A memorial plaque has been unveiled at the site of a wartime safe haven for stricken RAF aircraft.

War veterans were among 100 guests at the unveiling in Friston, near Eastbourne, to mark a former 'bellyflop' site for warplane pilots.

The plaque, surrounded by the badges of a dozen squadrons which used RAF Friston during the Second World War, was unveiled at Friston Church.

The station served the RAF between 1936 and 1946, when it was used for planes damaged in combat which were unable to reach bases farther away.

In January 1944, 68 bombers bellyflopped at Friston. But by April 1946 it was decommissioned and until yesterday visitors were given no hint about its history.

Former Cabinet minister Lord Tebbit, 70, himself an ex-RAF pilot, sent a message of appreciation to the ceremony.

Major Bob Peedle, vice chairman of the South Downs branch of the Royal Society of St George, said: "Although we were very limited for space in the church everyone who wanted to turn up managed to do so.

"It is so important to remember the site as, during the Second World War, it played a vital part in the battle to free Europe from the yoke of the Nazis."

Friston Church warden Molly Bertin said: "We remember the planes coming in trailing smoke and us saying, 'Come on, you can make it'. And of course we remember our sadness when we saw a column of smoke go up as they crashed. But it really was one of the friendliest stations around at the time."

Other guests included Belgian Spitfire pilot Freddy Moureau who crashed on a farmer's land near Friston then went on to marry the farmer's daughter.