RAF Bentley Priory was a non-flying Royal Air Force station near Stanmore in the London Borough of Harrow.

The Royal Air Force station closed its operations on 30 May 2008, with all units relocating to new accommodation at RAF Northolt, a few miles away.

Since its closure, the Officers' Mess has converted into the Bentley Priory Museum with exhibits focusing on the house's role in the Battle of Britain.

The system he developed gave air controllers the best chance of scrambling fighter squadrons to intercept Luftwaffe raids before they reached their targets.

Dowding noted in a letter Air Ministry in early March 1940, that: "Apart from the question of discourtesy, which I do not wish to stress, I must point out the lack of consideration involved in delaying a proposal to this nature until ten days before the date of retirement.

Before the War, as I told S of S, I should have been glad to retire: now I am anxious to stay, because I feel that there is no one else who will fight as I do when proposals are made which would reduce the Defence Forces of the Country below extreme danger point.

"[9]Dowding's subsequent downfall has been attributed by some to his single-mindedness and perceived lack of diplomacy and political savoir faire in dealing with intra-RAF challenges and intrigues, most obviously the still, even now, hotly debated Big Wing controversy in which a number of senior and active service officers had argued in favour of large set-piece air battles with the Luftwaffe as an alternative to Dowding's successful Fabian strategy.

[10] Another reason often cited for his removal, but characterised by some contemporary commentators more as a pretext, was the difficulty of countering German nighttime bombing raids on British cities.

Much of the detailed air planning work was carried out at Kestrel Grove just a few hundred yards away (this building still stands and is now a retirement home).

On D-Day, the landings were monitored by King George VI, Winston Churchill and U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Allied Expeditionary Air Force War room in the Priory's underground bunker.

The aircraft had been on a bombing mission from RAF East Wretham to Kiel, but suffered icing and the failure of its compass and radio and was badly off-course.

[18] Initially the Observer Corps' presence at Bentley Priory included not only the small headquarters' staff of a dozen officers and support staff but also around sixty spare time observers who filled essential plotting tasks in the Bentley Priory operations rooms.

A new banner, presented by Elizabeth II at Bentley Priory in July 1991, was laid up at the Rotunda at the RAF College Cranwell in Lincolnshire.

Bentley Priory also became the Administrative Headquarters for RAF Strike Command, although this function moved to High Wycombe in 1972.

[27] The sunset ceremony was carried out by the Queen's Colour Squadron and there was a flypast by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and a Eurofighter Typhoon.

[32] The Officers' Mess was also notable for the number of Royal Portraits hanging in the building; there were two of HM The Queen, one in the Dining Room as a young woman and a second that hung in the Ladies' Room that was commissioned and paid for by the Royal Observer Corps to mark their 50th Jubilee Year, painted at Bentley Priory depicting Her Majesty in her ROC Commandant in Chief regalia and with a background of the Italian Gardens.

The plans for the site included the conversion of the grade II* listed mansion into luxury flats, above the museum.

The RAF Bentley Priory Battle of Britain Trust supported VSM Estates in the decision to fill in the bunker on the grounds of maintenance costs.