Poignant Day

Today is 75 years since the victorious Battle of Britain when pilots in Spitfires and Hurricanes fought for victory against the Luftwaffe.

At just before 2pm this afternoon the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight flew over my office in Tunbridge Wells.

I heard the familiar sound of the Rolls Royce Merlin engines approaching and caught a glimpse of the aircraft from the window as they flew over. It was a poignant moment as I thought about how my grandparents and great grandparents would've felt on that day, although it's unlikely any of them witnessed it.

My paternal grandfather was serving as an engineer in the RAF out in North Africa at the time while my paternal grandmother was serving in the Army based out of Greenock in Scotland. My maternal grandfather was posted in India in the Army while my maternal grandmother was a young evacuee in Weymouth.

The only relatives that may have witnessed the aircraft overhead might have been my maternal great grandfather Bob who lived in London and my paternal great grandfather Charlie who was in the Land Army in Little Hadam village in Hertfordshire (where my dad grew up).

I don't have any photographs of the Spitfire flypast today so here is a photograph of two of my favourite books on the theme of the role the heroic pilots played in World War Two; Geoffrey Wellum's First Light and Giles Whittell's Spitfire Women about the brave ATA pilots who ferried aircraft all over Britain in all weathers. Highly recommend both.

The Battle of Britain victory - 15th September 1940.