Battle of Britain Day, Churchill and The Few

"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed, by so many, to so few."

Winston Churchill was a master of the use of the English language, whether in it's written or spoken form but of all of his inspirational wartime speeches, his address to the House of Commons on August 20th 1940, in which the above passage formed a part, is arguably his most famous. Certainly the phrase 'The Few' which was how Churchill described the RAF's pilots and aircrews, passed immediately into folklore.

The origins of this phrase go back to a few days before Churchill made this speech to the House and appears to have been the result of a spontaneous piece of emotion on the Prime Minister's part. During the Battle of Britain, Churchill, always wanting to be close to the action, made a habit of calling into the Uxbridge Operations Bunker of Number 11 Group, RAF Fighter Command to see the battle developing. Uxbridge was conveniently en route from London to Chequers. His first visit came on August 16th and he was accompanied by his Chief Staff Officer, General Sir Hastings Ismay. As the afternoon's battle developed, the two watched Keith Park, AOC 11 Group, deploying his forces and seemingly having no reserves to spare. What the 'plot' in the Uxbridge bunker did not show, was that Park did in fact have reserves to call upon from the neighbouring 10 and 12 Groups. This was the strength of the defensive system perfected by Dowding and Park but all Churchill could see was that all forces had seemingly been committed. He was also very conscious of the fact that just a few weeks previously, before the fall of France, he had asked General Gamelin about the location of his strategic reserve, only to receive the terse answer "Aucune", meaning "None."

It was perhaps with this experience still fresh in his mind and unknowing of some of the other factors involved in Park's deployments, such as the neighbouring Groups' reserves, sizes of raids and the turnaround times on the ground of the RAF's fighter squadrons, that Churchill and Ismay departed by car for Chequers. The first thing Churchill said to Ismay was "Don't speak to me; I have never been so moved." Then about five minutes into the journey, he leant across and said to Ismay: "Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few." Ismay was so struck by this comment that he repeated the phrase to his wife upon his return home.

So, the phrase that would mythologise the RAF's fighter pilots was born, but when Churchill made his speech just four days later, he spoke of the RAF as a whole when he said:

"The gratitude of every home in our Island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the World War by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. All hearts go out to the fighter pilots, whose brilliant actions we see with our own eyes day after day, but we must never forget that all the time, night after night, month after month, our bomber squadrons travel far into Germany, find their targets in the darkness by the highest navigational skill, aim their attacks, often under the heaviest fire, often with serious loss, with deliberate, careful discrimination, and inflict shattering blows upon the whole of the technical and war-making structure of the Nazi power. On no part of the Royal Air Force does the weight of the war fall more heavily than on the daylight bombers who will play an invaluable part in the case of invasion and whose unflinching zeal it has been necessary in the meanwhile on numerous occasions to restrain…"

It was clear that the Prime Minister was speaking equally of the RAF's bomber squadrons, who were committed to attacking the German invasion barges and targets in Germany and their occupied territories. But to the British public, who could see the battles developing overhead on a daily basis, the phrase of 'The Few' struck a chord; it was the fighter pilots who were the saviours of the country. Whilst this was undoubtedly true, the men of Bomber Command felt somewhat hard done by that their equally vital work was going unnoticed by the British public and was summed up eloquently, although with natural overstatement by one Bomber Command veteran and quoted in Stephen Bungay's excellent work, The Most Dangerous Enemy:

"There was no fighter Battle of Britain. I was at Lympne in light bombers in 1940. There was some fighter activity overhead but no more than you would expect. We went out every night, destroying the German invasion barges in the Channel Ports. That was why the Germans never came. We fought the real Battle of Britain."

Despite this, the fighter battle continued and on Sunday September 15th 1940, whilst having breakfast at Chequers, Churchill decided once again to visit Uxbridge. By now, the Blitz on London had started and the Premier had decided that the weather being fine, that it was a "Blitzy Day" to use his own phrase. At just after 11 a.m., the British Chain Home radar at Dover picked up the first raid of the day forming up over Calais. During the day, some 1,120 German fighters and bombers would be pitted against 630 Hurricanes and Spitfires of Fighter Command. 

Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory (IWM)

As the first raid approached the Kent coast, Keith Park deployed his forces with his customary skill and this time because of the numbers approaching, he requested 12 Group's involvement and ordered the Duxford Wing to patrol over Hornchurch. Leigh-Mallory and Park had clashed over tactics during the Battle of Britain. The New Zealander Park was anxious to hit the attackers with smaller numbers of squadrons and break up the enemy formations before they reached their targets, whereas Leigh-Mallory believed in attacking in large numbers and it was irrelevant to him whether or not the bombers had reached their targets. In reality, Park's tactics were the correct ones - the 'Big Wing' frequently took too long to assemble and then had to climb to reach it's designated height and often being led by the brave but maverick Douglas Bader, the Wing would frequently not patrol where ordered, but would go where Bader felt the action should be. 

The bottom line was that Park did not really trust Leigh-Mallory and although Park's tactics would win out in the Battle of Britain, in the longer term, his 12 Group counterpart would be the winner. Because of his closeness to Sholto Douglas at the Air Ministry, Leigh-Mallory would replace Park at 11 Group and eventually indeed, take the top job of AOC Fighter Command. All this was in the future but it was just as well for Britain and the RAF that he was a more peripheral figure at this stage of the Battle.

Sir Keith Park (IWM)

To return to September 15th, Churchill watched as it became clear that the Luftwaffe formations were indeed heading towards London. This was the day of Sergeant Ray Holmes' collision with what turned out to be an abandoned German bomber, a fact obviously unknown to him at the time. The attacking force, whilst not exactly routed, suffered heavy losses all the same; eighteen German aircraft had been shot down, representing 12.5% of their strength. However, due to massive overclaiming on the part of the RAF, especially the Big Wing, the claims had been for eighty one aircraft. The bomber brought down in the collision with Ray Holmes' Hurricane had been claimed nine times! This overclaiming was not deliberate but was understandable in the melee of a pitched battle. Dowding and Park realised this and had previously sought to take a more measured approach when dealing with claims - matching claims against wrecks of crashed aircraft was one way of doing this for example. Leigh-Mallory and his Air Ministry friends realised it too but on this occasion chose to ignore the overclaiming, partially for propaganda purposes but also to further their own ambitions to oust Dowding and Park for their own ends. The afternoon's air fighting saw similar overclaiming and by the end of the day, the RAF had claimed an incredible 185 German aircraft for the loss of 28 RAF machines. The actual German losses were 56 - still a resounding defeat but hardly decisive. 

Park was furious when he learned that these inflated figures had been released. He understood as well as anyone the need for maintaining the morale of the British public but he also knew what else lay behind these figures; of the 185 claims, no fewer than 105 of them came from the Duxford 'Big Wing!' 

When Churchill spoke to Park upon leaving the Uxbridge bunker, he was once again profoundly moved - he had seen the RAF's fighters handled with great skill by Park and his controllers and with great bravery in the air by the pilots. Park explained to Churchill that he was still not satisfied with the outcome and that he was disappointed that the German bombers had reached London. That was not good enough for Park but Churchill was impressed, especially with the claims from the Big Wing. They were beginning to be noticed.

As Stephen Bungay says, Fighter Command did not win the Battle of Britain on September 15th - it had done that already. It had won because it had endured the battles in August when it's airfields were attacked by repairing damaged machines, filling in craters on airfields and because of the faulty tactics of their enemy. It had won because it had enough brave pilots who overcame their own fears and doubts and it had won because of leaders like Keith Park and Hugh Dowding, who would soon be shamefully replaced by Trafford Leigh-Mallory and Sholto Douglas.

September 15th merely encapsulated this victory that had already been won - forgetting the overclaims, the appearance of the Big Wing over London, whilst not an effective military weapon in it's own right, made a massive psychological impact on the Luftwaffe's crews. They had been led to believe that the RAF was on it's knees and down to it's last fifty Spitfires. On the contrary, they had appeared stronger than ever and as the Luftwaffe could not master the skies over Britain, the proposed invasion of this country was never going to be a viable prospect. Operation Sealion was postponed indefinitely on September 17th 1940, just two days after the day we now commemorate as Battle of Britain Day.

For this reason if for no other, The Few deserve to be mythologised. Lest we forget.

Published Sources:

Churchill - Roy Jenkins, Pan Macmillan 2001

Dowding of Fighter Command - Vincent Orange, Grub Street 2008

The Most Dangerous Enemy - Stephen Bungay, Aurum Press 2001

The Narrow Margin - Derek Wood with Derek Dempster, Tri-Service Press 1990

Park - Vincent Orange, Grub Street 2001

Exploring Wartime Woolwich

LCC Bomb Damage Map for the area of the walk (author's image)

Last month, we looked at the classic British war movie Battle of Britain, in advance of the special open-air screening of this film as part of the 2017 Charlton and Woolwich Free Film Festival. The evening was a great success and although it has to be said that the weather was not particularly kind to us, some quick thinking on the part of the organisers, coupled with some judicious examination of on-line weather forecasts, ensured that the hardy souls who did brave the rain were able to sit under cover in order to enjoy the film.

One of the supporting events for the film was a short guided walk of the local area to give people a taste of what the people of Woolwich had to endure not only during the Battle of Britain/Blitz period but during the whole of the Second World War. As this walk is unlikely to be repeated in the immediate future, it seems a good idea to give readers the chance to undertake a 'virtual' walk of Wartime Woolwich without having to get wet!

Postcard view of a Church Parade in Victorian times (author's collection)

Needless to say, the walk started and finished at the event venue, the Royal Garrison Church of St George, which as it's name suggests was originally built for the soldiers of the adjacent Royal Artillery Barracks. The church was built between 1862-63 on the orders of Lord Herbert, the Secretary of State for War in order to provide "moral well-being for soldiers of the Royal Artillery" and which was part of a more general response to the criticism aimed at the government of the day following the Crimean War, when the lack of modern facilities for the British Army was brought to the attention of the public. The church was designed in an Italo-Romanesque style and was very similar to Lord Herbert's own parish church in Wilton, Wiltshire, although built on a much larger scale. The church was the work of the architect Thomas Wyatt, assisted by his brother, Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt.

Pre-WW2 postcard view of the Garrison Church (author's collection)

The church served the Royal Artillery faithfully for many years, with Sunday church parades becoming a regular feature of Woolwich life. The building suffered blast damage from a Zeppelin raid in the First World War and in the following conflict, was initially damaged on the night of 9 March 1941, when a High Explosive bomb caused damage to the north-western corner of the church and left shrapnel damage to the marble entrance pillars that can still be seen to this day. This was one of no fewer than seven bombs that fell in the immediate area on that night but the real killer blow came some three years later when the church was struck by a V-1 Flying Bomb on Thursday 13 July 1944, causing the building to lose it's roof and upper levels. The church can be seen on the extract from the LCC Bomb Damage Maps above, at the bottom right-hand corner of the page. The church is coloured in light red, which indicates that it was thought that repairs were possible but as will be seen below, this proved not to be the case.

Shrapnel damage still visible (author's photo)

The Garrison Church as it is today (author's photo)

Once the rubble was cleared, the church remained in limited use, with occasional open-air services. A rebuilding was mooted in the early 1950s but a road widening scheme, coupled with the general shortage of funds for defence-related matters put paid to that plan. The ruins were further stabilised in the 1970s, with the remnants of the upper walls removed and more recently, a modern canopy was erected over the altar area to replace the unsightly corrugated iron structure previously installed there. This permitted restoration and stabilising works to be undertaken to the fine mosaics at the altar and which should ensure the future of the building going forward. In 2011, the ownership of the church was transferred from the Ministry of Defence to a Trust and today, the building seems to have an assured future as a venue for a variety of events.

From the Garrison Church, the group crossed the strangely quiet South Circular Road and began to walk along the footpath which traverses Woolwich Common adjacent to the magnificent frontage of the Royal Artillery Barracks, built between 1776 and 1802 which at 329 metres, represents the longest continuous architectural frontage in London and which today is Grade 2* Listed. This pathway can be seen running across the bottom of the map reproduced above but perhaps because the barracks were still a relatively secret establishment during the wartime years, no bomb damage is recorded on the map. The Luftwaffe had scant respect for historic buildings however, and the barracks suffered serious blast damage from the seven High Explosive bombs dropped on 9 March 1941 mentioned above as well as receiving fire damage from German incendiaries dropped on 19 April 1944, in what proved to be the final Luftwaffe raid (as opposed to V-Weapon attack) on the borough of the entire war.

Pointing out bomb damage to the group at the RA Barracks (Paul Chapman)

The rain was by now beginning to fall more heavily as the group continued across the footpath and turned right into Repository Road, which is shown on the LCC map as running to the immediate left of the main barrack block. Finding shelter beneath some trees, the group next paused adjacent to the main gate of the modern Woolwich Barracks, now home to the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, where we discovered a simple memorial to one of Churchill's 'Few' from the Battle of Britain. Given that we were walking on 15 September, Battle of Britain Day and given the subject matter of the film that we were about to watch, this was the most poignant moment of the walk and this fact was not lost upon the group.

Memorial to Robin McGregor 'Bubble' Waterston (author's photo)

The memorial is one of several placed by the excellent Shoreham Aircraft Museum in Kent, commemorating members of 'The Few' who lost their lives within a short radius of the museum. The airman in question on this particular memorial is Flying Officer Robin McGregor 'Bubble' Waterston, aged just 23 in 1940 and whose Spitfire X4273 was shot down in a dogfight over the streets of Southeast London during the early evening of 31 August 1940. As his name might suggest, Robin was a Scot, who served with 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron based at RAF Hornchurch in Essex. The squadron had only moved down from Dyce, Scotland on 27 August as part of the ongoing rotation of squadrons in order to reinforce those defending London and the Southeast during the Battle of Britain. Robin had gained his nickname due to his reputed likeness as a youngster to the young boy who was the subject matter of Millais' still life painting which was later used as an advert for Pears Soap. Robin was a very well-liked personality within his squadron who would think nothing of rolling his sleeves up during his off-duty periods in order to help his ground-crew service his aircraft.

Robin Waterston (right) holding a beer (Photo supplied to me by John Duncan www.newbattleatwar.com - also David Ross collection)

Robin became one of the victims of a major air battle that took place above Woolwich during that early evening and was still inside his Spitfire when it crashed opposite to where the memorial is now placed, close to the junction of Repository Road and Hillreach. During the same battle, a Messerschmitt Bf109 flown by Oberleutnant Walter Binder of 4.KG76 was also shot down. This aircraft crashed in nearby Ann Street in Plumstead and like Robin, the German pilot was also killed in his aircraft. It was thought that he was shot down by Sergeant Stokoe, also from 603 Squadron but it is not known whether the German officer was the pilot responsible for shooting down 'Bubble' Waterston.

The rain was now falling steadily as the group turned sharp right into Artillery Place and proceeded along this road, which can be seen on the map running from left to right almost at the dead centre of the image. We paused briefly opposite the garage and car dealership, which amazingly in 1940 also served as a garage and which saw some drama on the night of 17 October 1940 when it was the scene of an unexploded bomb, which was successfully dealt with by the Royal Engineers Bomb Disposal Squad and in the rain, we talked briefly of the work undertaken by these extremely brave men.

Moving along Artillery Place, we next paused on the corner as the road bears left opposite a small side street named Belford Place, which can be seen on the LCC map as a plethora of dark shades, indicating total destruction of buildings and those damaged beyond repair. Four houses in Belford Place were destroyed on the night of 19 March 1941 by a Parachute Mine, which also caused severe damage to Mulgrave Place School, then in use as Auxiliary Fire Station 42W. Seven lives were lost from amongst the residents of the destroyed houses, including a 6 year old boy named Peter Harding, who was killed along with his father. The school, already heavily damaged, was then almost completely destroyed on the night of 20 April 1941 when a High Explosive Bomb detonated, causing the deaths of three AFS Firefighters, including Auxiliary Firewoman Lillian Baker, as well as an 18 year old AFS Messenger, Francis McDonough and Station Officer Charles Burden. This raid coincided with Adolf Hitler's birthday and was thought at the time be some sort of bizarre birthday gift for the Fuhrer.

The War Artist Bernard Hailstone was a member of the AFS who was stationed at Mulgrave Place for a while and his painting of the ruined school buildings now forms part of the collection of the Greenwich Heritage Trust. Not surprisingly, the ruins were demolished and replaced by a new school building post-war.

Bernard Hailstone's painting of Mulgrave Place School (author's photo from original at Greenwich Heritage Centre)

The group now headed down the gentle slope to the junction of John Wilson Street, which in 1940 did not exist and was then a narrow footpath called St John's Passage which can be faintly seen on the right of the LCC map running immediately to the right of the main Barrack block. The junction of this pathway with Artillery Place was in 1940 the location of St John's Church, which had already closed as redundant in 1939. The empty building was damaged by incendiary bombs on the night of 11 September 1940 and further damaged by the blast from the V-1 that caused such heavy damage to the Garrison Church on 13 July 1944. The ruins were demolished in 1948 and any trace of the footprint of the church was subsequently lost beneath the newly constructed John Wilson Street in the late 1960s so that today no trace of it's existence can be discovered.

St John's Church Woolwich (author's collection)

A now distinctly damp group now headed back to the relative dryness of the Garrison Church to take on some liquid refreshments before settling down for the main event of the evening. Despite the efforts of the weather, the evening was a great success and thanks are due to all of those who braved the rain and attended the film and the walk beforehand, the re-enactors who came along, Neil from the London Beer Factory who supplied us with light refreshments as well as to the Garrison Church Trust who permitted us to use their wonderful venue once again. Hopefully the weather will smile on us for next year's events at the Garrison Church!

Battle of Britain

Original poster for the film (author's collection)

Regular readers may remember that in the October 2016 edition of this blog, we looked at "Real to Reel" an exhibition covering a century of war films that was held at the Imperial War Museum, London and selected my own ten personal favourite examples of the genre.

One of those I selected was Battle of Britain a film released in 1969, appropriately enough on Battle of Britain Day, 15 September. This film used to get regular airings on television but seems to be less frequently seen nowadays and remains one of my personal favourites. It was one of the last of the great British war movies and was directed by Guy Hamilton, himself a Royal Navy war veteran and director of four of the iconic James Bond films.

On 15 September 2017, as part of the Charlton & Woolwich Free Film Festival I'm delighted to be hosting a special open air screening of this classic British war movie at the wonderful atmospheric surroundings of the Royal Garrison Church of St George, Woolwich. For those that don't know the area, this church was the victim of a direct hit by a V-1 Flying Bomb on 13 July 1944. Despite being largely destroyed, the church remains as consecrated ground and is the home of the Royal Regiment of Artillery's VC Memorial, as well as the memorial to Fusilier Lee Rigby, who was murdered by terrorists in Woolwich in May 2013. The church is now managed by the Woolwich Garrison Church Trust, who are responsible for the management of the building and who have made great strides in preserving the building for the future.

Plaque outside the Garrison Church explaining it's wartime past (author's photo)

Going back to Battle of Britain the film is an extremely faithful re-telling of events running from the Fall of France in June 1940, culminating in events on Battle of Britain Day, 15 September 1940. The film had a budget of $13,000,000 (equivalent to $91,000,000 today) and therefore represented a considerable financial risk to the producers Harry Saltzman and S Benjamin Fisz. Shooting of the film took place in the spring and summer of 1968, with much of the filming taking place on location. Many of the airfield scenes were filmed at Duxford, Debden, Hawkinge and North Weald - all genuine Battle of Britain airfields. One of my abiding memories as a nine year old boy growing up in Southeast London at this time was seeing large formations of Second World War aircraft appearing in the skies overhead, including what looked like Heinkels and Messerschmitts. I found this very exciting but looking back, I suspect that my parents, grandparents and others of their generation may perhaps have been less enthusiastic as it would have no doubt rekindled some less than happy memories, especially to my Mother and Grandmother, both of whom lived in London throughout the Blitz.

Group Captain Hamish Mahaddie (Bomber Command Museum of Canada)

To recreate as authentic a group of aircraft as possible, Group Captain Hamish Mahaddie, a former Bomber Command Pathfinders officer, was hired to source suitable aircraft, both British and German. He managed to locate over hundred Spitfires in the UK, of which twenty seven were made available for the film, although twelve were in flying condition. Two of these were authentic Mark I and II variants, with the others all later marks, which had to be suitable modified to look the part for the period. The Hurricanes, although far more numerous than the Spitfire during the real Battle of Britain, were far fewer in surviving numbers by 1968, with only six being made available for the film, half of which were flyable. On the German side, there were no surviving flyable Heinkels, Dorniers, Junkers and Messerschmitts in 1968 but a ready solution was found in Spain, whose air force were still flying Spanish built CASA 2.111 twin engine bombers, virtually identical to the Heinkel III. Mahaddie obtained the services of no fewer than thirty two of these authentic looking aircraft, along with twenty seven Hispano 'Buchon' fighters, Spanish built versions of the Me 109, so in 1968 as in 1940, the RAF found itself outnumbered. Together, these aircraft represented what was described in 1968 as the thirty fifth largest air force in the world. The Ju 87 Stukas were represented in the film by large scale flying models and the aircraft destroyed on the ground and in flying scenes, were also models. The other flying scenes were all shot 'for real' as this was many years before the advent of CGI technology and the film in my opinion is much the better for being shot in this way. Even today, the flying scenes remain amongst the best ever put on film.

Other locations used for filming were St Katherine's Dock, Aldwych Tube Station, Peckham Rye and Dragon Road in Camberwell, which were all used for the sequences of the London Blitz. Sir Hugh Dowding's office at RAF Bentley Priory was used once again as such in the film but the 11 Group Bunker at RAF Uxbridge was recreated at Shepperton Studios as an almost exact replica of the real thing. Huelva in Spain doubled up for Dunkirk at the start of the film, whilst some other airfield shots were filmed at Tablada in Spain. 

Apart from Hamish Mahaddie, the other technical advisors for the film included Tom Gleave, Bob Stanford-Tuck and Ginger Lacey, all real life Battle of Britain pilots for the RAF. Squadron Leader Boleslaw Drobinski advised on the Polish scenes and General Adolf Galland was the main technical advisor for the German scenes. Galland was anxious to ensure that the German pilots were not portrayed as 'Cartoon Nazis' and was involved in a furious argument on set when he objected to a scene in which German pilots were shown giving the Nazi salute and threatened to walk off the film if the scene was included. Galland was adamant that German pilots didn't use this salute and insisted that even he had never used it in normal circumstances, even when meeting Hermann Goring. After much debate, the scene was left in the film, although other scenes do show the German pilots using the conventional military salute. Galland was also instrumental in the decision to show the German actors actually speaking German, with English subtitles being used, rather than speaking heavily accented English, as has usually been the case in other war films prior to this time.

Robert Shaw as he appeared in the film (author's collection)

The cast for the film represented a veritable 'Who's Who' for the period and included Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir Ralph Richardson, Sir Michael Redgrave, Trevor Howard, Christopher Plummer, Robert Shaw, Kenneth More, Michael Caine, Susannah York and Kurt Jurgens, as well as appearances by younger actors who were to subsequently become well known in their own right such as Edward Fox and Ian McShane.

Most of the senior figures of the Battle are portrayed as themselves, so we see in the film portrayals of Hermann Goring, Albert Kesselring and Erhardt Milch on the German side and Sir Hugh Dowding, Keith Park, Trafford Leigh-Mallory on the British. Further down the chain of command, for reasons of brevity in the film, characters are merged to greater or lesser degrees, so the character played by Robert Shaw, known somewhat enigmatically in the film as 'Skipper' is largely based on the South African 'Sailor' Malan, who had acquired his nickname due to his having served in the Merchant Navy in a previous career. It was a nickname adopted by all who knew him and happily used by Malan as well, perhaps because his real Christian name was Adolf!

The character played by Christopher Plummer, Squadron Leader Harvey is loosely based on Squadron Leader Foxley, not a Canadian as in the film but someone whose real-life experiences closely matched those of Plummer's character in the movie. Edward Fox's character in the film, a Sergeant Pilot known simply as 'Archie' is heavily based on Sergeant Ray Holmes and as with Foxley, a character whose exploits in real life closely matched those of his film alter-ego. Similarly, on the German side, the character Major Falke is based on Adolf Galland, who really did inform Hermann Goring that he could use a squadron of Spitfires to help win the Battle for the Luftwaffe.

General Adolf Galland (Bundesarchiv)

There were other issues that arose during the production of the film, most notably concerning the musical score. The original composer for the score was Sir William Walton, who was recommended to the producers by Sir Laurence Olivier, who had collaborated with Walton on three of his own film productions, Henry V, Richard III and Hamlet and who was also a close personal friend of the composer. Walton wrote a classical orchestral score for the film, which all of those involved with the production felt was perfect for the film, if perhaps a little on the short side. The executives at United Artists thought differently and felt that the score was old-fashioned and ordered that it be scrapped. This caused Olivier to threaten to walk off the set and he stated that if he were to leave the production, he would not allow his name to be shown in the credits to the film and any of it's publicity. This would have been a major blow as Olivier was still a major player in the film world, even in 1968 and as a result of this, a compromise was reached. A new score was commissioned from the British composer Ron Goodwin, who had previously scored films such as Murder at The Gallop, 633 Squadron, Where Eagles Dare and Operation Crossbow amongst many others. However, a sequence from Walton's score, entitled Battle in the Air was retained and used towards the end of the film to accompany the climactic air battle which is played out with almost no dialogue and no other extraneous sound effects.

At the time of it's release, the film had indifferent reviews and this was perhaps thought to be a result of the generally pervading anti-war feeling at the time resulting from the Vietnam War, although the film did perform well in the United Kingdom. Over the years though, the film's reputation has recovered and it is today regarded as probably the definitive film covering the subject.

If you've never seen this film before, or if like me, it is one of your favourites, come and join us on Friday 15 September when you will get the opportunity to watch this film at a truly unique venue. The film is being screened at 19:45 but before that at 18:15, I will be guiding a free walk starting from the church, lasting around an hour, during which we will discover something of the area's wartime past. There will be a licenced bar available on the night and also hopefully snacks as well - full details of the timings and other events during the Charlton & Woolwich Free Film Festival can be found on the event's website.

Who were The Few?

The Battle of Britain Memorial on London's Embankment (author's photo)

As we approach the 74th anniversary of Battle of Britain Day, it seems a good time to re-visit some of the myths surrounding The Few. Obviously, they were an extremely brave group of men, to whom we owe nothing less than the freedom that we take for granted today but to the average person, there are many misconceptions about these young men, their backgrounds, where they came from and what brought them to join the RAF in the first place.

The common conception of the Battle of Britain pilots portrayed in many movies about this era is that of the stereotypical upper class or upper middle class Englishmen, ex public schoolboys, who had a certain amount of independent means in order to allow themselves to support the financial burden of being an office in the RAF. This had been largely true in the very early years of the RAF when many of the pilot recruits had come from a public school background. 

However, Sir Hugh Trenchard, widely seen as the 'Father of the RAF' soon saw to it that it was essential for the infant service to set up it's own independent training establishments, such as Cranwell in Lincolnshire for officer training and Halton in Buckinghamshire for the training of ground crew. He also recognized the importance of widening the net for officer intake and an early step towards achieving this came when the best three apprentices each year from Halton were offered places at Cranwell. The next step came in late 1921 when outstanding candidates from the ranks were also offered the chance to learn how to fly, serving for five years as 'Sergeant Pilots' before returning to their trades.

At this point in time, the RAF had shrunk from being by far the largest air force in the World in 1918, to having it's very future threatened during the cash-strapped years of the 1920s and although the RAF was probably the most egalitarian of the three services, it's tiny size ensured that flyers from the ranks remained very much in the minority. 

This situation began to change in 1934 in response to events taking place in Germany, where the Nazi takeover in 1933 ensured that their armed forces began to expand rapidly and measures were put in place to increase the numbers of pilots and aircrew coming into the RAF. In addition to this increase in personnel, the infrastructure was also expanded; forty five new air stations were planned in 1935 in order to accommodate the increased number of home based squadrons, the number for these being set at one hundred and twenty three. In 1937, more money was spent on the RAF than on the British Army - the first time this had occurred and manpower was scheduled to be increased to 118,000 with 45,000 reserves by 1939 - a fivefold increase from the 1934 figure. Moreover, the number of Auxiliary squadrons was to be increased from eight to twenty and alternative reserve force, the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) was established.

The Auxiliary Air Force (AAF) had been established in 1924 and if any branch of the RAF fitted the common public 'upper crust' perception of the RAF's flyers, then the Auxiliaries fitted it perfectly. The first four squadrons were 600 (City of London), 601 (County of London), 602 (City of Glasgow) and 603 (City of Edinburgh). Applicants were required to have already learned to fly from within their own financial resources, not a cheap hobby in the 1920s and 30s, which meant that these first squadrons were somewhat socially exclusive; this was despite Trenchard's wish that these squadrons be open to all comers. Indeed, 601 Squadron was known as the 'Millionaires Squadron' due to the large number of it's members who were pulled from the ranks of White's Club, that most exclusive of the London Gentlemens' Clubs. By the time of the Battle of Britain, the Auxiliaries had expanded to fourteen fighter squadrons and this expansion, combined with the high number of casualties incurred, ensured that the social exclusivity of these squadrons was steadily diluted as the war progressed.

The RAFVR, founded in 1936 was in complete contrast to the Auxiliaries, being a far more democratic organization. It gave young men who were interested in flying and in aircraft generally, the chance to escape their routine civilian jobs, at least at weekends and for annual training, and gave them the opportunity to learn to fly at the Air Force's expense. Men aged between 18-25 joined as 'airmen under training' and they were commissioned as officers strictly on merit. The initial aim of the RAFVR was to train 800 new airmen per year. Volunteers were paid a £25 per year 'bounty' and in addition to their weekends, had to attend an annual fifteen day flying course. By the spring of 1939, there were 2,500 RAFVR pilots in training, 310 of whom were fighter pilots. They were to play an essential role in the Battle of Britain and in the wartime RAF in general. 

So much for the organizations which gave us the men but what of the men themselves? Who were they and where were they from?

'Sailor' Malan' (author's collection)

The excellent film, 'Battle of Britain' first released in 1969, remains the tour de force of movies covering this facet of the war. Unlike many other films, it does not fall into the trap of showing all of the RAF's fighter pilots as being toffs, neither does it show them as being all British. There are many references to the Poles, Czechs, Free French, Canadians as well as many others and the pilots are shown as a true representation of all social classes - from Michael Caine's undoubtedly (and perhaps unlikely) upper class Squadron Leader, through Christopher Plummer's regular Canadian airman, Robert Shaw's 'Skipper' character, said to be based on the South African 'Sailor' Malan and Ian McShane's Sergeant Pilot amongst others. The incident in which the Polish 303 Squadron, ostensibly on a training exercise tore into a German formation and by default got themselves declared operational, is also based on a true incident and the film in general is an excellent account of the Battle.

 In the real life Battle of Britain, the men came from all manner of the social strata and from all parts of the world; there was the aforementioned 'Sailor' Malan from South Africa, covered in this blog in October 2010 and who seemed to have a real charisma about him. Stephen Bungay's excellent book, The Most Dangerous Enemy, quotes a fitter from Malan's 74 Squadron who said simply "I think Malan was the most wonderful man I ever met. Certainly in all my long service with the RAF, I never met another like him." Malan had had an interesting background, being originally a Merchant Seaman, before deciding to join the RAF in 1935, where he passed out as 'above average.'

More typical of the public schoolboy entrant to the RAF was Peter Townsend. He was the son of a civil servant of the British Empire and was born in Burma but grew up in Devon. A product of Haileybury School, he joined the RAF in 1935 and like many young officers of the period, felt that he had joined the best and most exclusive flying club in the world. He saw the German threat coming at the time of the Munich Crisis of 1938 and then realizing that war was inevitable, changed his attitude not only towards the Germans but towards the RAF, seeing it as being rather more than a flying club but rather than a serious weapon with which this country could defend itself. Townsend served throughout the War and remained in the RAF post-war, when sadly for him, he became better known for his on/off romance with Princess Margaret than for his exploits in the Battle of Britain.

A product of the Auxiliary Air Force was Sir Max Aitken, son of Lord Beaverbrook and who joined 601 Squadron in 1935. Born in Canada, he was educated at Westminster School and Pembroke College, Cambridge. Aitken was a talented sportsmen and more importantly as far as the AAF was concerned, a keen flyer. Aitken became CO of 601 Squadron in June 1940 and was uncompromising in his view of his Luftwaffe counterparts and was seen in the excellent ITV documentary series The World at War in which he stated "I hated them (the Germans). They were trying to do something to us. They were trying to enslave us." Aitken retired from the RAF in 1946 to become involved in his father's newspaper business, eventually taking over the Express Group of newspapers upon Lord Beaverbrook's death in 1964.

Amongst the many excellent flyers produced by the RAFVR was Bob Doe. He was a quiet young man from Reigate in Surrey and had been an office boy at the News of the World newspaper and like many of his counterparts, had joined the Volunteer Reserve because he wanted an escape from his boring job and had had a fascination with aeroplanes from a young age. Doe had good co-ordination, possibly as a result of being an amateur violinist and was a decent shot, the result of hours of practice in his garden with an air rifle. He narrowly passed his Wings examination but in November 1939 was posted to 234 Squadron at Leconfield in the East Riding of Yorkshire. One of the flight commanders at 234 Squadron was Pat Hughes, an Australian for whom Bob Doe gained a great deal of respect and who took Bob under his wing. From a hesitant start, which was as much to do with his shyness as much as anything else, Doe became an excellent pilot, ending the Battle of Britain with 14 'kills' to his name. Bob remained in the RAF post war, retiring in 1966 as a Wing Commander.

Pat Hughes was one of the many Commonwealth pilot who came to Britain under the short service commission scheme in the late 1930s. Hughes arrived in the UK in 1937 and qualified as a pilot in early 1939 and was posted to 64 Squadron at Church Fenton before moving to the newly formed 234 Squadron in November 1939. Pat had gained 14 'kills' plus 3 shared by 7th September 1940, the first day of the Blitz on London, when he was killed in a collision with a Dornier 17 over the village of Sundridge, Kent. Hughes was awarded a posthumous DFC in October and this was presented to his widow (after only five weeks of marriage) Kay Hughes.

Lord Dowding (centre) - Al Deere (in beret) next to him, Max Aitken fourth from left. (Crown Copyright)

The largest Commonwealth contingent, with 127 flyers in the Battle of Britain, was New Zealand. Amongst them was Alan Deere, who was another to take advantage of the short service commission scheme and who arrived in the UK in December 1937. After passing his examinations, Deere was posted to 54 Squadron at Hornchurch in 1938, at first operating Gloster Gladiator biplanes but converting to Spitfires in early 1940. Also on 54 Squadron was Colin Gray, another New Zealander who would become the top scoring pilot for that country during the war with 27 'kiils' plus two further shared. Deere himself some tough combat through the fall of France and covering the Dunkirk evacuation and of course, the Battle of Britain. Alan Deere served throughout the Battle and in Europe for the majority of the war, ending it with 22 'kills'. Deere remained in the RAF post war and retired in 1967 as an Air Commodore.

The largest overseas contingent had nothing to do with the British Empire or Commonwealth but was in many ways a windfall from the German occupation of mainland Europe. When Poland was conquered in September 1939, some 8,500 Polish airmen managed to escape, firstly to France and later to the UK. The Polish Air Force had been in the process of converting to modern aircraft but this had come too late to save them against the rampaging Luftwaffe. The Poles were good flyers but obviously, there was a massive language barrier to be overcome before the majority of them could fly as part of the RAF. Some individuals were posted into RAF squadrons, where they were immediately taken under the wings of the RAF men, who treated them almost as lucky mascots. One pilot, Ludwik Martel, who flew with 54 and 603 squadrons, twice refused transfers to a Polish unit and was quoted by Stephen Bungay as saying "My most cherished memories date from 1940 to 1941, when I was in an English squadron."

Unlike their British counterparts, the Poles had seen what the Nazis could do once they had conquered a land and fought the Luftwaffe with an implacable hatred and with a passionate desire to avenge their own country's defeat. 303 Squadron, based at Northolt, was the highest scoring squadron in Fighter Command with 126 accredited 'kills' and at first, there was some skepticism as to whether all of these claims were genuine. As a result, the Station Commander at Northolt, Group Captain Vincent, flew with 303 on one sortie and came back rather shaken but was certain after this experience that "what they claimed, they did indeed get!"

The Czechs were fighting with the same motivation as the Poles, but were somewhat more disciplined in their approach and once the language barrier was overcome, fitted into the RAF very comfortably.

Many of the Belgian contingent had already flown Hawker Hurricanes, with which the Belgian Air Force was re-equipping but as this force had been largely destroyed on the ground by the Luftwaffe, had not had the chance to use them in anger. Those that escaped to the UK were quickly integrated into the RAF and posted to squadrons which already flew the Hurricane.

Billy Fiske (Crown copyright)

One other overseas contingent should also be mentioned; it is uncertain exactly how many Americans fought in the Battle of Britain as some of them pretended to be Canadians in order to get around their government's strict neutrality laws. Some made it to France, planning to join that country's Air Force, just in time for France to fall and came to England instead. It was not yet an American war but there were around ten or eleven who fought in the Battle of Britain. One of them was Billy Fiske, a film producer, stockbroker and Olympic bobsleigh champion, who had married into English society when he wed the former wife of the Earl of Warwick. He joined 601, the so-called Millionaires Squadron so that he could fly with friends who were already members and thus became the first American to die in the War. On 16th August, Fiske's Hurricane was hit in the fuel tank by return fire from a Stuka dive bomber. Despite suffering severe burns, Fiske elected to bring his crippled aircraft back to Tangmere and although he was extricated from the burning Hurricane by medical teams moments before the aircraft's fuel tank exploded, Billy Fiske died from his wounds and from surgical shock in hospital the next day. He was 27 years of age.

This was Fighter Command - predominantly British but with significant numbers of oversea airmen making it a diverse, international force with men of vastly different backgrounds and upbringings as well as arguably, differing motivations. 

Whatever their nationality and whatever their motivation, we still owe these men an enormous debt of gratitude.

Remember them on Battle of Britain Day.

"Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many, to so few." Winston S Churchill

Printed Sources:

Battle of Britain - Patrick Bishop, Quercus 2010

The Most Dangerous Enemy - Stephen Bungay, Aurum Books 2001

The Narrow Margin - Derek Wood with Derek Dempster, Tri Service Press 1990

Nine Lives - Air Commodore Alan C Deere, Crecy 2012

Spitfire: Portrait of a Legend - Leo McKinstry, John Murray 2008