank that will remain an abiding memory, and sadly there isn’t the room to recount the many happy times and huge laughs surrounding Frank
Thus it was a terribly sad day in December 2007 when after a short illness, Frank passed away in hospital. The Museum and all its members lost a dear friend. His funeral and thanksgiving service took place at the RAF Chapel at Biggin Hill on Friday 28th December where Frank received a fitting RAF send off in an Ensign draped coffin upon which was placed a commemorative RAF sword. With an Air Training Corps Guard of Honour, a final tribute in the shape of a Supermarine Spitfire from Duxford flown by Air Marshal Cliff Spink performed a series of low fly-bys over the Chapel to dip a wing in salute to one of its own.

This might sound like the stuff dreams are made of for collectors of Battle of Britain relics, but about 30 years ago a young 8 year old girl and resident of Biggin Hill was out playing with friends in woods near the former RAF aerodrome. The youngsters had a metal detector with them and after finding the usual bottle tops and other metal scraps, they suddenly had a high pitched note wail from their detector.
Digging into the loose soil, the young girl soon hit upon something unlike anything she had seen before. She gleefully headed back home to show off her find, but never really discovered what it was she had found except that it was probably from an old aircraft. The strange find ended up being boxed and largely forgotten in the loft of the family home.
During a visit to the Museum in 2007 this same young girl now a little more grown up, recognised something in a display very similar to what she had unearthed all those years ago. Told that it was the broken off stick-top from a control column, Museum staff were delighted recently to kindly receive the stick-top found at Biggin Hill 30 years ago for display in the Museum. But that is only the start to the story.
The stick-top was readily identified to be from a Messerschmitt Me109E. It hadn’t been sawn off from the control column, but had ‘snapped’ off with some force as a result of a devastating crash. In consideration of where the stick-top was unearthed, and as far as is known, there were four Me109’s that crashed in the vicinity of RAF Biggin Hill during the period of the Battle of Britain, and in date order these were:-

30th August 1940:- Two Me109’s from II Gruppe, Jagdgeschwader 54 flown by Leutnant R. Ziegler and Oberleutnant H. Rath collided over Biggin Hill. Ziegler baled out and his aircraft crashed at Oxted, and Rath also baled out as his aircraft broke up, which then came down in the area to the south-west of the aerodrome. [The Wealden Aviation Archaeological Group excavated an aircraft in 1976 that was possibly Rath’s Me109.]

9th September 1940:- Feldwebel Martin Honisch of 1 Staffel, Jagdgeschwader 53 was shot down and baled out. His aircraft crashed at Cherry Tree Farm [near the Old Jail Inn] to the south-east of the airfield. [Some relics from this Me109 were donated by an RAF Fitter serving at Biggin Hill in 1940 to the Kent Battle of Britain Museum at Hawkinge.]

15th September 1940:- Oberleutnant Julius Haase, the Staffelkapitän of 3 Staffel, Jagdgeschwader 53 was shot down and baled out, but his parachute failed him. His aircraft came down in Mollards Wood to the south of the runway. [Recovery of this Me109 took place in 1969, and the DB601 engine and other relics were recovered and are believed to be ‘stored’ at Halstead.]

2nd October 1940:- Oberleutnant Siegfried Stronk of 8 Staffel, Jagdgeschwader 53 was killed when he crashed after combat into a house on Sutherland Avenue in Biggin Hill to the south of the aerodrome. [A wing radiator from this Me109 is at the Hawkinge Museum.]

Investigation and continued research is on-going to try and confirm from which Me109 crash the stick-top came from.

If you have any Battle of Britain related items you would be willing to loan or donate for display to the Museum, then please do get in touch. Kindly see the ‘Contact’ page.