The glorious few

[Harleyman]

Anyone know about how many of the battle of Britain fighter pilots are still around? Time must have taken it's toll on them.

[Don_Kiddick]

Nationally or locally Jim?

 

This site >> http://www.sheffieldrecordsonline.org.uk/ has a military section in the message forum but is generally more for local research.

 

 

You need to join it to use it too

[Harleyman]

This would ne nationally Don. I was wondering if there had been some news article about the few. Reason I got curious about this was because I recently read that there was only one one survivor left in Britain from World War one and he was a few years over 100.

The actual battle of Britain pilots were as Churchill said few in number in 1940.

[cgksheff]

138 as of last year:

 

http://www.battleofbritain.net/bobhsoc/aircrew/surviving.html

 

... out of 2,936.

[Swan_Vesta]

138 as of last year:

 

http://www.battleofbritain.net/bobhsoc/aircrew/surviving.html

 

It's not a lot of people out of all of those who really made a difference to how things are today ..... Naysayers may say what they wish but society owes those guys a bloody large debt.

[pk014b7161]

i put a donation in a tin one of the few was holding he said thank you i said no, thank you

[Harleyman]

Many thenks cgksheff

Jim A

[Magneteer]

The RAF had a narrow edge on the Luftwaffe in August 1940, they had 1,032 fighters available as opposed to the Luftwaffe's 1,011. They also had 1,400 trained pilots available, several hundred more than the Germans, and well outclassed them with skill and courage. Britain was also at that time producing more aircraft than them, ie 1,900 between June and September as opposed to 775 in Germany. The Brits had well overestimated the German pilot strength by a factor of about 7 and the Germans over estimated themselves, believing that half of all British fighters had been destroyed by the end of August 1940.

[little malc]

As a member of Scarborough Historical Aircraft Club, I can tell you we have a member called Gordon Smith, now 86, who flew in the Hampden bomber at the start of the war, then went on to Wellingtons. The Hampden was obsolete before the war started, his tales of dropping mines from this machine near the German sea routes make grim listening, I feel very privalaged to know this man.

Interestingly, one of the founding members of the club was "Ginger" Lacey, one of the highest scoring fighter pilots of the war.