In 1953, on the eve of the 13th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, veterans met the then-new Commander-in-Chief of Fighter Command.
Between lunch and reminiscences, Air Mail’s editor spoke to a handful of pilots for a brief interview while the magazine’s illustrator sketched their likenesses. Here we re-publish four of these illustrations, and each man’s answer to the question: ‘What is your most vivid memory from the Battle of Britain?’
“It was the only time I was really sure I’d had it. I had to lob down at Biggin Hill, wounded in the right arm and with 45 neat bullet holes in the aircraft. The hood wouldn’t open, the brakes and flaps had been shot out of gear, and I’m damned if I didn’t land smack in a bomb crater!”
“Blessed if I know, old boy – but I do remember one ‘shaky do’. It was being caught with our pants down at North Weald while the aircraft were being refuelled. We were suddenly strafed right, left and centre by Me109s, but the ground crews went on with their job almost as if nothing was happening, though several were killed or wounded. Somehow we managed to get into the air again – except for one pilot who was killed on take-off – and I was lucky enough to add a bag of three to my score.”
“The first few minutes of my 115 hours’ battle flying were the most memorable. I was on my very first sortie with 603 Squadron when I saw two Spits on my left and one on my right go up in smoke and flames before any of us realised the enemy were among us.”
“I chased and attacked this major type, who turned and showed fight. It was quite a party. Several times we came within inches of colliding as we circled for position, but I managed to get in a few short bursts on deflection, and once, when I came in very close, I could see the pilot’s face looking back at me as clearly as I can see yours now. He had pushed his goggles up above his forehead. I had already hit him pretty hard – there were holes in the rear of the fuselage and the tail surfaces were tattered. As I came in closer he reversed his turn and I gave him another burst from a fine quarter. I shall never forget how incredibly slowly that aircraft rolled over onto its back before it dived vertically, trailing light grey smoke. I tried to follow him down but couldn’t keep up and I lost sight of him against the ground for a few seconds. Then there was a terrific flash of red and a puff of black smoke, and I flew very low trying to find the exact spot, but I couldn’t locate it until I saw some soldiers running across a field, waving and pointing and giving me the ‘thumbs-up’ sign. What they were pointing towards was a huge crater in an adjoining field and odd pieces of debris scattered about. Later I heard that the engine had gone in to a depth of 30 feet, and they had found part of the pilot’s tunic with his rank and decorations; no name. The crash occurred just outside Dymchurch, in Kent.”
“Blessed if I know, old boy – but I do remember one ‘shaky do’. It was being caught with our pants down at North Weald while the aircraft were being refuelled. We were suddenly strafed right, left and centre by Me109s, but the ground crews went on with their job almost as if nothing was happening, though several were killed or wounded. Somehow we managed to get into the air again – except for one pilot who was killed on take-off – and I was lucky enough to add a bag of three to my score.”
“The first few minutes of my 115 hours’ battle flying were the most memorable. I was on my very first sortie with 603 Squadron when I saw two Spits on my left and one on my right go up in smoke and flames before any of us realised the enemy were among us.”
“I chased and attacked this major type, who turned and showed fight. It was quite a party. Several times we came within inches of colliding as we circled for position, but I managed to get in a few short bursts on deflection, and once, when I came in very close, I could see the pilot’s face looking back at me as clearly as I can see yours now. He had pushed his goggles up above his forehead. I had already hit him pretty hard – there were holes in the rear of the fuselage and the tail surfaces were tattered. As I came in closer he reversed his turn and I gave him another burst from a fine quarter. I shall never forget how incredibly slowly that aircraft rolled over onto its back before it dived vertically, trailing light grey smoke. I tried to follow him down but couldn’t keep up and I lost sight of him against the ground for a few seconds. Then there was a terrific flash of red and a puff of black smoke, and I flew very low trying to find the exact spot, but I couldn’t locate it until I saw some soldiers running across a field, waving and pointing and giving me the ‘thumbs-up’ sign. What they were pointing towards was a huge crater in an adjoining field and odd pieces of debris scattered about. Later I heard that the engine had gone in to a depth of 30 feet, and they had found part of the pilot’s tunic with his rank and decorations; no name. The crash occurred just outside Dymchurch, in Kent.”
For a detailed biography on each Battle of Britain pilot simply click on their names to read their individual profile pages hosted on bbm.org.uk.
Air Mail
The full article on pilots’ memories from the Battle of Britain, with extended interviews and additional illustrations, was first published in Air Mail’s September-October 1953 issue. For more articles like this and about today’s RAF, sign up for membership and include Air Mail magazine, the official magazine of the Royal Air Forces Association, in your subscription.
