The Battle of Britain

 This month there have been many displays through out the UK celebrating the Battle of Britain that was fought in the UK in 1940 between 10 July – 31 October. Adolf Hitler expected UK to admit defeat following the defeat of France but Britain continued its fight defying Germanys hopes of superiority in the air.

 

There are many interesting memories that were shared from that period by those who lived at that time. My own mother worked with the London Ambulance service as part of the "war effort". She spoke of how she had to travel in the midst of the bombing to assist those in need. Such was the need that removal vans were commandeered and converted into ambulances. She was only 4 foot 8 inches. Can you imagine the fears of drivers, not only dodging the bombs but seeing the ambulance coming along the road and due to her small stature there did not appear to be any one driving!


In 1975 I was posted to RAF Brawdy in Pembrokeshire where I was given a new insight into the pilots of the war. Most of the aircraft I worked on were Hunters but there was one Spitfire. When there was a need I would climb onto the wing of the spitfire and climbed into the cockpit. What an eye opener! There was no way a pilot could see ahead of him as the nose was so high. We need to commend these pilots for what happened on the ground before they flew in the skies. When it came to take off it required a huge amount of faith before seeing action in the air.


Guess that's true for all of us, we need to know and put into practice before we launch into the major activities of our life. Are we ready? "Chocks away!"

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