September 15th - "what" day?!

[kevmusic]

Expecting the usual media blackout on anything to do with this hallowed date I was surprised and delighted to hear Radio 3 playing Walton's 'Spitfire Music and Battle in the Air' this morning. Delighted, that is, until the announcer declared that today was the 40th anniversary of the release of the film! :ugh: And that was it. Back to normality. Plus ca change. How depressing. :hmm:

[whowhenwhy]

When I was teaching in a previous existance and asked what and when the Battle of Britain was, one of the keen young 15 year olds suggested that it might have something to do with 1066.

[maxburner]

I'm grateful for the sacrifices made in 1940, and we'll be toasting those heroes tonight. Maybe once this train-wreck of a government shuffles off into obscurity we can mark the day as a nation.

[TURIN]

Shouldn't hold your breath if I were you.

Successive governments have had best part of 70 years to mark the occasion, why should the next one bother?

To the few. :ok:

[Whenurhappy]

It is being celebrated - at the National Service of Commemoration at Westminster Abbey on Sunday 1100 - 1200 hrs, attending by senior Royalty, senior politicians and the Service Chiefs. As usual, the Abbey will be overflowing and there is the obligatory flypast by BofB Flight.

[Doctor Cruces]

Right, comfy on sandbag.

I remember when I was a lad, just about every RAF station had a Battle of Britain day air display on the Saturday nearest the 15th.

Can't see that happening again seeing as how everything we have that is "S" is working hard in sunnier climes.

Nostalgia just isn't what it used to be!

Doc C

[PPRuNeUser0139]

At my final place of work* before retiring to sunnier climes, I asked the girl (early thirties with an MSc) I shared an office with when D-Day was..

When she looked blankly at me and said "Is this one of your trick questions?"

I replied "No, but I'll give you a clue, it was the 60th anniversary this week.."

"Ooh," she said triumphantly, "1920.."

We have to face it that these dates just don't carry the same resonance with the young that they do with us older scrotes.

(* it was in Malvern)

[Vox Populi]

I've always had 15/9/40 marked in my mind as the day we 'won' the BOB, on the basis that Hitler indefinitely postponed Operation Sealion that day...however I notice on the ever reliable wikipedia that it has 17/9/40 as the day in question...is there another significance that makes the 15th the more suitable day to use?

[kevmusic]

is there another significance that makes the 15th the more suitable day to use?

The Battle of Britain Historical Society website explains here: The Battle of Britain Historical Society Discussion Forum (http://disc.yourwebapps.com/Indices/105008.html)

[Tartan Stazi]

Just attended the BoB reception in Canberra and met the last surviving BoB pilot in Australia...still as sharp as a tack and modest with it. :D

[airsound]

I have just returned from the annual Battle of Britain Day lunch at the Old New Inn, Bourton-on-the-Water.

Plenty of excellent memories, as ever.

airsound

[BEagle]

40 years ago, a party of us shaven-headed Flt Cdts went to the premiere of the Battle of Britain movie in Nottingham. Wearing those stupid 'civilian hats' until we left the College, of course....:hmm:

So tonight I shall wallow in nostalgia, raise a glass or few to The Few and watch the DVD*! Again!!









*Not forgetting Miss York's shapely little bottom, of course.....:E

[Sgt.Slabber]

*Not forgetting Miss York's shapely little bottom, of course.....http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/evil.gif


Don't forget the "webbing", Beags...:ok:

[4PON4PIN]

'Twere 42 years ago today that self and numerous other cadets marched proudly across the Parade Ground at Sarf Cerney to receive our Commissions. A most memorable and proud day. Oddly enough, it was only this past wekend that I made contact with 2 of those guys thru Facebook.
Question: Is Facebook an alternative refuge to Pprune for auld farts like me? (Not thread-drift pse start one in Jetblast if you wish to reply!! :)

I raise a glass as always to ALL who gave so much in the B.o.B.

[RETDPI]

Beags,
It was also the very day we were "appointed to be Officers in our Royal Air Force"

Funny to think that the BOB film was much closer to the actual event than to the current day.

Do you remember this exchange ?

" Sir , Sir, Are you coming to the 'Battle of Britain' film? "


" I think I'll give it a miss, lad . Being in the play was enough for me"

[BEagle]

It was indeed, Redders!

When I think of the number of people, aerodromes and aeroplanes we had back in 1969 - and yet the 'old sweats' were telling us that we'd missed the Golden Age of the mid-1950s.....

And look at today......:\

So much has gone forever - virtually every corner of the RAF has been devastated beyond Hitler and Goerings' wildest dreams. I was on an RAF base today for a short while - one of the biggest still standing. Utterly squalid - and I saw all of 1 person in blues. The rest were civvies apart from a couple of folk in cabbage kit.

I wonder whether Trenchard has hit the RPM governor in his grave yet....:ugh:

I think I'd better shut up now.......:oh:

[The B Word]

Had my annual bottle of Spitfire Ale from Shepherd Neame (although I wish they did Hurricane as well as I'm more of a "Hurribox" fan!)...

http://www.genx40.com/images/2007g/snad.JPG

[The B Word]

Now this one does make me chuckle...

http://www.aairblog.com/uploads/Spitfire10.jpg

[Captain Sand Dune]

Just attended the BoB reception in Canberra
Was there a flypast? I ask because our plans for a very modest flypast over the airfield were kyboshed from on high. Apparently we weren't the only ones either.:ugh::mad:

[Flash2001]

Pucking fitiful!

We've got eleventy-seven TV channels on cable and there's not one reference to the BOB. Even the "Military Channel" has something else on it all day!

[kevmusic]

It's great that you old lags have had celebrations to go to, but these rightly cater for those "in the know". As Flash points out, it's the meedja that turn their collective back on it.

As Bob Doe once put it, "We don't want to be treated as heroes. We just want to be remembered".

Not much to ask is it!? Or perhaps it is............

[monkeymanagement]

Wearing a rather 'British' cycling shirt for a gym session today (across the pond), I was asked by one of the 'ex-colonials', "That's rather patriotic MM". I replied that it was Battle of Britain Day; to be met with the response, "Why are you celebrating it, you weren't in it"! Words failed me (although it was pointed out I should have asked "Why do you celebrate in early July then?").

[Solid Rust Twotter]

MM

Perhaps you should have informed the person that if it weren't for them he may have been forced to celebrate on April 20th each year whether he liked it or not.

Not a peep down this end of things either, although we do suffer from a surfeit of PC arse lickers and apologists in this neck of the woods, so no surprises there. Their right to vilify those who defend those rights still goes unchallenged because of people like The Few....

[MrBernoulli]

Folks,

For your interest, could I point you in the direction of this superbly detailed website. It has some amazing accounts and material and is certainly a very scholarly collection:

Battle Of Britain Historical Society
List of Website Contents (http://www.battleofbritain1940.net/contents-index.html)

[Flash2001]

"You need to get out more mate"

In fact I've been on a few BofB Day parades. However it's hard to explain the importance of the date to a newer generation that's glued to the telly if there is no mention there.

After an excellent landing you can use the airplane again!

[kevmusic]

Well, Mr. S.U., we have been a busy little bee, haven't we?! My evidence for the UK paucity of coverage was part direct and part empirical, I'll admit. My scanning of that one-time bastion of aviation support, the Daily Wail, elicited no mention whatsoever. And Radio 3's snatching of defeat from the jaws of victory, in an environment normally inhabited by the informed and aware, hinted at a pervasive ignorance. Nevertheless, I appear to have overlooked some excellent coverage elsewhere - the more coverage there is, the better I am pleased! Thank you for bringing me the news, S.U. Now perhaps you can tell me why it is that no-one amongst the general public seems to know doodleysquat about BoB day, or even the BoB, for that matter.

[Samuel]

Well, it wasn't forgotten here in Wellington! There was a service at the National War memorial, and a flypast by a Spitfire, that in the markings of "AL", one Alan Deere, which seems resident now with the RNZAF Historical Flight at Ohakea, and flown, mostly I suspect, by one Sqn Ldr Sean Perret, ex-RAF.

[kevmusic]

Skip Undo, I really don't care how many webpages you drag up for our perusal (whatever appeared on the Mail Online website, there was nothing in the paper on the day) the fact remains that the Great British Public remains blissfully ignorant of BoB day because most of the mainstream media carries no, or little, reference to it.

We can all sit at home in our retirement, Googling our little a*ses off to impress all and sundry but it changes nothing. There is naff all effort on behalf of the media to put the event across to the public at large. The man on the street here will just give you blank looks if you ask why September 15th is a date to remember.
I'm in outback AustraliaKeeping you finger on the pulse here will take some ingenuity and a bloody long finger.

[Brewers Droop]

Our little band of light blue in a small joint hidden place spent lunchtime on the 15th commemorating what I have always considered the most important day in the RAF Calender after Remembrance Day. We had all chosen a favourite quote or passage relating to the event and shared these with each other.

On getting back to work a FAA colleague had some banter of the effect "none event - the RN would have stopped them in the Channel anyway". A good humoured discussion unfolded before glasses were raised in memory of the "the few".

To me, the 15th September is the RAF's Day, pure and simple. Its the day I deliberately have a bottle of Port and glasses at work (Including OOA on a few years) and take some time to think of the few. Its also the day that I forget about the frustrations of the modern RAF and why I am always about to leave, and remember why I am, at heart, really proud to wear the uniform.

As for the reasons, the excellent Battle of Britain Historical Society website highlights them much better than I ever could. Churchill called it the "the crux of the Battle of Britain". If he thought it was, who am I to argue?

[Blacksheep]

Apparently, some slapper was raped by an un-named celebrity a few years ago. With important news like that to put on the front pages why would anyone be interested in tales of daring-do from long ago? :(

"I will say, the old Hun certainly tried hard, but they did not like that head-on business. One could see the leader carrying on straight, but the followers wavering, drawing out sideways to the flanks, and in some cases just plain leaving the formation."
F/L R.M.B.D.Duke-Wooley 253 & 23 Squadrons RAF.
(Outnumbered five to one in that particular engagement)

When I was attested at Maitland barracks 46 years ago today, many of our officers were of the few. Air Commodore Al "Lucky" Deere was our commandant for a while. They're a fading generation now and if they're starting to be forgotten, perhaps we of this generation must take our share of the blame?

[angels]

Was just chatting to a mate who said that three or four years back he attended a reception at the British embassy in Prague which is apparently held annually for the Czech and Slovak BoB veterans.

He said they all looked incredibly fit and healthy and proudly wore their Czechoslavkia uniforms. To a man, they were miffed at the break up of their old country!

Good luck to them and I hope the event is continued to this day. :ok:

[ormeside]

We had our little parade at the Cenotaph here in Llandudno on Tuesday. Our sadly depleted Air Crew Association, British Legion, C.O.Valley and Mayor of this town celebrated the Victory. Sadly the Punch and Judy show by the pier carried on, but didn't quite drown out our Padre. A few visitors looked on, but sadly the great majority just walked by!

[kevmusic]

It's great to hear of various commemorations across the country - I wonder were they retrospectively reported? - but events in Canada, NZ and elsewhere appear to put us to shame.

And now, Skip Undo. I've looked at all the references you've dragged up and sure, there's plenty to be found on the net if you go and look for it; but it's not quite the same as mainstream newspaper coverage, is it?

And your assumption that I carry an anti-media agenda is absolute rubbish.

[foresight]

Every day of the year is an anniversary of some historical event or other. Most people are, understandably, uninterested in any arbitrary celebration of a particular happening in the past. Thank goodness, or we would drown in anniversaries.
Let those who feel they have some connection mark their day but don't moan at the rest of us.

[glad rag]

:sad: 38th and final post with a bit of luck.

"L for love baby" (If you don't get it go watch Dodgeball on dvd)

GR.

[minigundiplomat]

If you feel there aren't enough events, or the matter isn't getting the coverage it deserves (which it does), then get off your ass or pick up the phone and change the situation instead of whinging about it.

The memory exists inside of all of those who have posted. Arrange to visit a local school next year and tell the kids about it (as a poster has), organise an event or get together with your mates and raise a glass.

This thread seems a little self-defeatist; not a trait the 'few' would have been accused of.

[Wholigan]

Closed at the request of the thread starter but left for people to read if they wish.