Project H25
Promoting Harriet's Story and Preserving History
In 2025 a new project started to both publicise Harriet's story, while working to preserve hitstory, and tell some of the real life stories behind Harriet Cornwall's adventures, from Dunkirk to Berlin, and beyond.
The Tunic
Late in 2024 I found a 1940 Royal Air Force Officer's tunic that had managed to survive the moths for 84 years, and rescued it from being disposed of and never seen again.
The tunic was unnamed, and it's past lost. It was the perfect foundation for the project.
After a little tlc to bring it back to life, it was off to the seamstress...
Norway
Even harder to find than a 1940s pattern officer's tunic, are the shoulder titles worn by those pilots of the Commonwealth, and those from the occupied countries flying under the command of the RAF, particularly the 'Norway' flashes, as worn by Harriet Cornwall throughout her story.
I found one, and then the other, over a period of two years, and while the style is the same, there are slight differences as with all hand made items of the time.
Wings
While the RAF pilot brevet of WW2 had a standard design, there was very little standard about them. There were some issued by the RAF, and many more made to specification by tailors around the world, with the regulations being interpreted slightly differently each time,
I was lucky to find the wings in the picture, that had been taken by their previous owner from a moth eaten uniform that was beyond saving, and were acquied originally mid to late 1940.
Decorations
By the end of the Battle of Britain, Harriet Cornwall had been awarded a number of medals to recognise her valour, including the Distinguished Service Order (DSO), and the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) twice, in addition to being Mentioned in Dispatches for bravery.
Original medal ribbons and devices of the period are often part of sets that I woudn't dream of breaking up, so it was off to a specialist who has been producing medals and ribbons for the British armed forces since before the war, to buy new ribbons, including a silver rosette denoting a second DFC, and an oak leaf for the MiD
The Shirt & Tie
Pilots of the time had collarless shirts of blue - grey, end on end weave, to which they attached Van Heusing collars that are said to have chafed badly when the pilots spun their heads left and right to look for enemy fighters. There's also a suggestion that they'd shrink in water, and strangle pilots who'd abandoned their damaged aircraft over the Channel.
Only one specialist tailor in Jermyn Street, London, still makes similar shirts, fortunately with the collar attached! They were also able to supply the specified woven wool tie...
Binoculars
While Britain was on a war footing from 1939, industry was nowhere near ready for the scale of war that came as the might of the German military machine swept West, and after the losses of personnel and equipment at Dunkirk, supplies were short by the time of the Battle of Britain just a few weeks later.
These binoculars are original Air Ministry issue from the period, and made of solid brass. This type were issued to aircrew, dispersals, lookouts, and observers throughout the battle, and despite being 85 years old, they still work amazingly well!
The Telephone
This 1938 GPO (General Post Office) telephone arrived in Tangmere in 1938, around the time of the munich Agreement.
By 1940, most of the village's occupants had been evacuated, as RAF Tangmere expanded to take over their homes and businesses, and the station was at the heart of the Battle of Britain. During the battle, squadrons were scramlbed into the air by a phone call, and the ring of the telephone's bell was known to chill the spine of many.
Later in the war, Tangmere was the jumping off station for SOE agents heading into France in low flying Westland Lysanders, that flew defenceless and by the moonlight into the heart of occupied europe.
If this telephone could tell stories... For now, though, it's a part of the project collection.
The Uniform
It's taken a while, and the hard work of a talented tailor, but the uniform was finally finished in May 2025.
Seen as worn by Flight Lieutenant Harriet Cornwall during the Battle of Britain, around the time that she was left to command 508 Squadron at the height of the battle, following the loss of the CO and senior Flight Commander in action against the Luftwaffe.
Behind the uniform is the original oil painting 'Of Bravery in Summer Skies' by the aviation artist Conway Rowland. The painting depicts the scene outlined above, and was commissioned in 2023.
Mk 2 Helmet & Mask
The Mark 2 (Mk 2) stell helmet is synonymous with Britain and the Commonwealth in the Second World War, and was seen in use everywhere from the Air Raid Precautions Wardens in London, to the Australian defenders of Tobruk, and beyond. Based on the original 'Brodie' helmet of the First World War, it was generally made of hardened manganese steel, and had a distinctive shape that led to it being known as the 'Tommy helmet'.
RAF aircrew and ground crews alike were expected to carry their helmets, certainly during the Battle of Britain, and the following Blitz that saw the country attacked repeartedly from the air, and generally they were carried strapped to the haversack in which they carried the Mk IV or V respirators, which were issued on the expectation that Germany would drop poison gas on British cities.
This pairing have certainly seen better days, as you'd expect for something 85 years old, but they're still just about keeping going. The mask is a little rusted, and the rubber faded, and the helmet's liner is weathered and cracked. They still look pretty good, though!