New memorial at former Sunderland airfield to honour part it played in both World Wars

As a result of long planning and co-operation between the Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust and local organisations, a memorial will be unveiled at the North East Land Sea & Air Museum, in Old Washington Road, Sunderland, on Saturday September 15.

Founder of Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust, Kenneth Bannerman said: "Usworth Airfield was an extremely important fighter airfield during both World Wars, and vitally played a major part in the Battle of Britain so it's fitting that the day the memorial is unveiled on Battle of Britain Day."

The airfield started life as a Flight Station for ‘B’ Flight of the No. 36 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps during World War One.

It served again in World War Two as RAF Usworth, and in 1962 it was purchased by the Sunderland Corporation and became Sunderland Airport.

It went on to became the site of the Nissan car factory and the North East Aircraft Museum, now the North East Land, Sea and Air Museum.

The memorial is the main standardised design already widely utilised by the Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust, and the charity's objective is to eventually commemorate each known disused airfield site in Britain with one of two forms of standardised granite memorial - nearly 90 have already been unveiled to clearly major effect, with almost 200 scheduled to be in place by the end of 2018.

ABCT is the world's first national airfield charity, truly revolutionary and making a real difference to the advancement and betterment of everyday society.