Embry Kilometre Stone - RAF Museum, Hendon, London, UK - Milestones on Waymarking.com

The RAF Museum is open daily from 10am to 6pm with admission being free. Car parking is available but there is a charge. The nearest underground station is Colindale about a 10-15 minute walk away or a number 303 bus passes both the tube station and museum. The co-ordinates posted are for the entrance to the "Battle of Britain" hall/exhibition entrance.

The Milestone Society Newsletter, No 17 dated July 2009, had the following article about this kilometre stone:

QUESTION 1 from Newsletter No 16

Where can a French milepost be found within 9 miles of Big Ben, London ?

ANSWER THE EMBRY KILOMETRE STONE.

During a sortie over northern France by 107 squadron of 12 Blenheims, led by Wing Commander Basil Embry, his aircraft was shot down and he was captured. The German captors gathered prisoners and began to march the group back to the rear. Basil Embry had decided to escape and arranged to do so as they were marched along. He waited for the right moment then stepped out of the group, rolled down a bank and hid in a ditch until the rest of the column had disappeared.

After his successful return to England on 2nd August 1940 he gave a detailed account of his adventure. In 1950 he recalled how he and other prisoners considered the sight of a kilometre stone with the name EMBRY on it a good omen for his escape attempt.

The local French municipal authorities later presented it to him as a memento of his 6 weeks on the run, and his kilometre stone is now housed in the Battle of Britain Museum, Hendon, London. The museum can be readily accessed from central London by taking the Northern line to Colindale.

Alan Haines (Norfolk)

I tried locating where this might have been using the distances on the kilometre stone and the road numbers but failed. Perhaps someone with a knowledge of the French road system may have more success.