This is the place where the majority of the warbird (aircraft that have survived military service) discussions will take place. Specialized forums may be added in the new future
Wed Feb 29, 2012 3:19 pm
I thought this was gonna be about those Foreigners from TEXAS that showed up 25 years later!!!
Wed Feb 29, 2012 6:35 pm
Very well done. Them Texans were not mentioned but the show would not have been as good as it was without them.
Thu Mar 01, 2012 7:44 pm
"Churchill's Few" numbered 2,936 Airmen from 15 Countries who flew as Pilots, Observers or Air Gunners. They are officially recognized as having taken part in The Battle of Britain (BoB) and qualify to wear the clasp that bears that name. Each would have flown at least one operational sortie with a fighter unit of the RAF or one of the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) Squadrons placed under Fighter Command's orders during the period July 10 to October 31, 1940. Some 544 lost their lives during the battle, and a further 791 did not survive to see out the end of the War.
The Countries represented were:
Australia, Barbados, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, Ireland, Jamaica, Newfoundland (did not join Canadian Confederation until 1949), New Zealand, Palestine, Poland, South Africa and 11 citizens from the U.S.A.
Cheers,
Tom Walsh.
Data from Key Publishing Limited
Fri Mar 02, 2012 6:41 am
And for some of them, the escaping from the occupied zone was a real "odyssee".
I don't remember their names, but two Belgians restored a plane (Stampe I think) secretly and take off from the garden of a castle in the night to reach the UK.
Without real instruments and with the hight risk to be shot down by both the Germans and the RAF.
They crash landed in the south of UK and after spending few weeks answering questions (At this time each people coming from the occupied area was suspected to be a german spy) they joigned the RAF.
I think there is a book about this story but I never found it.
Fri Mar 02, 2012 9:57 am
Interesting stuff! My aunt's father, Stanislaw Lapka, flew in 302 Sq, the other Polish unit which took part in the Battle. He later went on to command the squadron, and survived the war. I remember meeting him when I was a child, and he was a fascinating chap, but I would loved to have talked to him as an adult. One thing I do know is that the scene in the movie, Battle of Britain, where one of the Polish pilots parachutes into a field only to be mistaken as a German and marched off by the farmers with a pitch fork up his backside was taken directly from his own experiences. Always brings a laugh when I see that...
Cheers,
Richard