HOW BLACKPOOL HELPED WIN WW2

EXCLUSIVE: On Battle of Britain Sunday, as we give thanks for “The Few” who fought off the might of the German Luftwaffe 85 years ago, CHRIS RICHES reveals how our most popular seaside resort was central to victory

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T'S Britain's most iconic holiday resort, but Blackpool was the secret seaside weapon that helped the Allies win World War Two, we can reveal. Today, Battle of Britain Sunday, we remember the RAF's remarkable success over the Luftwaffe 85 years ago, helping foil Hitler's "Operation Sea Lion" invasion plan.

The victory, by those that Sir Winston Churchill famously hailed "The Few", is a proud story of facing down evil leading eventually to Hitler's inglorious defeat.

But one missing chapter actually took place along Lancashire's golden sands as Blackpool was transformed into a town-wide RAF training hub away from the Führer's bombs and prying eyes.

In 2009, German documents revealed how Hitler earmarked Blackpool as his "pleasure palace" and go-to holiday resort for weary Nazi troops, with a swastika flying on its Tower so despite a Vickers factory making Wellington Bombers, the town was spared the crazed dictator's wrath.

Yet being largely ignored enabled the resort's racecourse to become "RAF Squires Gate" and the B&Bs, promenade, Winter Gardens and cinemas designated "RAF Blackpool" to train 834,000 service personnel to win the war.

These were not just faceless heroes either - they included Indiana Jones star Denholm Elliott, TV entertainer Max Bygraves and wacky comedian Eric Sykes. And nowhere tells this incredible story better than the Spitfire Visitor Centre at Blackpool Airport, where the original wartime Hangar 42 boasts four Spitfires, a Hawker Hurricane, a German Messerschmitt Bf 109e fighter and the only full-size Spitfire simulator.

Standing by a Spitfire, its director John Coombes says: "At the time of the Battle of Britain, RAF Squires Gate was becoming the largest military training establishment for the RAF not just in the UK but in Europe. When we think of the Battle of Britain we focus on Kent but German raiders were coming up here too, probing our air defences.