Mr PPRuNePOP, sir
Nothing to match your powerful recollections of Coulsdon in 1940 (born too late). But one of my most powerful moments was close by - at the Croydon Airport War Memorial two years back. I'd persuaded Mrs tharg and one of her younger friends to go up to the site for the BoBMF's annual flypast coinciding with their gig at Biggin. Things at the Bump must have been a bit hectic and the aircraft were late. tharg receiving much ribbing and cajolery when they rumbled up from the south. Just droning specks at first then suddenly filling the sky directly overhead. Six Merlins cutting the air apart. My two companions, I noticed when I could focus again, had more than a trickle of tears running down their faces (me too, for that matter).
The youngster had hardly even heard of the Battle of Britain but these powerful spectres of the past moved her. (Oh, and Mrs T is now utterly devoted to anything with a Merlin in it).
More memories to relate, but later...