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|past_commanders= Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding *25 November 1940 - Air Marshal Sir Sholto Douglas *28 November 1942 - Air Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory *15 November 1943 - Air Marshal Sir Roderic Hill *14 May 1945 - Air Marshal Sir James Robb *17 November 1947 - Air Marshal Sir William Elliot *19 April 1949 - Air Marshal Sir Basil Embry *7 April 1953 - Air Marshal Sir Dermot Boyle *1 January 1956 - Air Marshal Sir Hubert Patch *8 August 1956 - Air Marshal Sir Thomas Pike *30 July 1959 - Air Marshal Sir Hector McGregor *18 May 1962 - Air Marshal Sir Douglas Morris *3 March 1966 - Air Marshal Sir Frederick Rosier |occupants= |battles= Battle of Britain July - October 1940 Air Offensive, Europe 1942 - 1945 Cold War 1946 - 1991 |map_type= |latitude= |longitude= }} RAF Bentley Priory was a non-flying Royal Air Force station near Stanmore in the London Borough of Harrow. Originally built in 1766, Bentley Priory was significantly extended in 1788, by Sir John Soane, for John Hamilton, 1st Marquess of Abercorn. The priory was the final home of the Dowager Queen Adelaide, queen consort of William IV, before her death there in 1849. It subsequently served as a hotel and girls' school before being acquired by the Royal Air Force in 1926. It became famous as the headquarters of Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain and the Second World War. The RAF Bentley Priory site includes a Grade II * listed Officers' Mess and Italian Gardens. These, together with the park are designated a Registered Garden Grade II. The Royal Air Force station role ceased on 30 May 2008, following the relocation of units to their new accommodation at RAF Northolt. The site will be used for private accommodation and the Officers' Mess has now become the Bentley Priory Museum, with exhibits focusing on the house's role during the Battle of Britain. The land south of the house is the Bentley Priory Nature Reserve, a Site of Special Scientific Interest maintained by Harrow Heritage Trust.〔(Bentley Priory Nature Reserve, Harrow Heritage Trust )〕 ==Royal Air Force history== The Priory building and 40 acres (comprising the present grounds) were sold to the Air Ministry for a sum thought to be about £25,000. The remainder of the estate, about , were sold to a syndicate who divided it into plots for building purposes. Middlesex County Council bought , including the farm in front of the Priory which formed part of the Green Belt and the present Bentley Priory Open Space. On 26 May 1926, Inland Area (Training Command), a part of the organization of the Air Defence of Great Britain (ADGB) moved into the Priory from Uxbridge. In July 1926, it was renamed 'Training Command' and moved to Market Drayton in Shropshire. As the RAF grew in size the organizational base expanded with it and the foundations were for an air defence system which proved to be well in advance of the force it was shortly to oppose. The service was drastically reorganized with the creation of Bomber, Coastal, Fighter and Training Command. The existing ADGB was dissolved and RAF Fighter Command emerged on 14 July 1936. It left Hillingdon House, at RAF Uxbridge on this date and moved to Bentley Priory with its first Air Officer Commanding Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding. Fighter Command Headquarters remained at the Priory until its merger with the other operational commands in 1968. A poem translated from ''Gray's 'Luna Habitabilis' Cambridge 1797'' is associated with the Priory. A copy of the poem was given to AOC 11 Gp on 22 November 1989 by the Rt Hon The Lord Harvington, who stated that he had intended reading it out to the House of Commons at the end of the Battle of Britain, but the copy had been lost. At the time Harvington was Wing Commander R G G F Harvington RAuxAF and Conservative member for North St Pancras. He felt it appropriate to quote this 18th-century prophecy: :''"The time will come, when thou shalt lift thine eyes,'' :''To watch a long drawn battle in the skies,'' :''While aged peasants, too amazed for words,'' :''Stare at the flying fleets of wond'rous birds,'' :''England so long the mistress of the sea,'' :''Where winds and waves confess her sovereignty,'' :''Her ancient triumph yet on high shall bear,'' :''And reign, the sovereign of the conquered air."'' However the quotation is misleading and based on selective editing of the original in which 'the battle' is a fleet of ships invading the moon and the aged peasants are moon-dwellers. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「RAF Bentley Priory」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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