spindrift Posted August 20, 2010 Author Share Posted August 20, 2010 The RAF looked askance on the Poles. All they knew was the luftwaffe had beaten them in 3 days. This opinion was soon revised. At Duxford you can hear a Polish officer talk about seeing a German plane machine gun an allied aircraft, then machine gun the pilot as he parachuted to safety. The Pole chased the German plane, destroyed it, then machine-gunned the escaping German pilot. This was "against the rules" and he got a bollocking from his CO, but wan't reported. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBanzai Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 Foxy Lady Britain did not stand alone, as I have said before Canada's a bloomin big country to ignore... Oldprune were the Canadians flying with the RAF or RCAF? I do think it's a tad insulting to the independant commonwealth countries that joined the war at the same time as the homeland, to support the homeland. Afterall what threat did the war pose to Canada at the outset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harrod Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 Some of Churchills speeches still give me goosebumps even though I was fortunate enough to be born after the war. He knows just what to say and how to say it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spindrift Posted August 20, 2010 Author Share Posted August 20, 2010 The debt to our airmen The gratitude of every home in our island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world except in the abodes of the guilty goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unweakened by their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of world war by their prowess and their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. (Prolonged cheers.) All hearts go out to the fighter pilots, whose brilliant actions we see with our own eyes day after day but we must never forget that all the time, night after night, month after month, our bomber squadrons travel far into Germany, find their targets in the darkness by the highest navigational skill, aims their attacks, often under the heaviest fire, often at serious loss, with deliberate, careful precision, and inflict shattering blows upon the whole of the technical and war-making structure of the Nazi power. (Cheers.) On no part of the Royal Air Force does the weight of the war fall more heavily than on the daylight bombers, who will play an invaluable part in the case of an invasion and whose unflinching zeal it has been necessary in the meantime on numerous occasions to restrain. I have no hesitation in saying that the process of bombing the military industries and communications of Germany and the air bases and storage depots from which we are attacked, which will continue on an ever-increasing scale until the end of the war and may in another year attain dimensions hitherto undreamed of, assure one at least of the most certain, if not the shortest, of all the roads to victory. Even if the Nazi legions stood triumphant on the Black Sea or indeed upon the Caspian, even if Hitler was at the gates of India, it would profit him nothing if at the same time the entire economic and scientific apparatus of German war power lay shattered and pulverised at home. (Cheers.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spindrift Posted August 20, 2010 Author Share Posted August 20, 2010 http://century.guardian.co.uk/1940-1949/Story/0,,128255,00.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxy lady Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 Foxy Lady Britain did not stand alone, as I have said before Canada's a bloomin big country to ignore... . I was merely quoting from Churchill's speach of the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harleyman Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 There is one Lancaster still flying but it's in Canada and was originally operational with the Royal Canadian Air force Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHYTOT Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 There is one Lancaster still flying but it's in Canada and was originally operational with the Royal Canadian Air force There is only one Lancaster in current flying condition that is Lancaster PA474 of the UK Battle of Britain Flight in the UK. The Canadian Lanc has been grounded for around 12 months for lack of propellor blades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harleyman Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 There is only one Lancaster in current flying condition that is Lancaster PA474 of the UK Battle of Britain Flight in the UK. The Canadian Lanc has been grounded for around 12 months for lack of propellor blades. Sorry to hear that. It was a beautiful machine. I remember seeing a couple of them flying over our neighborhood in the late 1940s. For those who want to enjoy the sight and sound of them they can be seen in the Dambusters film Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spindrift Posted August 20, 2010 Author Share Posted August 20, 2010 The sound of those four engines is quite something, no wonder that Lincolnshire farmer in The Dambusters complained! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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