LOSS BY FIRE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22198, 7 December 1946, Page 7

LOSS BY FIRE

SHRINE TO “T‘HE FEW” BIGGIN HILL CHAPEL HISTORIC RELICS BURNT (From E. G. Webber, Special to N.Z.P.A.) (10 a.m.) LONDON, Dec. 6. The destruction by fire on December 3 of the famous St. George’s Chapel at Biggin Hill airfield removed a shrine to which the survivors of the “gallant few” made a pilgrimage on each anniversary of the turning point of the Battle of Britain. Biggin Hill was one of the key airfields of the Fighter Command during those momentous days, and the 1000 bombs the Germans dropped on and round the station testified to the fact.

The memorial altar Reredos, on which were embossed in gold the names of 200 pilots who lost their lives_ in the battle waged from Biggin Hill, was destroyed, and also the Book of Remembrance ar.d many gifts presented to the chapel by relatives of the fallen. The only thing left intact by the fire was a plaque, erected in 1943, bearing the words: “St. George’s Chapel is a place of prayer and remembrance. We bid you pray to God, whose presence fills it. and gratefully remember the few whose sacrifice inspired it.”