A MEMORIAL to a Battle of Britain hero has been placed in the road where he was shot down.

New Zealander Cecil Henry Hight was just 22 when his Spitfire squadron was scrambled to intercept German bombers on August 15, 1940.

During a dogfight over Bournemouth, the plane was shot down, and while Pilot Officer Hight managed to bail out from his aircraft, his parachute never opened, and his body was found under a hedge in the grounds of Hambledon.

The house, which was in Leven Avenue, has since been demolished, although owners Alfred and Edith Hoare created a garden of remembrance where they found the body.

In order to mark the heroic airman's sacrifice, and on the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, a memorial hewn from Portland stone was unveiled at the junction of Walsford Road, Benellen Avenue and Leven Avenue, near Meyrick Park on Saturday.

Ward councillor Lynda Price said: "We're here today to honour a young man who died here, far from home.

"He was a New Zealander determined to fight and do his bit for the war effort, so he joined the RAF. His plane came down around 50 yards from this very spot."

Mayor John Adams - who played Amazing Grace on the bagpipes following his speech - and MP Conor Burns also paid tribute to the pilot during the short service.

The stone was dedicated by the Revd Dr Ian Terry of the town centre parish team.

Douglas Collett, president of the Poole branch of the Royal Air Forces Association, said: "I thought the service here today was very good.

"We did a presentation here two years ago for Pilot Officer Hight, in which we gave the owners of the house where the aircraft came down a camellia in recognition of his sacrifice."

Margot Mabey, of Branksome Park, attended the service.

Her late husband Dennis was just 13 when he saw the aircraft fall from the sky.

"He and a friend got on their bikes and pedalled around here to see it in the road," she said.

"He always had a special interest in Pilot Officer Hight, and I wanted to be here today for him."

Tom Harrison was 10 when he saw the plane shot down.

Now 85, he said: "I saw it falling from the sky from my house in Branksome.

"I thought it was a German aircraft, and it was only the following day in school that I found out that it was one of ours."

He said the memorial to the airman was "very fitting", adding: "It's all very well presented."