602 Squadron Museum Association Events and News

Air Chief Marshal Lord Dowding Commemorative Service
12 September 2010 - Moffat

Representatives from the 602 Squadron Museum Association laid a wreath during the Air Chief Marshal Lord Dowding Commemorative Service on the 12th September 2010.

The Dowding Memorial in Moffat conmmemorates his birth in the town. It was unveiled in September 1972 largely through the efforts of Miss Irene Park MBE of Moffat who had been an officer in the WAAF during WW2. The plaque of Dowding on the memorial is the work of Scott Sutherland who also executed the Commando Monument at Spean Bridge.

Again through public appeal, in 1988, the former Dowding family home in Moffat was renamed Dowding House and developed into sheltered accomodation for former RAF personnel and their families.

The family left Moffat for the South in 1897 and after schooling, Dowding joined the Army, subsequently joining the newly formed Royal Flying Corps. After active service during the Great War, he was involved in the introduction of ground/air radio and the development of new aircraft such as the Spitfire and the Hurricane.

In 1936, Dowding was appointed Commander-in-Chief of Fighter Command. He pushed for ever increasing resources for Fighter Command which did not earn him friends in Whitehall but ultimately contributed to victory in the Battle of Britain at the cost of 1038 aircraft and 644 pilots and aircrew to the RAF.

During his memorial service in Westminster Abbey in 1979 he was described as "The Architect of Deliverance".

( Click on the pictures below to enlarge )