Caroline Black is project manager of Battle of Britain commemoration Swindon Remembers, organised by Swindon Heritage magazine in partnership with other organisations. Paul Gentleman, a graphic designer, communications specialist and fellow Swindon Heritage volunteer, is also heavily involved with the project. The couple live in Old Town

ON September 15 – Battle of Britain Day – Spitfires and Hurricanes of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight will roar over Swindon.

Their course will take them over the grave of Squadron Leader Harold Starr, a Swindonian who died during the battle when enemy aircraft machine-gunned him as he hung from his parachute.

Replicas of a Spitfire and a Hurricane will be displayed in the town centre, shops will be encouraged to have 1940s-style decorations and schools will be invited to organise picnics for their pupils.

The catalyst for all of this was an interview conducted last year for Swindon Heritage, the magazine co-founded by Adver columnist Graham Carter.

Graham visited the home of Caroline Black and Paul Gentleman to talk about Paul’s work in designing striking wraps for trains.

His projects include an engine named For the Fallen in honour of those who gave their lives in the First World War.

Caroline, an IT trainer by profession, said: “From there we kept in contact and went to some of their talks.

“We went to the Cenotaph on Remembrance Day, and it was from the remembrance service and one or two of the talks that we discovered Harold Starr was buried at Radnor Street Cemetery.”

Caroline and Paul know a former Battle of Britain Memorial Flight pilot, and emailed him about Harold Starr’s story and a possible flypast.

“He took it back to the CO and the CO said, ‘Absolutely – we want to support this'.

“I guess you could say from there it started growing arms and legs, because we thought to ourselves, ‘Right, if you’ve got something going on up in the sky now, this needs to be big on the ground, because what we’re bringing is something quite unique for the town, and we don’t want the pilots looking down and just seeing a few people in the cemetery.’

“We want to make this an event for the town to complement what’s going on up in the sky.

“It was from there that we started making all these plans that seem to be falling into place.”

Paul said: “Remembrance becomes more and more important as the years go by.

“The people we are remembering who survived that period are reducing in number year on year, and I think it’s important to remember the sacrifices that were made by those people - the ones who didn’t survive and the ones who did survive.

“We should remember what they actually achieved.

“A few years ago we lost Harry Patch, who was the last survivor of the Great War, and we’re now getting close to the time when we will lose the last survivors of World War Two.

“I think remembrance of this nature becomes more and more important as part of the education of youngsters about what went on in history.

“We have to try to keep that whole thing alive, keep it real and keep people in touch with it.”

Caroline said: “The Battle of Britain was probably the battle that shaped our future. If we had failed, then we would be sitting here perhaps with completely different surroundings, a completely different perspective on life.

“The RAF need to be remembered because of the great battle they fought. It was a fairly short battle but we defeated this man who was going to basically destroy the nation.

“We need to be aware and remember exactly that – it could have been so different, and these brave airmen shaped our future.

“They shaped what we are now, which is free men and women.”

Another major figure in the commemoration is friend and fellow Swindon Heritage supporter and businessman Noel Beauchamp.

Noel is the managing director of South Marston firm AMCS, which supplies equipment to the oil and gas industries, and also a local history aficionado and collector of artefacts.

He said: “It’s important to remember that Hitler had made it quite clear that Germany was preparing for the land invasion of the UK.

“The only thing they had to do was defeat the RAF, which would effectively leave the UK’s front door open for an invasion across the channel which was planned, prepared and ready to be activated.

“The fact that they couldn’t defeat the RAF was the reason they abandoned the decision to invade the UK.”

Caroline and Paul are proud of their Wiltshire heritage. Caroline is the daughter of Malmesbury publicans and Paul the son of a fireman and a credit controller.

Both have found their interest in local history deepening as the Battle of Britain project developed.

Paul said: “As Harold Starr was a Swindonian I’m proud that he is from Swindon and I am from Swindon. It restores civic pride.”

Caroline said: “People tend to take too much for granted. There are probably hundreds of people in this town who haven’t really given much thought to the railway, to the GWR and what it actually meant, but if you go back 175 years Swindon was farm land – and look at it now.”

The couple hope September 15 is a special day for everybody.

“We would hope that people are stepping out of their offices, standing, watching and feeling the flypast,” said Caroline. “You don’t just hear it and see it, you feel the roar of those engines.”