Voices from History
Promoting Harriet's Story and Preserving History
Talking with people about their own stories of the Second World War has been something of an adventure in itself, and not something I'd originally planned for when thinking of taking Harriet on the road.
Initially, it hadn't occured to me that the collection would draw attention from those who were there, and in addition to the many voices from history that I've learned from over the years, including those pilots and other service personnel who served, and took the timr to share their stories with me, I now have some new stories that I've been given permission to share...
Tony
Tony came over to talk with me when he saw Harriet's uniform at the Headcorn BoB airshow in 2025, suggesting with a smile 'I probably knew the person who used to wear it'.
Tony told me about how the only thing missing from the airshow was the white vapour trails that crisscrossed the sky during the Battle of Britain, something he remembered vividly.
He went on to share a story about how one day in late summer 1940, when he was around the age of 6, he was with his family working in the Kent fields just down the road from the airfield, picking hops, as many families did to earn money and food, when a Luftwaffe Messerschmitt 109 came over the hedge of the field so low that the adults ducked. Right behind it was a Hawkere Hurricane, guns blasting, and seconds later the 109 had crashed in the next field.
He brought a photo of himself as a young boy working in the hop fields, with his aunt and great aunt.
Sally B
While at the BoB airshow at Headcorn in 2025, two ladies came to ask if Harriet's uniform was similar to that worn by all pilots in the Second World War.
They went on to explain how their grandad, a pilot from New Zealand and serving under the command of the RAF, was washed up on the south coast, having crashed his B17 bomber in the Channel followinf enemy action. They're not sure if he knew at the time he died aged just 23, but his English girlfriend was newly pregnant at the time, and their dad was born the next year. They only found out about his story when they bought their dad a DNA kit for his birthday in 2024, as he'd always know he was adopted, and they knew he was keen to try and find out about his family. What followed put them in touch with a whole family he didn't know he had, living at the opposite side of the world. A family that didn't even know he existed.
They were very excited to see Sally B, the UK's only flying B17, display at Headcorn, as it connected to their unknown past, and they loved seeing the uniform theyr grandad would have worn (apart from the wings, of course!)
