THE Ministry of Defence has been accused of “stonewalling” over plans to turn an RAF base into a Battle of Britain museum.

Bentley Priory was home to Fighter Command during World War Two and is thought by many to be the spiritual home of “The Few”.

The base was sold by the MoD in May last year but the Bentley Priory Battle of Britain Trust hopes to turn its most historic rooms and corridors into a commemorative museum to those who gave their lives during Britain's “finest hour”.

Councillor Marilyn Ashton, responsible for planning at Harrow Council, said talks over the possibility of the MoD funding the project collapsed after a meeting at its offices, in Whitehall, on Friday.

She said: “I find it ironic that just days after the Prime Minister represents our nation at the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings in France, the same Government again stonewalls over helping to support the memory of those fighter pilots who stopped the Nazis invading Britain.

“We all know that had it not been for the actions of that handful of young men - some as young as 19 - during the summer of 1940, then history might have taken a very different course.

“Yet while untold millions are pumped into bust banks, there is apparently nothing in the coffers for even a modest sum to open a museum at Bentley Priory. There would be no free market for financiers without the freedom these people died to give us.”

The MoD's withdrawal from the base sparked outrage and many in the community still talk of the department selling the country's heritage.

Dorothy Pope, of Runnelfield, Harrow-on-the-Hill, who survived the Coventry blitz, was shocked at the suggestion the ministry might not fund the museum, which she said was necessary to educate young people.

She said: "It's just flabagasting. This is so amazingly important. I'm absolutely fed up with children who are not aware of what happened during the war, who don't know what D-day is.

"I say to them 'have you any idea what life would have been like for us today if those men hadn't given their lives, their limbs and their courage'."

She added: "When history is forgotten it can happen again and when it isn't, it doesn't. Ingratitude is a horrible characteristic and the ingratitude of the gift those men gave us is outrageous.”

The museum was due to be funded through a housing development planned for the historic site, off The Common, in Stanmore.

Under planning permission granted to VSM Estates, the temporary owner of the site, any developer would be contractually obliged to provide cash for the project.

These plans could still go ahead but a contract due to be signed between VSM and a developer collapsed at the beginning of March in the wake of the credit crunch.

The base has been taken off the market for a year in the hope the economy and the housing market will improve.

Squadron Leader Erica Ferguson, of the RAF Bentley Priory Battle of Britain Trust, said: “We have an excellent deal and we are very grateful to Harrow for closing that deal for us.

“We just want it to be delivered and we would rather it be delayed than miss out.”

Hannah Fletcher, a spokesman for the MoD, said her department recognises the base is of “great historical significance”.

She said it had worked to secure the funding agreement which she described as “a long-term sustainable solution for preserving its heritage”.

She said: “Unfortunately, negotiations with the previous preferred bidder were halted due to the current economic climate but the MOD and VSM are working hard to find another developer.”