LOCAL historian Philip Jarvis is marking the 75 anniversary of the D-Day landings with a special exhibition at St Philip’s Church in Webheath.
Not only that but he’s also managed to persuade the RAF to alter the flightpath of a World War II Hawker Hurricane so it can do a fly past over the town on Sunday, June 9.
The exhibition will also include a local Redditch connection, as the town played a key role in the war effort.
HDA – High Duty Alloys – made components for the Spitfire aircraft and the Dam Buster bombers, the BSA factory on Studley Road made machine guns while Britannia Batteries in Union Street was also targeted by the Luftwaffe.
Philip’s exhibition will feature models and photos of the Royal Navy ships which took part and also the stories of soldiers who landed during the course of June 6, 1944.
Also featured will be models of aircraft which took part in the War, both German and British.
Another section will deal with how the British deceived the Germans where the landings would take place – known as Operation Fortitude South.
This saw the British creating phantom armies, the RAF dropping metal strips to confuse German radar and the role of actor ME Clifton James who acted as Field Marshall Montgomery’s double before D-Day.
The fly past of the Hurricane, from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, is on Sunday June 9 and is scheduled for around 2.10pm – weather permitting.
The exhibition is from Saturday, June 8 to Tuesday, June 11 from 10.30am to 5pm (12.30pm to 6pm on Sunday) and admission is £3 with all funds raised going to help with the fitting out of the St Philip’s Church annexe. For more details call Philip on 07866 654372.
