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Royal Air Force Memorial

1923 establishments in England1923 sculpturesBritish military memorials and cemeteriesBuildings and structures completed in 1923Grade II* listed monuments and memorials
Grade II* listed statues in the City of WestminsterMilitary memorials in LondonOutdoor sculptures in LondonReginald Blomfield buildingsRoyal Air Force memorialsSculptures of birdsStone sculptures in the United KingdomTourist attractions in the City of WestminsterUse British English from August 2017Victoria EmbankmentWorld War II memorials in EnglandWorld War I memorials in England
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The Royal Air Force Memorial is a military memorial on the Victoria Embankment in central London, dedicated to the memory of the casualties of the Royal Air Force in World War I (and, by extension, all subsequent conflicts). Unveiled in 1923, it became a Grade II listed structure in 1958, and was upgraded to Grade II* in 2018. It is considered to be the official memorial of the RAF and related services. It is sited at Whitehall Steps, near Cleopatra's Needle, between the north-bank ends of Charing Cross Bridge and Westminster Bridge, and directly to the east of the main Ministry of Defence building on Whitehall. The Fleet Air Arm Memorial and the Battle of Britain Monument are nearby.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Royal Air Force Memorial (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Royal Air Force Memorial
Victoria Embankment, City of Westminster Lambeth

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N 51.503986111111 ° E -0.123125 °
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Royal Air Force Memorial

Victoria Embankment
SW1A 2HR City of Westminster, Lambeth
England, United Kingdom
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Fleet Air Arm Memorial
Fleet Air Arm Memorial

The Fleet Air Arm Memorial, sometimes known as Daedalus, is a war memorial in London, commemorating the service of the Royal Naval Air Service and the Fleet Air Arm from their establishments in 1914 and 1924 respectively, in the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, the Falklands War and the Gulf War, including over 6,000 killed in all conflicts. The service of the Fleet Air Arm is also commemorated at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, at the former base of the Fleet Air Arm at HMS Daedalus in Lee-on-the-Solent, and at the Church of St Bartholomew, Yeovilton. The memorial comprises a thin stone column on which stands a bronze statue of a naval airman, wearing a flying suit and helmet, and with wings attached to his arms like Daedalus from Ancient Greek mythology, resembling a winged victory or an angel. The base of the memorial has a gilded inscription of the name and insignia of the Fleet Air Arm. It also bears the names of battles where the units fought, a dedication "To the everlasting memory of all the men and women from the United Kingdom the British Commonwealth and the many Allied Nations who have given their lives whilst serving in the Royal Naval Air Service and the Fleet Air Arm", and a quotation from Psalm 18:10: "He rode upon a cherub and did fly yea he did fly upon the wings of the wind". It was designed by James Butler. It was unveiled on 1 June 2000 by Charles, Prince of Wales, and stands in Victoria Embankment Gardens, between the River Thames and the headquarters of the Ministry of Defence, facing the Royal Air Force Memorial. Also nearby are the Korean War Memorial, the Iraq and Afghanistan Memorial, the Chindit Memorial, and the Battle of Britain Monument.

Battle of Britain Monument, London
Battle of Britain Monument, London

The Battle of Britain Monument in London is a sculpture on the Victoria Embankment, overlooking the River Thames, which commemorates the individuals who took part in the Battle of Britain during the Second World War.It was unveiled on 18 September 2005, the 65th anniversary of the Battle, by Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, in the presence of many of the surviving airmen known collectively as "The Few", following the Royal Air Force Service of Thanksgiving and Rededication on Battle of Britain Sunday. This service is an annual event, the first of which took place in 1943 at St Paul's Cathedral and since has taken place in Westminster Abbey. The monument was conceived by Bill Bond, founder of the Battle of Britain Historical Society, who was later appointed an MBE for his services to heritage. He was solely responsible for negotiating with the City of Westminster to secure the site of the monument, as well as appointing Donald Insall Associates as architects. He also formed the fundraising committee after raising over £250,000 through an appeal. The budget was £1.74 million which was funded in the main by private donations. Bill Bond appointed Lord Tebbit as chairman of the fundraising committee. The monument utilises a panelled granite structure 25 m (82 ft) long which was originally designed as a smoke outlet for underground trains when they were powered by steam engines. A walkway was cut obliquely through the middle of the structure, and is lined with panels of high relief sculpture in bronze depicting scenes from the Battle of Britain. The centrepiece is an approximately life sized sculpture of airmen scrambling for their aircraft during the battle. The outside of the monument is lined with bronze plaques listing 2,936 pilots and aircrew from 14 countries who took part in the battle on the Allied side. In July 2020, Ajax historian Martin Sugarman, lost a campaign to list one of the airmen, whose parents were born in Mandatory Palestine, as being “British-Israeli" or "British Palestinian”. A member of the London monument team advised that, with nearly 3,000 names on the memorial, there was “no prospect of post-unveiling correction”.The sculptor of the monument is Paul Day. The statue was cast by Morris Singer, which is the oldest established fine art foundry in the world and has cast many prominent statues and sculptures in London and around the world, including the lions and fountains in Trafalgar Square.

Chindit Memorial
Chindit Memorial

The Chindit Memorial is a war memorial in London, England, that commemorates the Chindit special forces, which served in Burma under Major General Orde Wingate in the Second World War. The memorial was erected in Victoria Embankment Gardens in 1990, near the Ministry of Defence headquarters, and also commemorates Wingate, who died on active service in Burma in 1944. It became a Grade II listed building in August 2020. The Chindits – officially designated the 77th Indian Infantry Brigade in 1943, and the 3rd Indian Infantry Division in 1944 – were organised by Wingate to serve behind Japanese lines in the Burma Campaign, in 1943 and 1944. They are named after the mythical chinthe, a guardian of Burmese temples, which appears on the badge of the forces. A sculpture of the chinthe, by Frank Forster, tops the memorial, above a tapering 4 metres (13 ft) high Portland stone pillar mounted on three steps of red granite. The memorial was designed by architect David Price. The front of the monument has an inscription to the memory of the Chindits, and also has a plaque depicting of the Chindit badge on a blue background and the Chindit motto, "The boldest measures are the safest". The inscription also lists the four men of the Chindits who were awarded the Victoria Cross: Major Frank Blaker, Captain Michael Allmand, Lieutenant George Albert Cairns and Rifleman Tulbahadur Pun. The units involved are listed on the sides of the monument, and the rear of the monument is dedicated to Wingate, with a blue plaque depicting a portrait of Wingate, a quotation from Winston Churchill: "A man of genius who might well have become a man of destiny", and a reference to Wingate's influence in the foundation of the state of Israel and the formation of the Israel Defence Forces, arising from his service in the British Mandate of Palestine in the 1930s. The memorial was unveiled on 16 October 1990 by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. There is a separate further memorial to the Chindits in the National Memorial Arboretum, and a memorial at Hurlburt Field in Florida commemorates the cooperation between the Chindits and the US 1st Air Commando Group. In August 2020, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of VJ Day and shortly before the 30th anniversary of its unveiling, the Chindit Memorial became a Grade II listed building.

New Scotland Yard (building)
New Scotland Yard (building)

New Scotland Yard, formerly known as the Curtis Green Building and before that as Whitehall Police Station, is a building in Westminster, London. Since November 2016, it has been the Scotland Yard headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), the fourth such premises since the force's foundation in 1829. It is located on the Victoria Embankment and is situated within the Whitehall Conservation Area. It neighbours the Norman Shaw (which were the predecessor New Scotland Yard buildings) and Ministry of Defence buildings, together with Richmond House and Portcullis House. The New Scotland Yard building was designed in 1935 by the English architect William Curtis Green, who was commissioned to build an annexe to the existing Norman Shaw North building, which had been the Metropolitan Police's headquarters since 1890. Together with the Norman Shaw South building, the three sites were split off in 1967, with the Norman Shaw buildings being taken over by the British Government and the Curtis Green annexe being retained by the police. The earlier annexe, built at the rear of the Norman Shaw South building in 1898 by the Met's surveyor and principal architect John Dixon Butler, was retained as a police station and used operationally until 1992. In 2013, as a result of an estate reorganisation, the former "New Scotland Yard" in the neighbouring Broadway was sold and the force headquarters was relocated to the Curtis Green Building after extensive renovations. It was renamed New Scotland Yard in 2016.