THE PRECIOUS FEW THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN 80 YEARS ON
Complements the ten-part podcast series Spitfire: The People’s Plane on the BBC World Service
Eighty summers ago, the inhabitants of the Home Counties witnessed something the world had never seen before and never would again. Day after day, above their heads, air armies waged a gigantic battle – one that would have a decisive effect on the outcome of World War II.
For the first time in British history, a life-or-death struggle was fought out in view of large numbers of the nation’s citizens. The combat took place over the stalwarts of everyday life – above houses, streets and fields. Those below had only to look up to see an amazing sight: huge flocks of German bombers and escorts crawling across the sky while the RAF’s fighters swirled around them, scribbling chalky condensation trails in the blue and stitching it with the gold and red of tracer ammunition and cannon.
The British people watched with a mixture of fear and excitement and, above all, admiration for the pilots upon whose skill and bravery the fate of the nation so obviously depended.
In the summer of 1940, Britain seemed finished. France, with its huge armed forces and the seemingly impregnable defences of the Maginot Line along its German border, had been overwhelmed by Hitler’s forces in just a matter of weeks. The British army had only avoided complete destruction by what seemed liketo fight.
