The Untold Battle of Britain

[Gilly]

Dave, Foz, Bobby-Gentlemen I doth my cap in your general direction.

[Davedog74]

hoorah to the last three posts

[FOZ_1983]

Jolly good show chaps!!

[bobbysocks]

no gilly, my hats off to you and your country. A F'n Lone your country bore the brunt of the 3rd Reich's onslaught. politicians with less testicular fortitude would have capitulated to Hitler's conditions and sued for a peaceable solution...like other countries who gave up with out a shot fired. BUT YOUR gallant and honorable country said " I shall not yield!" THAT, my dear friend, SAVED the world. The BoB did not only save England...man, your boys saved FREEDOM! Oh yes it G'damn did!!! Had not your country stood firm against the tides of tyranny and fascism the world would be a different place today. I bow to you and those brave boys who entered the air in those "old blessed crates" ( F' the YAKS and the RUSSIANS, Spits and 'Canes took it in the face when Stalin was eating fine food and posturing for position) who leveled their lances down on the oppressor...against overwhelming odds. Because you decided not...THEY the blessed FEW decided NEVER to surrendered.. brother....never has the entire WORLD owed so GD much to so few honorable and most gallant BOYS. Freedom is not only a word but REALITY for us because of those "boys"...those blessed few..those fathers, grand fathers of us... who gave all so that we may live in peace. God bless them all. Thank you, you most gallant and brave gentlemen. Our lives are richer because of you,

[Gilly]

Amen Bobby.
Lest we never forget.

Our 10 o'clock news recreated the news last night exactly as it was 70 years ago when the bombs first started dropping on London. Of course back then television was in its very infancy and most people actually got their news via the radio but it was still quite impressive. There was also a service of memorial at St Pauls yesterday with veterans attending. It choked me as I watched an old pilot shed a tear as the Lancaster and Spitfire flew over.

The BBC have created these sites with videos and stories.( just hope you non-Brits can see them)

www.bbc.co.uk/history/battle_of_Britain

www.bbc.co.uk/archive/battleofbritain
(awesome documentary on the spit with duggy bader and johnny Johnston contributions)

[dkwookie]

Very well said Bobby. I didn't want to comment in this one because I find it a very emotional subject.

The way I feel is I can never repay what those young men did for us back then. I treat this dead serious always.

I remember watching Saving Private Ryan and when Tom Hanks says to Ryan "earn this" he is as much talking to us the audience. Our fallen paid the ultimate price so that we can enjoy our cushy privileges. When we start taking that for granted will be a very sorry day for society

[Davedog74]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYoER...eature=related

[Soviet Ace]

Originally Posted by FOZ_1983

Ah Soviet...

Quick to late the good old workhorse of the RAF during the summer of 1940, but you seem to forget that the crate your slating just happened to down more Luftwaffe planes than all other defences combined during the Battle of Britain.

You don't like it i know, and you enjoy disregarding it, but the truth of the matter is.... it was a very adequate fighter in 1940 and did its job.... extremely well it stopped us all from speaking German.

If you want to go up in a very forgiving, stable gun platform that could take a fair bit of battle damage and a fighter than can hold its own against the best the Lufwaffe could throw at you... then you take the Hurricane.

British enginuity

If we had those soviet crates then we would all be speaking German for sure!! They would never be able to get up high enough to fight the enemy.

Wait just a second Foz, I never said I hated or disregarded Spits and Hurricanes. I like them both just fine, and think they're both beautiful planes. But you know I just like razzing you guys a bit. If I didn't like Hurricanes or Spits, do you think I'd have put a French MS406 pic in my sig? No. Sadly, but true, the MS406 was a worse plane than either the Hurricane and Spit in a dogfight, but I still love it because it's just such an odd plane and I think it'd be fun to go up against some early 109Ds in a MS406. So I don't disregard or hate the Hurricane/Spit, they're both fine planes.

Originally Posted by bobbysocks

the first yak-1s started production in the early part of 1940 ( the prototype flew in 39 ) and werent war tested. at the time of the german invasion of russia there were only 400.,,and i am sure joe the benevolent wasnt about the lend lease them to anyone. so too little too late for the Bob. and like dave said the westeran air war was high altitude, 18k and up, not the best enviroment for russian planes. so if they did fly yaks they would have been one step closer to speaking german. the fins sure liked them from what i read. they were swating them down even before they got 109s in brewster buffalos no less...

ps thanks dave..

foz you must have posted at the same time as me....ditto

and as a last foot note....the brits did better at the beginning of their air war with "those old crates" than russia did when germany invaded. did the uk have1 inch of soil under a german hobnail boot?? hmmm let me think....NO!

Bob, relax man, I'm just playing around like always. Like me and Foz, how we always razz each other on a Hurricane vs. Yak-1 match, just to see what would be better? There's nothing serious behind my words, they're just for fun. I have respect for those guys flying Hurricanes and Spits, but I'm Soviet Ace, I've got to always include Soviet Planes somewhere!

And also, the difference between Britain and Russia, is Britain has a huge channel between them and mainland Europe, which gave them a breather before Hitler could assemble a force to cross himself. Russia does not have any of that. Sort of like the "Eastern France" at the time. Not ready, not sure it'd happen that soon, and when it did, was totally caught off guard. You can't really compare the BoB to the outset of Operation Barbarossa. Mainly because Hitler learned after the BoB, that striking enemy airfields would be key to a quick victory. (If the Luftwaffe had kept on the British Airfields, they probably would have been victorious, and Britain would be speaking German anyways.) That's why when he struck East, Russian airfields were bombed and attacked almost non-stop in the initial push, and all the way up until Stalingrad.

[FOZ_1983]

Originally Posted by Soviet Ace

Wait just a second Foz, I never said I hated or disregarded Spits and Hurricanes. I like them both just fine, and think they're both beautiful planes. But you know I just like razzing you guys a bit. If I didn't like Hurricanes or Spits, do you think I'd have put a French MS406 pic in my sig? No. Sadly, but true, the MS406 was a worse plane than either the Hurricane and Spit in a dogfight, but I still love it because it's just such an odd plane and I think it'd be fun to go up against some early 109Ds in a MS406. So I don't disregard or hate the Hurricane/Spit, they're both fine planes.



Bob, relax man, I'm just playing around like always. Like me and Foz, how we always razz each other on a Hurricane vs. Yak-1 match, just to see what would be better? There's nothing serious behind my words, they're just for fun. I have respect for those guys flying Hurricanes and Spits, but I'm Soviet Ace, I've got to always include Soviet Planes somewhere!

And also, the difference between Britain and Russia, is Britain has a huge channel between them and mainland Europe, which gave them a breather before Hitler could assemble a force to cross himself. Russia does not have any of that. Sort of like the "Eastern France" at the time. Not ready, not sure it'd happen that soon, and when it did, was totally caught off guard. You can't really compare the BoB to the outset of Operation Barbarossa. Mainly because Hitler learned after the BoB, that striking enemy airfields would be key to a quick victory. (If the Luftwaffe had kept on the British Airfields, they probably would have been victorious, and Britain would be speaking German anyways.) That's why when he struck East, Russian airfields were bombed and attacked almost non-stop in the initial push, and all the way up until Stalingrad.

Yeah i know, i just had to jump in and fight the corner of the Hurricane and the guys who fought in the BoB, especially as its 70 years ago this year, and sadly the "few" are getting fewer and fewer a sad sad fact.

[bobbysocks]

SA, i know it was all meant in jest and without malice. its just that some people hold certain things in very high regard and it gets a little touchy perhaps. plus captain morgan builds a very sturdy soapbox for me on occasions...which i use to extol my passions. and he happened to have his hammer and saw out late last night. all's good.