Air Forces Memorial, Runnymede – pictures

Great Pics, yes it is well worth a visit too, you picked a great day for it, great views 😉 Anna 😉 🙂

Neil, these photos are superb. Thanks so much for posting them, I have wondered for some time what the Runnymede Memorial looked like, because several airmen from my town are commemorated on it. Thank you for showing me what this amazing place is like.

Does anyone out there have photos of the Bourail Memorial, which does the same thing for missing airmen in the Pacific? Are there other such memorials to missing Commonwealth airmen in other theatres? Middle East? Africa? Asia?

I noticed the ATC Cadets listed.. wonder what the story was with them ??

A number of Air Training Corps cadets were killed whilst on familiarisation/training flights with RAF units during WW2. The first of these I have been told was killed on the Isle of Man. I don’t know how many were killed in total but I would imagine that sadly 4 such individuals have no known grave hence, their names too on the memorial.

Great pictures and a poignant time to post them – brings back poignant memories of my last visit there. I too only lived a few miles from the Memorial but only finally made time to visit when I moved to the Isle of Man! No excuse.

I noticed the ATC Cadets listed.. wonder what the story was with them ??

couple of shots of the view from the top – Windsor Castle in one direction and LHR T5 the other..

Stunning photographs Guzzineil, thanks for posting them. I visited Runnymede in early October and it was a very moving experience.

For those who can manage a visit it is well worth the effort. Here is some further information about the Runnymede Memorial to accompany the excellent photographs posted by Guzzineil:-

The Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede is an awe inspiring and thought provoking place to visit. It sits perched on a hillside overlooking Runnymede, the Thames, and the meadows where magna Carta was sealed in 1215 by King John. The land on which the memorial was built was donated by Sir Eugen and Lady Effie Millington-Drake in 1949. Being under the flight path for Heathrow airport means that fittingly there is the ever present sound of aircraft engines in the air which adds to the atmosphere during a visit.

The Memorial was built to commemorate by name those who lost their lives during the Second World War while serving with the Air Forces of the Commonwealth at bases in the UK or in North West Europe and who have no known grave. They came from all parts of the Commonwealth or from countries of continental Europe which had been overrun and whose airmen continued to fight as members of the Royal Air Force. The number commemorated, over 20,000, is made up as follows:
Royal Air Force 15462
Royal Canadian Air Force 3050
Royal Australian Air Force 1397
Royal New Zealand Air Force 576
South African Air Force 17
Royal Indian Air Force 7
Woman’s Auxiliary Air Force 10
Ferry Command 9
Air Transport Auxiliary 8
British Overseas Airways Corporation 7
Air Training Corps 4

Designed by Sir Edward Maufe, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s principal architect for the UK after WW2, it comprises a shrine surrounded by a cloister in which the names of the dead are recorded, inscribed on stone panels. The coat of arms of the Commonwealth countries are represented on the cloister ceilings. The entrance, through a triple arched portico, gives access to the cloisters.

A large arched window – the great north window – is engraved with the words from the 139th Psalm, sometimes called the Airman’s Psalm.
If I climb up into Heaven, Thou art there;
If I go to Hell, Thou art there also.
If I take the wings of the morning
And remain in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there also shall Thy hand lead me;
And Thy right hand shall hold me.

Angels are engraved at either side of the text and above these are vapour trails taken from actual photographs of the sky during the Battle of Britain. The window was designed by John Hutton, who was also responsible for the painted ceilings of the shrine and lookouts which depict the four winds, the planets and the phases of the moon scattered with stars.

Two stone staircases lead from the shrine to a gallery above. Here, one of the small windows is engraved with a poem written by a student, Paul H Scott, shortly after the Memorial was completed. From the gallery the stairs lead upwards to the roof of the tower which is capped by an Astral Crown in blue and gold.

The first rays of the dawning sun
Shall touch its pillars,
And as the day advances
And the light grows stronger,
You shall read the names
Engraved on the stone of those who sailed on the angry sky
And saw harbour no more.
No gravestone in yew-dark churchyard
Shall mark their resting place;
Their bones lie in the forgotten corners of earth and sea.
But, that we may not lose their memory
With fading years, their monuments stand here,
Here, where the trees troop down to Runnymede.
Meadow of Magna Carta, field of freedom,
Never saw you so fitting a memorial,
Proof that the principals established here
Are still dear to the hearts of men.
Here now they stand, contrasted and alike,
The field of freedom’s birth, and the memorial
To freedom’s winning.

And, as evening comes,
And mists, like quiet ghosts, rise from the river bed,
And climb the hill to wander through the cloisters,
We shall not forget them. Above the mist
We shall see the memorial still, and over it
The crown and single star. And we shall pray
As the mists rise up and the air grows dark
That we may wear
As brave a heart as they.

The Runnymede Memorial was opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on 17th October 1953.

The Memorial is open during the hours of daylight every day except Christmas Day and new Years Day.

Information taken from http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/archie_bombercommand/runnymede_memorial.html