The Thirty Seventh of my 40 donations goes to the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust. The Battle of Britain Memorial includes the Christopher Foxley-Norris Memorial Wall at Capel-le-Ferne. The Memorial wall lists the names of all the aircrew known to have flown with a recognised squadron during the Battle of Britain, which took place between 10 July and 31 October 1940 – just under 3,000 men in total.
Sponsoring one of the names on the wall allows you to form a special bond with one of the individuals who flew to preserve the Freedom of the United Kingdom in 1940.
Coincidentally, you can sponsor one of those names for a donation of just £40!
I posted this today as the 15th September is also known as Battle of Britain Day, an annual commemoration of the battle in the United Kingdom. The 15th of September date is significant as a large-scale aerial battle (some say the climax of the Battle of Britain) took place on the 15th September 1940; the German defeat proved to be a turning point in the whole war.
The wall is named in tribute to the late Air Chief Marshal Sir Christopher Foxley-Norris, a Hurricane fighter pilot in 1940. He was the first President of the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust and, together with Lady Foxley-Norris, provided the funds that allowed plans for the wall to go ahead.
By sponsoring a name on the wall, I will receive a commemorative folder containing a certificate marking my donation and a copy of my airman’s entry in ‘Men of the Battle of Britain’, the recognised guide to the men who took part in the RAF’s critical defence of England’s shores.
I will update this post with the details of who my chosen Airman is and hopefully, some of his story.
I was honoured to be invited to attend an event to recognise the 81st Anniversary of the Battle of Britain and remember those who served and sacrificed everything between 10th July and 31st October 1940 to defend England from German invasion during the Second World War.
The Battle of Britain was the first major military campaign fought entirely by air forces, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany’s air force, the Luftwaffe.
I’m proud and in awe of my forebears who served during the Second World War, in the Navy, the Fleet Air Arm and Royal Air Force.
Love and respect – thank you (my Grandfather with his siblings)
In the late 1930s and early 1940 Germany made significant progress invading Europe and once France had surrendered, the British troops that remained on the continent had to be evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk.
The then Prime Minister Winston Churchill addressed the the House of Commons on 18 June 1940 with a now famous speech, where he determined:
“What General Weygand called the ‘Battle of France’ is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin.”
This is where the Battle of Britain takes its name from.
On 16 July 1940, Hitler ordered the preparation of Operation Sea Lion as a potential amphibious and airborne assault on Britain, to follow once the Luftwaffe had air superiority over the Channel.
However, the Luftwaffe’s failure to overwhelm the RAF forced Hitler to postpone and eventually cancel Operation Sea Lion.
Historian Stephen Bungay cited Germany’s failure to destroy Britain’s air defences to force an armistice (or even an outright surrender) as the first major German defeat in the Second World War and a crucial turning point in the conflict.
The airmen who took to the skies in 1940 left the United Kingdom with a legacy of freedom. The RAF, in preventing a Nazi invasion during the Battle of Britain, preserved a way of life and kept the shores of Britain clear so that it could be used as a launchpad for re-taking Europe in 1944.
Winston Churchill payed tribute to the enormous efforts made by the fighter pilots and bomber crews to establish air superiority over England when he stated:
By H.M. Stationery Office – This World War II poster was taken from the uploader’s own collection. A lower resolutio version of the same poster is available at https://www.mplib.org/wpdb/index.asp?exact=MPW00376 where the publisher information is provided as follows “Printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Lowe & Brydon Printers, Ltd”. This implies that the copyright holder is HMSO or, in other words, it is Crown Copyright. As this poster is more than 50 years old, it is now in the public domain., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35330825
Another famous Winston Churchill quote from his speech in the House of Commons on 18 June 1940 is:
