At last – we have made a start on site this week !!
The stump of the old English Plane Tree has been removed and the foundation piles have been installed ready to accept the supporting, laminated timber trusses, which is likely to happen week beginning 17th August. After that will be some concrete work to tie the three main timber piles together in advance of the Hurricane being added.
The two pipe stands alongside the fence will connect through cables to the tail of the Hurricane to prevent flutter in high winds.
The ship delivering the full-sized replica Hurricane Fighter now arrives at the Port of Tauranga on Wednesday 12th August. Once cleared from here it will be delivered to the Toyota Plant in Thames for inspection and assembly prior to being mounted on the supporting structure at the Thames Airfield.
There will be a second stage to completing the memorial being the addition of a new statue of Sir Keith in his flying outfit, and general landscaping of the immediate area. This will be done next year. And to stress – this is a new statue and there is no thought of attempting to move the one at the Thames Civic Centre to the Airfield !!
We cannot emphasise strongly enough the project’s appreciation of not only the very generous cash donations, but for the amazing support of goods and services from local businesses. Without such support there would not have been the opportunity to have this memorial in place for the 80th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain here in Thames.
