Forgotten Heroes of the Battle of Britain

by Dilip Sarkar

ISBN: 9781399075725

Published: 2022-08-30

Lasting sixteen weeks during the momentous year of 1940, the Battle of Britain ended with the Luftwaffe having failed to achieve the decisive victory that Hitler had demanded. while the technical details of the aircraft and weapons involved are, of course, crucial to our understanding of the events that summer, the Battle was fought by human beings - and it is that human experience and contribution, to this author, is the most important thing to acknowledge, record and share.Nearly 3,000 Fighter Command aircrew fought in the Battle of Britain, immortalized by Churchill as 'The Few'. Of these, 544 lost their lives that blood-stained summer, and 700 more would die before the Second World War ended - a victory very likely impossible had The Few not held out in 1940.The names of some of these young men, aces such as Douglas Bader, 'Sailor' Malan and Eric Lock, were well-known to the free world at the time - and certainly the legless Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader remains, even today,...