75 years ago.

[gamekeeper]

Battle of Britain Day, about thirty WW2 Spitfires, Hurricanes and a Blenheim flew over Southern England today.

Lest we forget.

[tman]

Turned the tide. Those Spitfire pilots saved England. They convinced Hitler that he didn't have air superiority over the skies of Europe. God Bless them all.

[Booger Bill]

I had a lady friend who`s mother was killed in Newcastle by a bomb. Also her father was killed flying a Spitfire. She died of cancer in 1998. I worked at Lockheed and we had a Rep from Rolls Royce that was a Rep for the engines we used on the L-10-11. He told me he flew Spits at that time. I told him about Martine`s mom. He almost bawled. He was in the very battle and said one Bomber did get through them and dropped a bomb just short of the Victors plant and it must have been that very bomb that killed her mom. If I recall right I think she said she also had a twin brother that was also killed by the bomb. The government schooled her in boarding schools and she had a great aunt and uncle that took her in on school holidays etc.
My ex had run off with our daughter and as I worked graveyard I needed a nanny just even for visitation. We worked out a situation as I owned a 4 bedroom house. I picked up the expenses and she worked her job`s for her money. Somehow we lived that way together for about 13 years untill she died of cancer. She had asked for me to get her out of the hospital at the last and died at home. I was with her.

[Grizz]

Good on ya, honorable sir, and good links to the past.

[Ji in Hawaii]

From what my dad tells me (I had an uncle who joined the RAF to fight the Nazis before the US entered the war, he was eventually shot down and killed over North Africa in 1943. He was a tailgunner/radioman in a B-26 Marauder) there were quite a few more Hurricanes than the newer Spitfires at the start of hostilities, and the Hurricanes and their pilots don't get the recognition they deserve.

I have an older English friend who in his early years grew up in London during the Blitzkrieg, and one of his memories as a young lad (of course a little later in the war) was the frightening roar of the V-1 "Buzz Bombs" flying overhead, and the even scarier silence as their pulsejet engines shut down just before their fall from the sky to target and deadly impact. He recalled how one day his mum went to a local bakery to pick up the daily ration of bread when the baker heard the roar of a V-1 overhead suddenly go silent. The baker immediately called for everyone in the bakery to head outside and keep on running. Several seconds later the V-1 made a direct hit on the bakery. My friend's mum and all others in the bakery were saved that morning. How the baker knew where that V-1 would hit was a miracle. My friend grew up to be a missionary in Colombia so maybe it was divine intervention.

[jeepnik]

Battle of Britain Day, about thirty WW2 Spitfires, Hurricanes and a Blenheim flew over Southern England today.

Lest we forget.

Thirty WWII aircraft would be a beautiful sight. Sadly it probably stretches the available European inventory to make it happen.

You know, it's good to remind folks over here that we were late comers to the party. England had pretty much stopped the German advance by the time we entered the war. The British Isle stood as a solitary rock against the best the Axis powers could throw against her.

The closes point from England to France is a mere 20.6 miles. Heck, that's less than the distance from my front door to Santa Catalina Island. But it was a stretch of water defended by a people that would not go quietly into the night.

Thanks for what England did.

[Ysabel Kid]

That would have been awesome to see (today; I imagine it wasn't any fun 75 years ago!).

[Blaine]

Battle of Britain Day, about thirty WW2 Spitfires, Hurricanes and a Blenheim flew over Southern England today.

Lest we forget.

You guys hauled all the water for awhile...Thanks.
(Well, there was the Eagle Squadron...I hope they filled in proper.)

[KiwiKev]

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-12833450

Some were young indeed.

[Paladin]

I concur