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| Eagle Squadrons Memorial | |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom/United States | |
 | |
 | |
| For military personnel who served in the three RAF Eagle Squadrons prior to the United States' participation in World War II | |
| Unveiled | 12 May 1986[1] |
| Location | Grosvenor Square, London |
| Designed by | T. A. Kempster of Trehearne and Norman, Preston & Partners;Elisabeth Frink (bronze sculpture)[1] |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
| Official name | Eagle Squadrons Memorial |
| Designated | 19 January 2016 |
| Reference no. | 1430215[2] |
TheEagle Squadrons Memorial is aSecond World Warmemorial inGrosvenor Square, London. It commemorates the service of the threeRoyal Air ForceEagle Squadrons from 1940 to 1942, during theBattle of Britain, and in particular their 244 Americans and 16 British fighter pilots, of whom 71 were killed. The bronze sculpture of an eagle which tops the memorial is byElisabeth Frink.
The Eagle Squadrons were RAFfighter squadrons, mostly manned by US citizens who volunteered to serve beforeNazi Germanydeclared war on the US in December 1941. At that time, US citizens were prohibited from serving in the armed forces of a foreign power, on pain of losing their citizenship (although those affected were pardoned by Congress in 1944).
US pilots were recruited to serve in Europe byCharles F. Sweeny from 1939. A unit staffed by US citizens was accepted by the RAF in July 1940, andNo. 71 Squadron RAF was formed in September 1940, becoming operational in February 1941. It was followed byNo. 121 Squadron RAF in May 1941 andNo. 133 Squadron RAF in July 1941, flying initiallyHawker Hurricanes and laterSupermarine Spitfires. Efforts to recruit US citizens to serve in the RAF continued on a more organised basis under the aegis of theClayton Knight Committee, which recruited around 7,000 US citizens to serve in the RAF orRoyal Canadian Air Force by the time the US joined the war in December 1941, after the Japaneseattack on Pearl Harbor.
The three Eagle Squadrons transferred to theUnited States Army Air Forces in September 1942, becoming334th,335th and336th Fighter Squadrons in the4th Fighter Group inVIII Fighter Command.
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The memorial comprises a tapering 4.6 metres (15 ft)–high obelisk of pale sandstone, topped by a 2.6 metres (8 ft 6 in)–high bronze sculpture of an eagle holding its wings aloft. The head of the eagle is painted white, so that it resembles an Americanbald eagle. It was commissioned by the American newspaper ownerWilliam Randolph Hearst and designed byTim Kempster, who was also involved in the design of theFleet Air Arm Memorial. The bronze sculpture is byElisabeth Frink.
The four sides of the stone column each bear inscriptions. The main side, to the north, has aspread eagle from theGreat Seal of the United States, holding arrows in one claw and an olive branch in the other, and an inscriptionEAGLE SQUADRONS / THIS MEMORIAL IS TO THE / MEMORY OF THE 244 AMERICAN / AND 16 BRITISH FIGHTER PILOTS / AND OTHER PERSONNEL WHO / SERVED IN THE THREE ROYAL / AIR FORCE EAGLE SQUADRONS / PRIOR TO THE PARTICIPATION OF / THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR / THEY SERVED WITH VALOR / FOUNDED BY CHARLES F SWEENY, JUNE 1940 / ERECTED THROUGH THE GENEROSITY / OF THE / HEARST CORPORATION OF AMERICA / IN THE NAME OF / WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST / PUBLISHER.
Each of the three other sides is dedicated to one of the Eagle Squadrons – 133 Squadron, 121 Squadron, or 71 Squadron – with a depiction of each squadron's crest and motto, and a list of those who served: 289 individuals, including 71 war dead.
The memorial was erected in 1985, near theUS Embassy in London (which at that time stood on 24 Grosvenor Square), and close to a statue of theUS presidentFranklin D. Roosevelt. It was officially unveiled in May 1986 by theBritish prime ministerMargaret Thatcher. It waslisted at Grade II on theNational Heritage List for England in 2016.[2] The US Embassy moved to a new building inNine Elms in 2017, but the memorial has remained in Grosvenor Square.
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Media related toEagle Squadron Memorial at Wikimedia Commons51°30′40″N0°09′04″W / 51.5111°N 0.1512°W /51.5111; -0.1512
