Monument

Fleet Air Arm

Erection date: 1/6/2000

Inscription

{On the front of the curved 'prow' in gilded letters, below a gilded badge:}
Fleet Air Arm

{On the inside of the curved 'prow':}
To the everlasting memory of all the men and women from the United Kingdom the British Commonwealth and the many Allied Nations who have given their lives whilst serving in the Royal Naval Air Service and the Fleet Air Arm.

He rode upon a cherub and did fly yea he did fly upon the wings of the wind. {Psalms 18:10}

{On the right side of the curved stone plinth:}
Belgian Coast 1914 – 18; Suez Canal 1915, Dardanelles 1915 – 16, Mesopotamia 1915 – 17, Jutland 1916, Atlantic 1939 – 45, English Channel 1939 – 45, North Sea 1939 – 45, River Plate 1939, Mediterranean 1940 – 45, Norway 1940 – 44 – 45, Narvik 1940, Dunkirk 1940, Calabria 1940, Libya 1940 – 42, Taranto 1940, Spartivento 1940, Malta Convoys 19401 – 42, Arctic 1941 – 45, Matapan 1941.

{On the left side of the curved stone plinth:}
Crete 1941, Bismarck 1941, Diego Suarez 1942, North Africa 1942 – 43, Sicily 1943, Salerno 1943, Aegean 1944, Normandy 1944, Sabang 1944, South France 1944, Burma 1944 – 45, Palembang 19- 45, Malaya 1945, Okinawa 1945, Japan 1945, Korea 1950 - 53, Falkland Islands 1982, Kuwait 1991.

This bronze figure represents Daedalus, the Greek guy who crafted wings for himself and his son Icarus to escape Crete.  But he used wax to hold the feathers and Icarus flew so close to the sun that the wax melted and he fell into the sea. Daedalus survived to mourn the fallen.

Kempster designed the memorial and Butler created the statue. Unveiled by the Prince of Wales.

Site: Fleet Air Arm (1 memorial)

SW1, Victoria Embankment, Victoria Embankment Gardens - Whitehall section

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Fleet Air Arm

Subjects commemorated i

Falklands War

Died: 649 Argentinians, 255 British, 3 civilian Falkland Islanders. 

Read More

Gulf War

The US, backed by the UN, invaded Iraq in response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwa...

Read More

Korean War

This war, the first UN action against aggression, has not officially ended bu...

Read More

World War 1

We'd always assumed that this war was known as the Great War until WW2 came a...

Read More

World War 2

Sorry, we've done no research on WW2, it's just too big a subject. But do vis...

Read More

Show all 7

This section lists the subjects who helped to create/erect the memorial on this page:
Fleet Air Arm

Created by i

James Butler RA

One of Britain's foremost figurative sculptors. Born New Cross. Interestingly...

Read More

King Charles III

One-time patron of the Goon Show Preservation Society. On the death of his m...

Read More

Tim Kempster

Architect.

Read More

Nearby Memorials

Ladbroke Grove rail disaster - monument

Ladbroke Grove rail disaster - monument

W10, Canal Way

The Sainsbury's plaques are on the wall to the right of the large bush in the centre of the photograph.

32 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
Hoxton war memorial

Hoxton war memorial

N1, Bletchley Street, 3, Holy Trinity Church

As usual the active service death toll in WW1 is much greater than that in WW2. But we find it surprising that in WW2 more people died in...

War dead, Civilian war dead | WW1, WW2
181 subjects commemorated
Western Postal District war memorial - Rathbone Place

Western Postal District war memorial - Rathbone Place

W1, Rathbone Place, Post Office Sorting Office

The plaque does not point out that not all of the WW2 names were in the armed forces when killed: H. F. Phillips had survived his service...

War dead, War served, Civilian war dead | WW1, WW2, Other war
190 subjects commemorated
Dulwich College WW1 memorial

Dulwich College WW1 memorial

SE21, College Road, Edward Alleyn House - garden

On the south side of the monument is a simple crest with three roses and a chevron inverted with the Latin text "Detur Gloria Soli Deo" (...

2 subjects commemorated
Magna Carta pier - north

Magna Carta pier - north

SL4, Windsor Road, Fairhaven Memorial Lodges

This is a multi-part monument: with four elements, spread over two sites, This northern one and the southern one.  At each site there are...

2 subjects commemorated, 2 creators