Originally Posted by
Wensleydale
Not so. It bugs me that the name "The Few" has been hijacked by the fighter fraternity. Actually, the "Few" in Churchill's speech are the "British Airmen", and include all of Bomber Command as well!:
“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 may 'bug' you but i disagree. At one point some years ago I would have agreed with you, not now. The
'but' is significant.
'The few' clearly refers to the fighter pilots in the previous sentences. Way before your selective cut and paste.
The edit backs your argument but in the context of the full 30 minute speech, Churchill leaves the subject of fighters, then moves onto the subject of the bombers
The Battle of Britain was still raging overhead when this speech was delivered on 20 August 1940. It was an update on the progress of the war.
The Battle of Britain had been predicted in this speech - June 18, 1940 - House of Commons - officially recognise duration as being from 10 July until 31 October 1940
What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, “This was their finest hour.”
It was their finest hour - and I don't just mean the fighter pilots
Originally Posted by
langleybaston
What about the erks? No glamour, no spotty scarves, no MG sports cars, no flash of knickers or suspenders. <br />The men and women who worked even worse hours than the aircrew, few or none of them as conscripts: they fed the Few, serviced the aircraft, did the unglamourous admin, fired Bren guns and Bofors to defend the airfields, and flew balloons to defend the cities.<br />Those dwindling numbers of us alive then and alive now have some inkling of memory of our heroes.<br />Thank you all.
I hope, by adding the second photo, I made reference to the ground crew.
I could add a photo of the radar operators and many other branches etc. I won't. The history is out there
Radar History
Originally Posted by
Asturias56
"What about the erks? "
Sadly in all major military conflicts those "behind the scenes" are rarely remembered - the guys who made the swords for Thermopylae, those who carved the bows at Agincourt, or made the muskets for Gettysburg.
Air warfare is always a vast amount of backup and a few at the point - but they all need to work to get a win. We all know this
Originally Posted by
CISTRS
I would just like to see a specific mention of the Polish airmen.
I think the Battle of Britain Film does it well enough. Reference is made to the Polish pilots
I'll do it for you
