Plane that saved the Palace

The Hurricane has been buried in central London since an astonishing act of bravery during the Second World War battle.
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Archaeologists will attempt to unearth the fighter plane that saved Buckingham Palace during the Battle of Britain in a live TV dig.

The Hurricane has been buried in central London since an astonishing act of bravery during the Second World War battle.

Pilot sergeant Ray Holmes, of 504 Squadron, saved the Palace by ramming a German Dornier bomber after he ran out of ammunition on 15 September 1940.

Holmes survived after bailing out of his plane and is now 89.

Channel Five today announced Fighter Plane Dig - Live, in which a team will attempt to unearth the Hurricane, after experts pinpointed the site where it crashed.

Sgt Holmes sliced the tail of the Dornier, which was about to bomb the Palace, causing it to crash.

He will discuss his act of bravery on the show, which will be broadcast at the end of May.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Sign up you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy notice .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in