Biggin Hill

Biggin Hill

Biggin Hill Fighter Base was a controlling station in No 11 Group, Fighter Command and played a decisive part in the Battle of Britain with both Spitfires and Hurricanes from a variety of squadrons being based there. It gained the nickname “The Strongest Link”, which was later incorporated into the fighter station’s crest. The squadrons based at Biggin Hill claimed to have destroyed 1,400 enemy aircraft, at the cost of the lives of 453 Biggin Hill based aircrew. Because of its importance to the capital’s defence, the airport itself became a target. Between August 1940 and January 1941, the airfield was attacked twelve times, the worst of which wrecked workshops, stores, barracks, WAAF quarters and a hangar, killing 39 people on the ground.