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Battle of Britain: Historic flypast for 75th anniversary.
"A flypast involving about 40 Spitfires and Hurricanes has taken place to commemorate the 75th anniversary of World War Two's Battle of Britain."
15 September 2015.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34250794
1938 the Nazis annexed Austria.
Later that year they marched into the Sudetenland.
1939 the German army invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia.
Between 1939 and June 1941;
Netherlands
Belgium
Luxembourg
France
Denmark
Yugoslavia
Greece
Norway
Western Poland.
Battle of Britain.
The Nazis first major defeat in World War II and a crucial turning point in the conflict.
Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization.
Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire.
The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us.
Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war.
If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands.
But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.
Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say,
"This was their finest hour."
Churchill
Nationality of The Few.
Australia 32
Barbados 1
Belgium 30
Canada 112
Czechoslovakia 88
France 14
Ireland 10
Jamaica 1
New Zealand 135
Newfoundland 1
Northern Rhodesia 1
Poland 145
South Africa 25
Southern Rhodesia 4
United States 11
The average age of an RAF pilot in 1940 was about 20 years.
Some were as young as 18.
In those days, with the age of majority set at 21, many of the RAF’s Battle of Britain pilots were not old enough to vote.
Squadron Leader Brian "Sandy" Lane DFC
He died in 1942 at the age of 25, thus making him relatively old (at 23) during the Battle of Britain.
Look at his eyes.
Very humbling.
15 September 2015.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34250794
1938 the Nazis annexed Austria.
Later that year they marched into the Sudetenland.
1939 the German army invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia.
Between 1939 and June 1941;
Netherlands
Belgium
Luxembourg
France
Denmark
Yugoslavia
Greece
Norway
Western Poland.
Battle of Britain.
The Nazis first major defeat in World War II and a crucial turning point in the conflict.
Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization.
Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire.
The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us.
Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war.
If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands.
But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.
Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say,
"This was their finest hour."
Churchill
Nationality of The Few.
Australia 32
Barbados 1
Belgium 30
Canada 112
Czechoslovakia 88
France 14
Ireland 10
Jamaica 1
New Zealand 135
Newfoundland 1
Northern Rhodesia 1
Poland 145
South Africa 25
Southern Rhodesia 4
United States 11
The average age of an RAF pilot in 1940 was about 20 years.
Some were as young as 18.
In those days, with the age of majority set at 21, many of the RAF’s Battle of Britain pilots were not old enough to vote.
Squadron Leader Brian "Sandy" Lane DFC
He died in 1942 at the age of 25, thus making him relatively old (at 23) during the Battle of Britain.
Look at his eyes.
Very humbling.
Replies
Neat looking planes.
Words of wisdom from Big Chief: Flush twice, it's a long way to the Mess Hall
I'd rather have my sister work in a whorehouse than own another Taurus!
A nice touch that. The Greatest Generation was by no means limited to one side of the Pond. :usa:
Re that photo of your RAF pilot. . .In Time Life's WWI series of books, there's one on the air war over the trenches. It has two photos of, IIRC, Oswald Boelcke - one taken of a fresh faced teenager around 1914, and another taken of what appears to be a gaunt 50 year old a couple years later not long before he was fatally shot down.
The infantry guys poke a lot of fun at the Airedales, but come game time, it's not an easy way to collect a paycheck either.
Edit: Re video: that's a lotta Merlin engines in one place. Gotta go. . .something in my eyes. . .
"Nothing is safe from stupid." - Zee
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Bader
The look in the eyes of Squadron Leader Brian "Sandy" Lane DFC is haunting, as you said, Shush. A young man with a crushing load thrust on his shoulders.
And Prince Harry giving up his seat so the old veteran pilot could go up again was pure class. :up:
― Douglas Adams
The last word does not begin with a D.
Would that perhaps, be an "F"? :tooth:
German pilots were among the best in the world, and their machines excellent performers, but didn't have the range to loiter over enemy territory to block interception of their bombers, more suited due to their characteristics (Range, payload, defensive armament, number) for tactical bombing. 2 years later the USAAF would learn the hard way the huge machines & crew sacrifices it takes to take the war against a strong defensive network over enemy skies.
Also didn't helped the way target priorities were changed due to political rather than military considerations; virtually Hitler's mood dictated the attack strategies, and you can see how strikes against channel shipping, then radar stations, then air bases, then factories and then cities changed each time without finishing the job, thus allowing the British to repair and reinforce the damaged areas.
Finally building the forces to attack the Soviet Union took away the priority from the Western front (Nazi leaders were also loosing face against British stubbornness and the beginning of reprisal night bombardments in German soil) and ended the drive to eliminate the British Empire, giving away the task to the U-boats to try choking them in a long run that, thanks to the Americans, never came.
Easy enough to learn: simply research the date that the first Enigma machine, and its all important rotors and code books were captured from that sinking German U-boat (U-110? I forget) Bletchley Park had the whole lot less than one week later. At one time BP was doing such a good job that the radio traffic between Lorient and the U-boat fleet was being read in near "real time," with BP translating radio traffic almost as fast as the U-boats themselves. Not too shabby! Would have loved to see one of those monster "computers" with all those rotating wheels and cylinders humming away and crunching codes necessitated when the Enigma machines went from 3 rotors to 4 rotors, leaving BP high and dry for awhile. I think I read somewhere that the Brits ( or maybe the US Navy -- U-505?) finally captured a 4-rotor Enigma machine and associated codes, easing BP's workload substantially, but I could be wrong about that.
Oh hell no. It was NOT limited to us only. It was a world wide mindset. My dad said that while he was in England he gained a whole new opinion of Britts. He said they were the "Salt of the earth and a great people." They stood up to insurmountable odds and spit in Hitler's face.
And you didn't want to get him started on Sir Winston, a personal Hero of his. But then again my dad came by it naturally. His lineage came from there, what with family names like Walker, White, Maxwell, Stone and such you know where most of them came from. My German blood line comes from my mother's side. My dad was almost pure Brit genetically, so he did feel some kinship.
Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.
Not so much the operational break into Enigma.
More to do with these, I think.
They gave us this;
"As war clouds gathered over Britain, the likelihood of air raids and the threat of invasion by air and sea drove a major effort in applying science and technology to defence.
In November 1934, the Air Ministry established the Committee for Scientific Survey of Air Defence (CSSAD) with the official function of considering "how far recent advances in scientific and technical knowledge can be used to strengthen the present methods of defence against hostile aircraft"....................
In mid-May 1935, the equipment was moved to Orfordness.
Six wooden towers were erected, two for stringing the transmitting antenna, and four for corners of crossed receiving antennas. In June, general testing of the equipment began.....................
On June 17, the first target was detected—a Supermarine Scapa flying boat at 17 mi (27 km) range.
It is historically correct that, on June 17, 1935, radio-based detection and ranging was first demonstrated in Britain. Watson Watt, Wilkins, and Bowen are generally credited with initiating what would later be called radar in this nation...........................
In December 1935, the British Treasury appropriated £60,000 for a five-station system called Chain Home (CH), covering approaches to the Thames Estuary."
"I think we can say that the Battle of Britain might never have been won... if it were not for the radar chain"
MRAF Sir William Sholto Douglas
"It is doubtful whether there is any point in continuing attacks on radar sites, in view of the fact that not one of those attacked so far has been put out of action."
Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göering, 15 August 1940
PS
"The Poles had broken Enigma in 1932, when the encoding machine was undergoing trials with the German Army. But when the Poles broke Enigma, the cipher altered only once every few months. With the advent of war, it changed at least once a day, giving 159 million million million possible settings to choose from. The Poles decided to inform the British in July 1939 once they needed help to break Enigma and with invasion of Poland imminent."
Antonio, you need to plan a trip to the Confederate Airforce's big annual Air Show. You will see not only Spitfires and Hurricanes, but also Messerschmidt's and Focke wulf's and more Nazi planes, along with P-51's, P-38's, P-40's, P-47's and every other WWII Vintage plane on the planet. The show used to be held in October here in the Rio Grande Valley at the Harlingen TX airport, but in the mid 80s moved out to Midland Texas. It's a four day affair and worth every penny you will spend going there. Check it out.
OK I just did a search. It's been a while since I've been to a show but it seems they've become politically correct in that they changed their name to the Commemorative Air Force (I think I remember this happening a while back). Also, it's now held in August.
http://www.airsho.org/
Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.
What he said.
Recoil is how you know primer ignition is complete.
I'd love to, but I'm afraid that once I put a foot in Texan soil, I might never leave again!
Attending one of those big air shows along with a NASCAR race and the forum meeting at Teach's are in the "must do" list. Some years ago I went to the Tamiami airport museum and Tom Reilly's restoring shop in Kissimmee and each time I almost had to be removed from the premises by public force!
Also went to the Smithsonian a couple of times to check their awesome historical collection. Sadly missed visiting the Intrepid museum at N.Y. and also dragging the wife out of the beach/shopping routine when going to Fla. to drive to the Fantasy of flight exhibition.
...someday....
Well that I think would be Texas's gain.
If you do however decide to make an Airshow, fly into Houston a few days early and go down past Pasadena to Deer Park and go to the San Jacinto battlegrounds. Then go on board U.S.S. Texas, the only surviving Dreadnought class battleship in the world. Commissioned in 1914 she served in Two world wars. She's so old she was built with cage masts and has Reciprocating steam engines, not turbines. She also was a coal burner up until 1925 when she went for refit. She was then equipped with oil fired boilers and her cage masts were removed and a solid superstructure installed. She has 10 14" naval rifles in 5 turrets. She's a real museam that any Naval Historian or even amateur history buff should see. She participated in the the shore bombardment at the North African landings in 1942, and at Normandy and all around France in the summer of 1944, and then went to the Pacific as shore bombardment at Iwo Jima and Okinawa. She has been berthed at the San Jacinto battle grounds in the shadows of the San Jacinto Monument at the battle grounds where Sam Houston won Texas independence from Mexico since the Spring of 1948. She's definitely worth the trip. And if you want you can ride on down to Galveston and visit Sea Wolf Park.
Then, if you have time you can ride on down to Corpus Christi and visit U.S.S. Lexington CV-16, another WWII Veteran and Essex class carrier.
Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.