Buckingham Palace Road Hurricane Sculptures

Over the years Ray Holmes' heroic ramming of the German bomber over London has become one of the most celebrated events of the Battle of Britain, 1940.

After many years of research, Chris Bennett pinpointed the remains of the Hurricane beneath the road and a successful excavation was carried out in 2004 which saw the recovery of significant items of wreckage, including much of TM-B's shattered Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. Many of the remnants can be seen in the Imperial War Museum, London.

Subsequently a decision was made to have a quantity of corroded "lumps" of aluminium engine casing (material of no historic interest due to its poor state of preservation) cast into sculptures of TM-B. This metal from P2725's Rolls-Royce Merlin was initially melted down on the 64th anniversary, 15th September 2004, and then finally cast into 6.5" wing span Hurricane sculptures in December '04, at the end of which a limited edition of 125 to sell plus 35 "presentational" pieces had been created. These latter, identified by a different Roman numeral numbering system, not intended to be made available commercially but for presentational purposes only. Examples have been presented to Ray Holmes (who sadly died recently, aged 90), the Royal Air Force, the Lord Mayor of Westminster and, most recently, Her Majesty The Queen.

Each is mounted upon an oak plinth with glass case and engraved plate and every sculpture has "P2725 TM-B" cast into its underside and limited edition number then stamped, also on the underside.

The case dimensions are Height 9" (23cm), Width 8" (20cm), Depth 8" (20cm)

Each comes with a Certificate of Authenticity signed both by Chris Bennett and Ray Holmes plus a CD containing around 100 pictures portraying the history of the event, the excavation and the physical production of the sculptures. This accompanying portfolio of information is vital as it is the provenance that makes these unique sculptures so significant.

For more information please email TMB Art Metal at info@tmb-art-metal.com or call 0208 810 9997.

Click on any image to enlarge

parts of the original engine casing

one of the sculptures coming out of the mould

sculpture in case

sculpture close up

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