The Eagle Squadrons Memorial is a

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...

Grosvenor Square Grosvenor Square is a large garden square in the Mayfair district of London. It is the centrepiece of the Mayfair property of the Duke of Westminster, and takes its name from the duke's surname "Grosvenor". It was developed for fashionable re ...

, London. It commemorates the service of the three

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

Eagle Squadrons The Eagle Squadrons were three fighter squadrons of the Royal Air Force (RAF) formed with volunteer pilots from the United States during the early days of World War II (circa 1940), prior to America's entry into the war in December 1941. Wit ...

from 1940 to 1942, during the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...

, 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 by

Elisabeth Frink Dame Elisabeth Jean Frink (14 November 1930 – 18 April 1993) was an English sculptor and printmaker. Her ''Times'' obituary noted the three essential themes in her work as "the nature of Man; the 'horseness' of horses; and the divine in ...

Background

The Eagle Squadrons were RAF

fighter squadron A squadron in air force, army aviation, or naval aviation is a unit comprising a number of military aircraft and their aircrews, usually of the same type, typically with 12 to 24 aircraft, sometimes divided into three or four flights, dependi ...

s, mostly manned by US citizens who volunteered to serve before

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

declared 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 by Charles F. Sweeny from 1939. A unit staffed by US citizens was accepted by the RAF in July 1940, and

No. 71 Squadron RAF No. 71 Squadron was a Royal Air Force aircraft squadron. The number has been used three times: once by the Royal Flying Corps for an Australian Flying Corps squadron; in the Second World War as the first of three Eagle Squadrons; and post-war as ...

was formed in September 1940, becoming operational in February 1941. It was followed by

No. 121 Squadron RAF No. 121 Squadron was a Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft squadron that during the Second World War was one of the three Eagle Squadrons manned by American volunteers. The squadron today is part of the Royal Air Force Air Cadets in Nuneaton. First ...

in May 1941 and

No. 133 Squadron RAF 133 Squadron RAF was one of the famous Eagle Squadrons formed from American volunteers serving with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. History 133 Squadron was first formed in 1918 at RAF Ternhill. It was a training unit fo ...

in July 1941, flying initially

Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by ...

s and later

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...

s. Efforts to recruit US citizens to serve in the RAF continued on a more organised basis under the aegis of the

Clayton Knight Committee The Clayton Knight Committee, was founded by Billy Bishop and Clayton Knight in 1940. Homer Smith and several German émigrés, who wanted America to join the war against the Axis powers, provided funding for the secret and unlawful commissioning ag ...

, which recruited around 7,000 US citizens to serve in the RAF or

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

by the time the US joined the war in December 1941, after the Japanese

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...

. The three Eagle Squadrons transferred to the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

in September 1942, becoming 334th, 335th and

336th Fighter Squadron The 336th Fighter Squadron (336th FS), nicknamed ''the Rocketeers'', is a United States Air Force unit. It is assigned to the 4th Operations Group and stationed at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina. The 336th was constituted on 2 ...

s in the

4th Fighter Group The 4th Fighter Group was an American element of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Eighth Air Force during World War II. The group was known as the Debden Eagles because it was created from the three Eagle Squadrons of the Royal Air Force: ...

VIII Fighter Command The VIII Fighter Command was a United States Army Air Forces unit of command above the wings and below the numbered air force. Its primary mission was command of fighter operations within the Eighth Air Force. In the World War II European Thea ...

Memorial

The memorial comprises a tapering –high obelisk of pale sandstone, topped by a –high bronze sculpture of an eagle holding its wings aloft. The head of the eagle is painted white, so that it resembles an American

bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

. It was commissioned by the American newspaper owner

William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...

and designed by Tim Kempster, who was also involved in the design of the

Fleet Air Arm Memorial The Fleet Air Arm Memorial, sometimes known as ''Daedalus'', is a war memorial in London, commemorating the service of the Royal Naval Air Service and the Fleet Air Arm from their establishments in 1914 and 1924 respectively, in the First World ...

. The bronze sculpture is by

. The four sides of the stone column each bear inscriptions. The main side, to the north, has a spread eagle from the Great Seal of the United States, holding arrows in one claw and an olive branch in the other, and an inscription EAGLE 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 the US Embassy in London (which at that time stood on 24 Grosvenor Square), and close to a statue of the

US president The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

. It was officially unveiled in May 1986 by the

British prime minister The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern p ...

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...

. It was listed at Grade II on the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, an ...

in 2016. The US Embassy moved to a new building in

Nine Elms Nine Elms is an area of south-west London, England, within the London Borough of Wandsworth. It lies on the River Thames, with Battersea to the west, South Lambeth to the south and Vauxhall to the east. The area was formerly mainly industrial bu ...

in 2017, but the memorial has remained in Grosvenor Square.

Gallery

File:World War Two Fighter Pilots Memorial, Grosvenor Square (298285422).jpg, Detail of the bronze eagle File:Eagle Squadron Memorial, June 2023 03.jpg, Dedication on the memorial File:Eagle Squadron Memorial, June 2023 04.jpg, Names inscribed on the memorial File:Eagle Squadron Memorial, June 2023 05.jpg, Names inscribed on the memorial

References

The Eagle Squadrons Memorial
The Royal Parks
Eagle Squadron Memorial
National Heritage List for England, Historic England
United States Eagle Squadrons Memorial
Imperial War Museum
Eagle Squadrons Memorial
War Memorials Online
Eagle Squadrons Memorial
London Remembers
Eagle Squadron Memorial
American War Memorials Overseas, Inc.

External links

* {{coords, 51.5111, -0.1512, display=title 1985 sculptures Grade II listed statues in the City of Westminster Military memorials in London

Memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...

Outdoor sculptures in London Buildings and structures in Mayfair Sculptures by Elisabeth Frink Sculptures of birds in the United Kingdom Animal sculptures in London Sculptures of eagles