Seventy years on – many still remember.
Many of the English readers of Learning from Dogs will comfortably skip this Post as already much of the news has been reporting the fact that we are 70 years after the Battle of Britain in 1940.
But for those that are from other places, where the BoB is not in the psyche of their national bloodstream, these links may be of interest.
The BBC has been doing well in presenting material.
Here’s a good piece setting the scene:
While memories of the Battle of Britain remain fresh in the minds of The Few who flew, and the staff who supported them, veterans fear its significance could soon be forgotten by others.
The Luftwaffe lost 1,733 aircraft and the RAF 915 in the Battle of Britain
Seventy years ago the RAF was locked in a life and death struggle with the Luftwaffe in the skies over England.
The three weeks between mid-August and early September in 1940 were decisive for the Battle of Britain.
The bravery of the RAF pilots was captured in Winston Churchill’s speech on 20 August when he said “never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few”.
Those left of The Few, as those pilots became known, are now in their 90s. Some of them fear they will soon not be around to remind people of the events that summer.
And if you want a flavour of what it was like to fly a Spitfire, then click here – excellent piece from Evan Davis of the BBC.
Seventy years on from the Battle of Britain, can the current generation comprehend what it is like to fly a Spitfire?
To find out, BBC Radio 4 Today programme presenter Evan Davis took a flight with The Aircraft Restoration Company’s chief engineer and test pilot John Romain.
See more on the Today website.
And a thank-you to my Uncle who, despite being rather ill, is still alive. He was in the RAF and stationed at Biggin Hill during those demanding months in 1940.
By Paul Handover
Learning from Dogs 
The Battle of Britain was preceded by the Battle of France, where the Luftwaffe lost at least one third of its force (as much, or more as in the Battle of Britain). If not for American betrayal, the French air force was in good position to regain air superiority when some traitors (later condemned to death) ordered a ceasefire.
Much more is found on my site on this subject.
Without the battle of France and its heavy losses, the Luftwaffe would have been able to destroy the Royal Air Force, and I doubt that Churchill’s poisoning of air and water would have stopped the Wehrmacht. A little known part of WWII history because of anti-French racism, ubiquituos in the USA.
http://patriceayme.wordpress.com/
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