THE day the war ended for Arno Zimmerman will be re-enacted in a living history display at the War and Peace Show in July.

It was October 27 1940 when Zimmerman was forced to crash land his Messerschmitt 109 on the beach at Lydd, Kent. (photos to left and right  courtesy of The Aircrew Remembrance Society)

He was returning from an early morning raid on London when, somewhere above Tunbridge Wells, he saw a squadron of Hurricane fighters below him and decided to attack.

Not such a good decision as it turned out, because one of the Hurricanes, piloted by Sergeant E.W. Wright, got on his tail and pumped incendiary shells into his engine. They burned out the spark plug leads and Zimmerman had no choice but to land. He saw out the war in a British POW camp.

(photo to left: a soldier examines Zimmerman's Messerschmitt 109 on the beach at Lydd, courtesy of The Aircrew Remembrance Society)

Now a group called Battle for Britain plan to demonstrate how captured aircraft were dealt with by civil and military forces, which might include police, local army units, Home Guard and aviation experts.

They will be using a replica Messerschmitt 109 painted up in exactly the same colours as the one used by Zimmerman, right down to the grey camouflage paint and the winged clog painted on the fuselage.

"When a German plane was brought down it would attract a lot of curiosity from local people, some of whome would be out to snatch souvenirs," said Simon Todd (pictured left), of Basingstoke, who founded Battle for Britain. 

"The replica we use was built 15 years ago for a special event. We have researched Zimmerman's plane thoroughly to make sure ours is an accurate reproduction."

The Messerschmitt will be part of a major display at the War and Peace Show to mark the 70^th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

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