Day for Dowding

MOFFAT will honour and commemorate the achievements of its most famous son, Lord Dowding, once again this weekend.

Events on Saturday will begin at Dowding House in Moffat, with the unveiling of a bust alongside Dr Hamish MacLeod’s replica Spitfire, which has been donated to the people of the town, and recently refurbished.

The ceremony will begin at 1.30 pm and, weather permitting, there will be a flypast by a Spitfire from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight at 2.02 pm. It will best be viewed from Station Park.

Then the annual Dowding Commemoration Service will take place in Upper Annandale Parish Church, including a wreath-laying.

Both events will be attended by Piers Dowding, 3rd Baron Dowding, the grandson of Fighter Command’s wartime leader and Honorary President of the Moffat Spitfire Project Group. Also in attendance will be local dignitaries and officials.

As Air Chief Marshal and Commander-in-Chief of RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain, Hugh Dowding led the RAF in its defeat of the Luftwaffe, saving the UK from a Nazi invasion and leading wartime prime minister Winston Churchill to dub him the “architect of deliverance”.