Replica of the Hawker Hurricane fighter plane from the classic movie ‘Battle of Britain’
A full-size replica of the iconic World War II RAF fighter plane featured in the classic British film has been unveiled at a museum in Lincolnshire.
A model of the Hawker Hurricane built for the 1969 film “Battle of Britain” is on display at the We Will Meet Again Museum near Boston.
Replicas of famous aircraft have been renovated by museum volunteers.
Museum co-founder Paul Brichford said displaying a hurricane model had been on his “bucket list” for a long time.
Mr Brichford set up the museum in Fryston with his wife Linda before he was diagnosed with terminal cancer last year.
Paul Brichford said displaying a replica aircraft in a museum was on his “bucket list”.
He said the replica was the same one that was hung by crane from the roof of Lincoln’s Odeon cinema for two months when the movie Battle of Britain, starring Michael Caine, was released at the end of the year. He said that he has a special place in his heart because of this. 1960s.
“That story is why we wanted that particular plane,” he said.
“The Battle of Britain is one of my favorite movies and I wanted to see it on the museum lawn.”
The museum’s Bradley Cooper said refurbishing the replica World War II aircraft was a significant challenge.
“The hurricane was in poor condition and needed a complete renovation,” he said.
Volunteer Darren Avison helped restore the replica fighter jet
But Cooper said young volunteers enthusiastically helped polish, strip, spray and rebuild the model fighter planes.
“There were cracks all over it and a lot of the nuts and bolts were rusted,” he said.
“The original fabric was missing, some of the wood had woodworm, some of the fiberglass was cracked and in bad condition. We literally had to repair almost every panel. .”
Adrian Barker, director and secretary of the museum, said the Hawker Hurricane replica was built to the same standards as the original and using the same construction techniques.
“It was left in pieces after the shooting, but the owners kept quiet about ownership because so many organizations and individuals wanted to own it,” he said.
The museum team said they hope it will attract more visitors once the hurricane replica is on display.
