Historical Background to the Battle of Britain Class - Part 1

"(Bulleid Pacifics) were wayward, difficult, brilliant, fascinating" R.H.N Hardy

The former Southern Railway was one of the pre-Nationalisation 'Big Four' of independent railway companies who preceded the former British Rail (along with the Great Western Railway, London, Midland and Scottish Railway and London And North Eastern Railway after the grouping of many smaller companies in 1923).

It decided, with the co-operation of the Air Ministry, to name 40 of its Bulleid light pacifics (i.e. a 4-6-2 wheel arrangement), originally introduced May 1945, after famous airfields, aircraft, squadrons and others associated with the Battle of Britain, as a tribute to the part they played in defeating the Luftwaffe, fighting, for the most part, over territory served by the Southern Railway.

After considerable correspondence and consideration, and rejection, of various names, names were allocated in a rather random way, being taken from Fighter Command's Order of Battle for No. 11 Group for 3rd November 1940 (The end of the Battle) with the occasional re-naming along the way.