Graffiti News
Eastbourne pupils make a mural for pilot Percy Burton
An Eastbourne school mural brings the story of Battle of Britain pilot Percy Burton into a space used for remembrance. According to The Argus, reporting on 29 October 2026, pupils at Langney Primary Academy created the tribute after learning about the Second World War and Burton’s life. The artwork is intended for the school’s Remembrance area.
Who does the Eastbourne school mural commemorate?
Percy Burton was a pilot who died at the age of 23. The Argus reports that his Hurricane crashed into a tree near Hailsham after he used the aircraft to ram a German plane. The pupils’ project connects that wartime history with a place close to their own community.
The work included an educational workshop led by Richard Goldsmith of the Hailsham Historical Society. Barratt Homes and David Wilson Homes supported the project. In the newspaper’s account, senior teaching assistant Michelle Pollard described pupils discovering the local connection and working together to represent aspects of Burton’s life.
Those details matter when considering the mural as a collaborative work. The reported process began with learning and discussion, rather than an image supplied with no explanation of its subject. Pollard said the intended audience within the school setting includes pupils, staff, parents and visitors.
A school artwork alongside an existing memorial
The mural is separate from the permanent memorial at Cuckoo Fields, the crash site identified in the report. The Argus says that memorial was unveiled in 2025 through a partnership involving Barratt Homes, Hailsham Town Council and Wealden District Council. The two commemorative works should not be treated as a single location or installation.
The project can be read as a way of turning a local historical narrative into an image made together. The existing memorial marks the place associated with Burton’s death; the school artwork carries the story into the setting where the pupils learn. That difference in setting gives the two tributes distinct roles, even though they remember the same person.