Rolls Royce Merlin III engine

On 15 September 1940, when the Battle was at its height, one fighter squadron was sent to Hendon. This was No. 504 Squadron sent from Catterick with its complement of Hawker Hurricane fighters, just two days before the first major raid on London on 7 September. On the morning of 15 September, Sgt Raymond (Ray) T Holmes was scrambled to take off with the rest of his squadron. Intercepting three Dornier bombers, the third reached seemed to be heading straight for Buckingham Palace. On firing, Holmes’ machine guns jammed. Determined to bring the aircraft down somehow, he thought he could sever the thinner tail section of the aircraft by ramming it with his Hurricane. The Dornier fell in two parts, the main section crashing near Victoria Station and killing two of the crew, the third dying of wounds later. Holmes lost control of his Hurricane which crashed in Buckingham Palace Road. He had bailed out, landing by parachute in a dustbin in Pimlico. The descending Dornier was filmed by Pathé News and witnessed by bystanders. Chris Bennett and Steve Vizard excavated the Hurricane in 2004. Holmes, then 90 years old, was presented with the control column on live television. The gun button was still set to ‘Fire’. The remains of the Rolls Royce Merlin III engine on display in the First 100 Years exhibition is from Ray’s Hurricane. Shortly after this day, Hitler cancelled the concentrated raids on Britain, called off his planned invasion, and switched attention to attacking Russia.