PERSHORE MP Harriett Baldwin said the opening of a new museum was a fitting tribute to the efforts of servicemen who risked their lives at a Vale war base.
Mrs Baldwin attended the official opening of the new museum at Croome Court on Saturday (September 27) to celebrate the efforts of people from RAF Defford whose secret tactics helped the country to win the Second World War.
The secret airbase at Defford led the development of top secret technology to help win the war including the creation of the radar system which helped Bomber Command to spot enemy aircraft.
The base also housed scientists who helped to develop microwave technologies and the very first automated plane landing was successfully completed at the base in 1945.
The museum has been created with the support of donors and the National Lottery Heritage Fund and been undertaken between the National Trust and the Defford Airfield Heritage Group.
Mrs Baldwin was one of the first visitors to be treated to a tour of the museum where the story of RAF Defford is told.
“RAF Defford has always had an aura of secrecy and until quite recently, the work carried out there was a state secret,” she said.
“Defford and the sister research facility in Malvern carried out nationally important work and it is great that we can now properly celebrate the efforts of the people who worked here.
“It was inspirational to talk to the veterans who worked here during the war and the museum is a fitting tribute to the brilliant people who worked night and day to help secure a safe future for them and us.
“I congratulate the staff and volunteers who have put together such an impressive local resource and I hope local schools will be putting the museum on their list to visit in the near future.”
The museum is open Monday to Sunday between 10.30am and 4.30pm – normal National Trust admission procedures apply.
