The Spirit of The Few Monument

Seven airmen, together again at Hawkinge.

The Spirit of the Few Monument recreates, in life-size bronze, one of the best-known photographs of the Battle of Britain: seven officers of No. 32 Squadron relaxing on the grass between sorties at RAF Hawkinge on 29 July 1940. It stands in the Museum grounds, close to where the photograph was taken, and the figures sit on the original grass of Hawkinge airfield.

The Unveiling, 29 July 2022

The Monument was unveiled at 12.20 pm on Friday 29 July 2022, the 82nd anniversary of the day the photograph was taken.

It was a private event. The Museum’s volunteers welcomed 72 members of the families of six of the seven airmen, many of whom had flown in from around the world. Sadly the family of P/O Rupert Smythe were unable to make the journey from Australia, but they were kept fully updated throughout the making of the Monument.

The Honour Guard was provided by 32 Squadron RAF, the Queen’s Squadron, and the day included a flypast and display by four Hawker Hurricanes, courtesy of Peter Monk of the Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar.

Support the Monument

The Monument is funded by public donations, and the appeal is still open. Any donation, however big or small, is gratefully received.

To donate, please visit our JustGiving page, or use the JustGiving app with this QR code:

The Story Behind the Monument

The idea was Dave Brocklehurst MBE’s, and he carried it for some thirty years. The three Gate Guardian Hurricanes have been the centrepiece of the Museum grounds for around twenty years, and every time Dave walked past he pictured the seven airmen in bronze in front of them. Long before work began, he made a pencil sketch of how it might look.

A serious accident at the Museum made Dave focus on the major projects he had always wanted to see through. His fellow Trustees and volunteers were excited by the idea, and he sought quotes from sculptors around the country.

At the suggestion of Jane Priston of the Amy Johnson Project, one of them was SPACER, from Thanet. Dave knew the quality of their work from the Amy Johnson statue on Herne Bay seafront and the Gurkha Memorial in Folkestone. The Amy Johnson statue stands without a plinth, so the public can get close to it, and that became a feature of this Monument too.

SPACER gave the most realistic quote, and carried out every stage in-house at their studio at Newington: sculpting in clay, moulding and casting in bronze. Being less than 40 minutes from the Museum, they could visit for research and inspiration, and the Museum could follow every step. Each figure took sculptor Stephen Melton about six weeks to create in clay.

The Making of the Monument

23 July 2021. Statue 1, P/O Keith Gillman, is completed. His niece, Suzanne Gillman, saw her uncle’s sculpture for the first time on 19 July. Her reaction: ‘Amazing’.

26 July 2021. Statue 2, F/O Peter Brothers, is started.

11 September 2021. Statue 2, F/O Peter Brothers, is completed.

30 October 2021. Statue 3, P/O Peter Gardner, is completed.

5 January 2022. F/O Peter Brothers is cast and assembled, awaiting final fettling.

17 January 2022. Statue 5, P/O Douglas ‘Grubby’ Grice, is one week old.

1 February 2022. The sculptures of P/O Peter Gardner, F/O Peter Brothers and P/O Keith Gillman await the final process: patination, the colouring of the bronze.

1 March 2022. P/O Keith Gillman comes home. The first of the seven sculptures is brought to the Museum.

14 March 2022. P/O Peter Gardner returns to Hawkinge. The second sculpture is collected from SPACER and brought to the Museum to join P/O Keith Gillman.

21 March 2022. On his weekly visit to SPACER, Dave sees the sixth figure, P/O Alan Eckford, three weeks into its six-week build. Stephen Melton has reworked much of the torso and head.

11 April 2022. Nearly complete. Nick Eckford, the son of P/O Alan Eckford, is introduced to his father’s life-size clay sculpture at SPACER’s studio by Dave and by Stephen Melton.

Stephen Melton (left) and Nick Eckford with the sculpture of P/O Alan Eckford.

This was the sixth time a family had come to see the sculpture of their loved one, and Dave was as nervous as on the very first visit. There was no need: Nick’s face lit up at once. He and his brothers and sister had wondered whether the cheeks might be a little plump, but Stephen had already attended to that, and Nick confirmed on the family’s behalf that the face could be treated as complete.

13 April 2022. F/O Peter Brothers, the third sculpture, joins Keith Gillman and Peter Gardner at the Monument.

12 May 2022. P/O John Proctor, the fourth of the seven sculptures, is added to the Monument.

June 2022. P/O Douglas ‘Grubby’ Grice, the fifth of the seven sculptures, is added to the Monument.

27 July 2022. The Monument is complete. All seven are re-united at Hawkinge.