Bronzes arrive on site

The main bronze castings, and the pilots name panels, were transported from the foundry in Hampshire to the final site at the embankment. They were loaded onto a large low loader lorry on the evening of Wednesday 17 August 2005.

They were transported overnight to the embankment site. Here teams from the foundry (Morris Singer) and the architects (Donald Insall) worked with the sculptor (Paul Day) to take them from the lorry and start installing them on site.

The pictures opposite show the 2 ton friezes being very carefully lifted into place on the embankment site.

The picture below shows Paul Day inspecting his design on site for the first time.

Work will now progress over the next few weeks to finally fit the castings, install the lighting system and finally build the RAF "roundel" which will become the floor of the monument.

click on images to enlarge