Last of the Few
The Battle of Britain in the words of the pilots who won it.
- By The Editors
- AirSpaceMag.com, August 01, 2011
Pilots wait to scramble, circa 1940. Courtesy RAF.
Pilot Officer George Herman Bennions
41 Squadron
I was annoyed with myself for having been shot down so decisively, and I felt terribly isolated. I couldn't hear or see very well.... I felt so very sorry for myself, which is not a good situation for anybody....
There was one person in particular who put me on a much more even footing. He had been shot down by a Hurricane. He had sent a message to go and see him. I was on crutches at the time, and I managed to get over to where he was with a hell of a lot of struggle and self-pity. As I opened the door in Ward 3, I saw what I can only describe now as the most horrifying thing I have ever seen in my life.
This chap had been really badly burned. His hair was burned off, his eyebrows and eyelids. You could just see his staring eyes, with only two holes in his face. His nose and lips were also badly burned. Then I looked down, and saw that his hands and feet were burned. I got through the door on my crutches with a struggle, and then this chap started propelling a wheelchair down the ward. Halfway down, he picked up the back of a chair with his teeth. Then he brought this chair down the ward and threw it alongside me and said, "Have a seat, old boy."
It was then that I cried—and I thought, "What have I got to complain about?"
On August 20, 1940, Prime Minister Winston Churchill addressed his nation: 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, unweary in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the world war by their prowess and their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
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Comments (1)
The photos and excerpts from "The Last of the Few" are superb, vivid, and moving. I will certainly be adding this fine volume to my collection. One comment, however. The aircraft in the photo of the the fighter going down, presumably during The Battle of Britain, is described as a Hurricane. I believe it is a Spitfire. Note the somewhat thinner fuselage, and the thinner wing, which appears to be elliptical, the classic signature of the graceful Supermarine vs. the more workmanlike Hawker. Under the left wing, you can also see a small, cylindrical protrusion found only on the Spit. Though it was more than 70 years ago, I hope that pilot made it out.
Posted by Richard Moffa on October 27,2011 | 06:19 PM