Biggin Hill Memorial Museum dedicates men and women who served there during war

It is was the iconic fighter base of the Battle of Britain and this weekend (Feb 2/3) a new museum is opening at Biggin Hill in Kent dedicated to the men and women who served there.

The £5 million project also secures the future of the RAF chapel built at the airport after the war at the request of Winston Churchill - which honours the more than 400 air crew from the base killed in World War Two.

However, the project hasn't met with everyone's approval.

Watch this report by Derek Johnson:

As a fighter base in the Battle of Britain air crew were in the front line in 1940 fighting off the threat of Nazi invasion.

After the war, Winston Churchill oversaw the building of the St George's Chapel of Remembrance, next to which a new museum has opened telling the story of Biggin Hill.

Jemma Davey, Biggin Hill Memorial Museum Project:

Among those remembered pilots based here during the airfield's early years such as Great War pilot Hardit Singh Malik, the first Sikh to serve in any flying service in the world.

In World War Two, Elspeth Henderson kept communications lines going during a heavy bombing raid, becoming one of the first women to win the Military Medal.

As well as individual exhibits, the museum comes with an interactive guide containing interviews with Battle of Britain pilots such as the late Geoffrey Wellum.

The £5m project protects the chapel's future but it has come under fire from protesters, thousands of whom signed a petition objecting to it.

David Evans & Rita Radford, Protect Biggin Hill RAF Chapel:

Today, Biggin Hill is a commercial airport - the museum is dedicated to it past.