See Blackpool Through a New Wartime Lens

“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.“ So said Winston Churchill during the Battle of Britain in 1940, when RAF air crews across the country were defending Britain from Luftwaffe attack.  

With Battle of Britain Day approaching, on September 15, 85 years after dog fights were filling the skies over the country, there is no better time to understand what those brave men and women went through.

However, maybe thanks to the north-south divide, it tends to be southern-based RAF bases that we associate with World War II, whether that is Biggin Hill or Uxbridge.  Very few appreciate that without the support of the much derided seaside town of Blackpool, fending off the Luftwaffe might have proved far more difficult.

In fact, if you were a resident of some key targets for the Luftwaffe, such as Liverpool, Barrow, Manchester and Preston Docks, you were often defended by crews based at RAF Squires Gate, Blackpool.  These crews scoured the Irish Sea, seeking out German bombers and scrambling to defend key assets and civilians.

But Blackpool played a much bigger part than this in supporting the Battle of the Britain and the country’s defence against the Blitz warfare that followed it.  In fact, the whole town pretty much became an RAF garrison and was known as RAF Blackpool.

If you enrolled in the RAF during World War II, there is no doubt you would have seen the sands of Blackpool.  You may well have been exercising on them, on the coldest, windiest and wettest winter days, wearing just a vest and pants.  You would have spent your free time at entertainment shows staged in whichever theatre could open its doors on a Saturday night to put on a show.  You might have marched down the promenade.  You would have undoubtedly have stayed in one of Blackpool’s many boarding houses and been bussed to training every day, returning for a lunchtime meal, before being bussed back for more training.

This is because Blackpool was the training centre for the RAF during World War II.  Around 834,000 RAF personnel passed through Blackpool, as the RAF’s dedicated training centre during the war. RAF Squires Gate was home to the Elementary Flying School, the Navigation School, Anti-Aircraft Operations, the Reconnaissance School, the Photographic School, the Wireless and Telegraphy School, the School of Air Sea Rescue, Blind Approach Training, Transatlantic Flights, Grounds Operations Training and aircraft manufacture. 

Ministers had realised that Blackpool could offer all they needed for the mammoth task of getting pilots in the air and ground crew and operations staff on the ground who knew what they were doing.  It was far enough away from London to be ‘safe’ but also had the boarding house infrastructure that was required to home all of the enlisted personnel who needed to be put through their paces.

Blackpool was more than this though.  It was also an operations centre for the Irish Sea defence and a big manufacturing base, with Wellington Bombers built at two sites in the town.

And, it became home to around 20,000 Polish air crew too, following the occupation of Poland and the subsequent fall of France, to which many Poles had fled.  In fact, Polish air squadrons 303, 306, 307, 308 and 317, were formed in Blackpool.  It became the home of the free Polish Air Force from 1940 and, after the war, many of the Polish air crew who survived stayed on, afraid to return to Stalin-controlled Poland.

It is hard to imagine the scenes in Blackpool during the war years – unless you have a bit of help and have the whole story brought to life.  That can be achieved at the Spitfire Visitor Centre: Hangar 42, an award-winning visitor attraction housed in the 1939 hangar that was the first to be erected at RAF Squires Gate.

From here, air crew saw all sorts of action, scrambling, on the instruction of the operations teams in Bartle Hall near Preston, to head out over the Irish Sea and ward off Hitler’s planes.  These crew were part of the massive RAF population in the town, where every focus was on the action in the sky.

The Spitfire Visitor Centre is an eye-opener for those who have only seen Blackpool as a place of candy floss, rollercoasters and kiss-me-quick hats. With no heating and the capacity to dramatically communicate the environment that crew experienced, every single time a plane roars over to arrive at Blackpool airport, it is an atmospheric, spinetingling venue.

Its nostalgia-ladened spitfires sit gloriously centre stage, inviting visitors to get into the cockpit for a photo.  It also has a German ME109 and a Hurricane on display. It has an ops room, where you can appreciate how aircraft manoeuvres were planned.  It boasts an ‘archaeology room’ featuring a retrieved German JU88 engine and many other items.  A briefing room assists with an understanding of how crews were equipped with knowledge, whilst a scramble hut provides some feel for those moments that preceded take-off for yet another danger-filled mission in the sky.

For a special treat, at a cost of £140, you could add on a one-hour flight Sim experience in the world’s only full-size Spitfire flight simulator, flying a replica Spitfire Mark V. Or, on September 14 and 15, as a real Battle of Britain celebration, you could book a seat on a real spitfire, if you have deep pockets.

At a much lower additional cost, of just £5, you can board a flight to Berlin in a virtual reality experience that lets you live and feel the tension within the plane during a bombing raid on Germany.  With the support of original commentary from such a mission, recorded by BBC War Correspondent, Wynford Vaughan Thomas, this is an incredible way to experience everything. That ranges from the flak, and the probing searchlights hitting the plane, to the relief when an aggressive German fighter plane, tailing you after the bomb drop, is shot down.

As interesting, are the black and white photos that convey a sense of what it must have been like to be stationed in Blackpool during the war, or be a resident of RAF Blackpool.  Until you look through the lens and appreciate what went on here, you will continue to only see today’s façade of Blackpool, constructed by far too much bias and unwanted criticism. 

Blackpool has become an easy target in today’s society, but if you visit Hangar 42, you will come to learn how it was much better appreciated in 1940 and not a target for the Luftwaffe at all.  The town, which so many now poke fun at, was the one Hitler had singled out as the base for his future leisure headquarters and one at which tired Nazi soldiers could recuperate.  Blackpool was to become Hitler’s pleasure palace, the minute he had conquered Britain in Operation Sea Lion.

There is an irony in the fact that this welcoming town embraced the hundreds of thousands of men and women who prevented that from happening by seeing off his destructive aircraft.  Happy memories were created for these RAF personnel in the town and the income generated by boarding houses helped the town boom. It was the nostalgia for those times spent exercising on the beach, or laughing in the theatres, that brought so many back to Blackpool, once the war had ended.  Blackpool and RAF personnel had built an indelible bond.

Before it closes for the season on October 28, it would be a good idea to get a feel for how much we all owe to so few, by visiting the Spitfire Visitor Centre: Hangar 42.  It would also be a great way to give Blackpool a break and recognise it for the contribution it played.

Head to Hangar 42 between Saturday and Tuesday each week, during the visiting times of 10am to 4pm, being sure to be there before last entrance, at 2.30pm.

If you do, you will discover the spinetingling story Hangar 42 brings to life for yourself and meet the passionate team at this wholly volunteer-run, visitor attraction.  They are a true example of what passion can do to keep memories alive, so that we learn to respect those who saved Britain from German occupation. Whilst you might believe you will scoot around in an hour, you will no doubt become absolutely hooked by their snippets and absorbed by their storytelling, spending far longer in this attraction than you believe and getting fantastic value from your £10 adult ticket price.

Step into the shoes of the British and Polish air crews who hung out at Hangar 42 and wider Blackpool for a day and you will leave feeling both thankful and enriched.  It isn’t rollercoasters and kiss-me-quick hats, but it’s far more.  It’s about the unbreakable spirit of a town that has the capacity to warmly welcome, assimilate strangers and show resilience, no matter what is thrown at it – something perhaps Hitler underestimated when planning to fly his swastika from the top of the Tower.

More about the Spitfire Visitor Centre: Hangar 42 can be found at www.spitfirevisitorcentre.co.uk

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Editors notes

The Spitfire Visitor Centre, found in Hangar 42 at Blackpool Airport, is a hidden gem and winner of the Small Visitor Attraction of the Year Award, in the Lancashire Tourism Awards 2025. Celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2025, this wonderful attraction combines vintage aircraft and air paraphernalia, with atmospheric exhibits, nostalgia aplenty and wonderful wartime storytelling from passionate volunteers who are mines of information. With Spitfires, German bomber, Hurricane, the only full-size Spitfire simulator in the world, a mini simulator and the chance to experience a virtual reality wartime bombing raid, a visit to Hangar 42 and the Spitfire Visitor Centre is a must-do in Blackpool.