80 years on. Battle Of Britain Day.

[Silly Moustache]

Battle of Britain: Flypast and Westminster Abbey service mark 80th anniversary.

Tthe names of the 1497 airmen and aircrew who fell today.

Although the battle took place between July and October in 1940, the 15th of September is Battle of Britain Day - the date of a decisive victory by the RAF.

The RAF defended the skies over southern England, as Hitler's Luftwaffe flew daily attacks ahead of a planned invasion.

Some 1,120 Luftwaffe aircraft were sent to attack London, but were repelled by 630 RAF fighters - and two days later Hitler postponed his plans to invade Britain.

Spitfires have been flying over my town this summer from the nearby WW2 fighter base. It's impossible to forget this time in my part of the country.

[12barBill]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

Battle of Britain: Flypast and Westminster Abbey service mark 80th anniversary.

Tthe names of the 1497 airmen and aircrew who fell today.

It's impossible to forget this time in my part of the country.

It's good that those sacrifices are honored and the cost in human suffering that was expended to turn away the tyranny that was thrust upon much of the world is remembered. That cost, and the consequences of not prevailing, should never be allowed to slip from the awareness of subsequent generations.

Thanks for the reminder Andy.

[Bob Womack]

Believe it or not I celebrated it on the 15th. I still want to visit the bunker at RAF Uxbridge.

Bob

[Tico]

I find WW2, especially how in the world Hitler got away with what he got away with, to be one of the most intriguing and riveting topics.

I inhale history, documentaries, and commercial films on the topic.

We'd all be speaking German, but for the allies!
Heroes, I say.

[Brucebubs]

I just saw the flyover on the news - 3 Spitfires and a Hurricane over London - very stirring.

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by Tico

I find WW2, especially how in the world Hitler got away with what he got away with, to be one of the most intriguing and riveting topics.

I inhale history, documentaries, and commercial films on the topic.

We'd all be speaking German, but for the allies!
Heroes, I say.

Einige von uns versuchen sowieso Deutsch zu sprechen!

The most important thing is to remember how Fascism started, the pain it caused and the cost of ridding the world of it.
It must not be allowed to occur again.

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

I just saw the flyover on the news - 3 Spitfires and a Hurricane over London - very stirring.

It is ironic that the numbers there are actually reciprocal to the actual fighter representation in the battle, where the Hurricanes were three-to-one over the Spitfires. Of course, being Britain's first fully aluminum monocoque fighter, the Spitfire was newer technology and required far more time and effort to build. The Hurricane was truly a transitional aircraft with doped fabric and tube from tail to cockpit back wall and aluminum skin from cockpit forward. The Spitfire was a higher performance fighter but the Hurricane was a more stable gun platform and withstood damage better.

Also fascinating was the fact that like the Boeing B-17 bomber, both Spitfire and Hurricane were privately developed without contracts or funding. Supermarine, Hawker, and Boeing all saw the needs of their country in a time when the governments weren't willing to fund development. All three literally bet the farm in an attempt to supply that need, whether funded or not. All three were threatened with going out of business if their respective militaries hadn't bought their final product.

Bob

[Silly Moustache]

Bob, I believe that the Hurricanes played a major part in the BoB in that they went after the bombers and the spits went for the German fighters.

The Germans were more experienced (Spanish Civil war) , Poland etc., but less used to coping with the resistance we put up.

It was really a numbers game.

Radar enabled us to place fighters whenever the bombers came over and although many of our plots were relatively inexperienced, there were simply more of them, and planes of course.

Somewhere near me is a Stuka in a pit covered over and built on. Its a local secret as to where it is as it is though that there are two houses over it now.
here it is about to crash.

[Bob Womack]

That is fascinating! They are still digging aircraft and bombs out of the London streets. Buried aircraft keep being revealed by the receding tides. Here are pics of the Spit MkIX and Hurri MkIIB that live down the road from me:




They are both museum-preserved and fly.

A V1 Buzz Bomb. It is flyable. They run the engine every so often.


How about a DeHavilland DH82 Tiger Moth primary trainer from 1940, built by the Morris Automobile Company:


Bob

[Dirk Hofman]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

Einige von uns versuchen sowieso Deutsch zu sprechen!

The most important thing is to remember how Fascism started, the pain it caused and the cost of ridding the world of it.
It must not be allowed to occur again.

There’s your headline. It’s not about the planes and the mechanics of war. It’s about how one people utterly lost their way and another people found their strength, courage, and drew upon their core values.

[valleyguy]

The Battle of Britain has always fascinated me. I have watched some new documentaries in the last month on this event.

Interestingly, one documentary I saw mentioned that the Stukas were originally used as one of the aircraft to bomb England, but they were easy prey for the British fighters, so they were pulled back from the campaign.

[HodgdonExtreme]

As an American, it's hard to choose the more beautiful bird!

I suspect much easier for most Brits!

Y'all should be very proud of that "stiff upper lip"!

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by HodgdonExtreme

As an American, it's hard to choose the more beautiful bird!

I suspect much easier for most Brits!

Y'all should be very proud of that "stiff upper lip"!

haha! Yes it is, but the Mustang had the longer range for accompanying the bombers to Germany. (I hope they had an outside washroom!)

[The Watchman]

A lot of foreigners flew for the RAF including the Polish 303 squadron which had the highest success rate of any Hurricane squadron and highest win/loss ratio. There was a lot of reluctance to accept foreign pilots at first and they never got the acclaim they deserved.

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by The Watchman

A lot of foreigners flew for the RAF including the Polish 303 squadron which had the highest success rate of any Hurricane squadron and highest win/loss ratio. There was a lot of reluctance to accept foreign pilots at first and they never got the acclaim they deserved.

And many were summarily ejected from the U.K. on VE Day.

By the way, there is a large and active group on Facebook that concerns itself with the Battle of Britain Movie but it is the largest discussion group of the actual battle that I've seen as well.

Bob