Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Battle of Britain: Historic flypast for 75th anniversary

     
  • From the sectionUK
Hurricane fighter planes taking off from Gravesend, after being refuelled and rearmed, during the Battle of Britain. September 1940Image copyrightGetty Images
Image captionHurricanes taking off from Gravesend in Kent during the Battle of Britain in September 1940
A flypast involving about 40 Spitfires and Hurricanes is set to take place to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.
Prince Harry will join veterans to see the fleet of Battle of Britain aircraft take to the air - the most in any one place since World War Two.
He was due to take part, but gave up his seat for a battle veteran when one of the Spitfires was grounded.
The battle, in the summer of 1940, was a pivotal moment in UK history.
A service has also been held at London's St Paul's Cathedral, attended by David Cameron and Labour's Jeremy Corbyn.
A range of events have already been staged over the past few months to mark the aerial battle, which raged between July and October 1940 as Germany's Luftwaffe attempted to destroy the fighting capacity of the RAF.
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Battle of Britain: July to October 1940
SpitfireImage copyrightGetty Images
  • The Battle of Britain was a pivotal moment in WW2 when the country stood alone against Hitler's seemingly unstoppable military power
  • In July 1940 the RAF deployed 640 planes, although more were available, and aircraft production was subsequently ramped up
  • The Luftwaffe could call upon 2,600 fighters and bombers
  • Nearly 3,000 aircrew served with RAF Fighter Command during the battle
  • The average age of a pilot was 20 years old
  • 20% of the pilots were from the British Dominions, and occupied European or neutral countries
  • The RAF lost 1,023 planes and the Luftwaffe lost 1,887 planes in the battle
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Bad weather

Tuesday's flypast and service are being held on Battle of Britain Day - the name given to the day, on 15 September 1940, when the German Luftwaffe launched its largest and most concentrated attack against London in the hope of drawing out the RAF.
Spitfires, Hurricanes and Blenheims, from across the UK, US and Europe will come together at Goodwood Aerodrome, West Sussex, to take part in the flypast. Present-day owners, operators, pilots and engineers will be there alongside veterans.
Media captionPrince Harry met some of the pilots taking part in the flypast
Media captionIn August a flypast marked the Hardest Day, as Richard Lister reports
Battle of Britain pilot Wing Commander Tom Neil, now 95, will lead the formation from the rear seat of a two-seat Spitfire.
He will be joined by wounded service personnel who have been training to fly the Spitfire as part of the Spitfire Scholarship set up by the Boultbee Flight Academy in partnership with the Royal Foundation's Endeavour Fund, which Prince Harry launched at Goodwood in 2014.
The aircraft will take off in groups and fly over Goodwood before dispersing around the south of England. They were due to take off at 12:00 BST but this has been delayed until 14:00 BST because of bad weather.
The BBC's Robert Hall is at the aerodrome and says one of four two-seater Spitfires due to take part has become unserviceable - prompting Prince Harry to pull out to allow others to fly instead.
St Paul's CathedralImage copyrightPA
Image captionA scale model of a Spitfire is outside St Paul's as part of the commemorations
David CameronImage copyrightPA
Image captionPrime Minister David Cameron was among those paying their respects
Some of the aircraft will return to Goodwood, while others will end up at Battle of Britain airfields including Biggin Hill and Northolt.
The Battle of Britain Day flypast website has maps of the approximate routes.
Live information on the departure times of each group will be posted on Boultbee Academy's twitter feed.
Jeremy CorbynImage copyrightPA
Image captionNew Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn also attended the service
RAF cadets line the steps of St Paul's CathedralImage copyrightPA
Image captionRAF cadets lined the steps of St Paul's ahead of the service
BBC News correspondent Daniela Relph, at St Paul's, said afterwards that Mr Corbyn described it as "a beautiful service in a beautiful church".
He said he thought of his mother, who was an air raid warden during the Blitz, and that he still treasures her badge.
Prince Edward also attended the service, which has been organised by the RAF Association.
It commemorated all those involved in the battle, including ground crew, radar operatives and maintenance operatives, as well as flight crew and pilots.
A march past by about 75 standard bearers took place afterwards, and a scale model Spitfire is at the west front of the cathedral.
The pilots of the RAF, who became known as "The Few", successfully stood up to wave after wave of German fighters and bombers.
In his famous speech, wartime leader Winston Churchill spoke of the sacrifices made during this period: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

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