The Battle of Britain

[Nugget90]

Until my late father was posted overseas to India, he wrote often to his parents and - thankfully - my grandmother kept many of these letters, the contents of which provide a fascinating commentary on life as an RAF pilot in the first half of WWII.

One of these letters, written in 1940 (at the height of the BoB) reads as follows:

"Hullavington
Sunday. 15/9

Dear Mother & Dad,

I nearly got a Junkers 88 long range bomber yesterday!!!! We have a Hurricane we keep ready for Station defence and 3 of us are allowed to fly it. Very occasionally as we waste petrol!! Any way the Junkers came over the camp at about 5000' and as I was doing nothing at the time I grabbed my bike and pedalled off to the Hurricane with my brolly over my shoulder. Leaped in and started up and off. I chased away the way he had gone with my electric sights on and my guns ready. Of course I didn't catch him. He had had too good a start. I flew around at 12000 for a bit in case there was another and then saw another Hurricane going fast towards Swindon. I followed him in case he knew of something but there wasn't anything there. So I came back. Maybe I get one some day.

The Hurricane is grand. Cruising at 200 and climbing at 160. I dived, quite gently, and got 360. No effort at all."

My father had joined the RAF some three years before the war started and was posted to Egypt to learn to become a fighter pilot with No 64 Squadron flying Demons, which is why he became one of only a handful of pilots at RAF Hullavington, No 9 Service Flying Training School, where he was an instructor, to be allowed to fly Hurricanes kept for defending the Station. Research in the National Archives has taught me that Hullavington got regular pastings throughout 1940, but mostly at night. The official history of the BoB records two Junkers 88 flights entered British airspace on the day my father describes, either of which might have been the one that he followed as both headed well inland: both were seen to depart unscathed.

The flight described above by my father (in a 'Boys Own' style of dash and courage, I rather think) lasted 30 minutes and was only the second time he had flown the Hurricane, the previous flight three days beforehand made similarly for Station defence also lasted 30 minutes.

Although I can always say that my father flew fighters on authorised missions in the BoB, like some 14 or so other pilots based at various other stations in Britain, I acknowledge that he (and they) were not amongst 'The Few'. This accolade is reserved for those who flew specific types between the 10th of July and the 31st of October 1940 under the control of Fighter Command. My father also flew Defiants within this period, but only for 'air tests' or training air gunners, and none of these sorties are listed as 'operational' in his pilots flying log book (although the Hurricane sortie described above was confirmed to have been 'operational' by his Flight Commander).

As tomorrow, Sunday, is BoB Sunday I shall once again be in Westminster Abbey for the Memorial Service. In preparation for this I have been polishing his medals - that include four 'Stars' with more besides - that I shall wear with pride on my right lapel.

'Lest we forget', as my Australian colleagues (from an RAF/RAAF exchange tour I enjoyed in the mid 1960s) would say.