Three pilots, three nations, one changing air war.

Today, the landscapes around Rye Harbour, Forest Row and Uckfield are peaceful corners of East Sussex.

Walk across the marshes towards Camber Castle, follow the old railway path beside Forest Row, or drive through Uckfield and there is little to suggest that these places once lay beneath an aerial battlefield.

Yet hidden within these landscapes are memorials to three Allied fighter pilots whose stories span four remarkable years of the Second World War.

Harry Raymond Hamilton came from Canada. John Dallas Crossman came from Australia. Eugène Georges Achille Seghers came from Belgium.

All three served with the Royal Air Force. All three fought in the skies over southern England. And all three are now commemorated in quiet locations across East Sussex.

Introduction

Today, the High Weald of East Sussex is one of the most peaceful landscapes in southern England. Narrow lanes wind between woods and fields, old farms sit among wooded ridges, and from the higher ground there are long views across a countryside that can seem almost untouched by the modern world.

It is difficult to imagine this same landscape with a battle raging in the skies above it.

Yet during the summer and autumn of 1940, south-east England stood beneath the Battle of Britain. German bombers and fighters crossed the coast while RAF pilots climbed to intercept them, often fighting at great height before damaged aircraft spiralled back towards the countryside below.