Battle of Britain Day

[Osram]

Today is Battle of Britain day. On this day, the British fighter pilots had their greatest victory and while there were still raids afterwards, it was at least the beginning of the end of the BoB. I think where ever in the world we live, we can be thankful, that this battle turned out the way it did.

This year is a sad one for me as an uncle of mine died. He had started training for fighter pilot at the end of the war. At the time he saw it as defending his country and the people he knew. Luckily fuel became so scarce that it was only sent to fighting units. So he took some training flights on gliders, but never in planes with engines. Of course later in life, after the war, he realised the true nature of the regime. I attended the funeral and stayed with his younger brother, who was too young at the time to become a soldier. It was interesting how fresh the wounds of all the lost friends and family still are (maybe are again).

To end with a slightly humorous note, another relative, who was also a teen during the end of the war, told us this incidence. He rode a bicycle across a bridge just when a group of Marauders attacked it. Imagine, being alone, on a bike, unarmed, against a group of Marauders approaching with open bomb doors! He rode as fast as he could but at first did not expect to reach the end of the bridge in time. He said "I did not realise bombs fall so slowly".

BTW recently I saw these fine photographs, some of which were new to me:
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011 ... in/100102/

[Old Dux]

Osram,

Some of those photographs are familiar to the older generation but others I have never seen before. It seems so long ago now but still well within living memory.
Did we really play among bombed-out buildings with the smell of burnt plaster pervading our games? What would they say today in Manchester if they looked up and saw silvery barrage balloons tethered like docile sentinels above the dockland?
Ration books, Australian food parcels, taped windows, American comics, envelopes made from military maps, powder egg, chewing gum thrown from GI transport. I wonder what happened to that big plane that flew over Knutsford with an engine on fire?
"It was a different time", my late father said. And that was over twenty years ago.

[Pat_Pattle]

Interesting recollections and great photos, thanks for the link Osram.

[Itkovian]

Aye, these are classic photos, but excellent ones. It's nice to see them in such high resolution.

Thanks for sharing.

Itkovian