The Few

[Smithy]

Seeing as we're nearing the passing of all of these very special men into history and because it also happens to be my favourite subject when it comes to air warfare, I thought it was highly overdue for a thread for photos and images of The Few. Nothing fancy, just photos of those 3,000 odd men who in the summer of 1940 stopped the Luftwaffe hordes from gaining air superiority over Britain. Without them Britain would almost certainly at the least have had to sue for peace with the Nazi regime or eventually endured invasion. They saved not only Britain but arguably Europe, if not the world.

I have a silly amount of books on this, and a mound of unpublished photos from correspondence with various members of The Few. Hopefully as this thread progresses and if it's popular I'll endeavour to scan and post some of these unseen ones, but I urge others to post what images you have and what you find, even just trawling around on the internet so this can be VLJ's little nod to that summer in 1940 and those from Fighter Command who did so much to protect Britain.



B Flight, 85 Sqn, Castle Camps, early July 1940. Only two men from this picture survived the war and one of them was the squadron medical officer, so non-flying.

B Flight, 32 Sqn, Hawkinge, 29th July 1940

Brian Lane, 19 Sqn, after a sortie, summer 1940. He is only 23 in this image but the strain of combat flying makes him appear much older

Keith Gillman, 32 Sqn. He was lost over the Channel less than 4 weeks after this photo was taken.

610 Sqn outside A Flight dispersal, Hawkinge, July 1940

That should get the ball rolling, more to come...

 

[Micawber]

Lest We Forget.

Thanks Tim.

 

[Lorenzo_l]

That's a great idea Tim. That picture of Brian Lane, together with squadron mates Walter 'Farmer' Lawson George 'Grumpy Unwin, is iconic in that Lane epitomizes the strain that Fighter Command pilots were under during the Battle of Britain.

This Picture of Geoffrey Wellum and Brian Kingcome is one of my favourites:

They are smiling for the camera, but you still can see the fatigue in their faces...

 

[Smithy]

This Picture of Geoffrey Wellum and Brian Kingcome is one of my favourites:

They both also wrote terrific memoirs of their experiences. Geoff's is arguably the better and will undoubtedly - and deservedly - become a classic, but Brian's captures his wonderfully dry charm.

 

[Lorenzo_l]

Another nice shot of Flight Sergeant George "Grumpy" Unwin, of No. 19 Squadron:

Unwin claimed three aerial kills during the Battle of France and a further ten during the Battle of Britain.

 

[John Lever]

In action.

 

[B-Man2]

Polish Pilots of the 303 Squadron with Gabby Gabreski 3rd from left.

 

[Smithy]

Polish Pilots of the 303 Squadron with Gabby Gabreski 3rd from left.
View attachment 32905

Nice image Burt but that's taken long after the Battle of Britain, probably about 4 years later ;-)

 

[Smithy]

James McArthur of 609 Sqn thumping an He111, 25th September.

 

[Micawber]

James McArthur of 609 Sqn thumping an He111, 25th September.

A still from his gun camera footage which can be seen from 4.55 in the clip below. if memory serves me right the buggers had just dumped their loads on an an aircraft factory in the west - may be Bristol but memory is hazy so would need to check so don't shoot me if I'm wrong.

 

[Smithy]

A still from his gun camera footage which can be seen from 4.55 in the clip below. if memory serves me right the buggers had just dumped their loads on an an aircraft factory in the west - may be Bristol but memory is hazy so would need to check so don't shoot me if I'm wrong.

Well done Steve. It was the aeronautical works at Filton (which made Blenheims and engines for several different aircraft), just a stone's throw from Bristol. AVM Brand of 10 Group had thought the raid was tasked for the Westland works at Yeovil and had scrambled 3 squadrons to cover it and as a result the works in Filton were unprotected and got plastered with 250 casualties on the ground. The He111s are from KG55 and the unit lost 4 aircraft in the raid, 3 crashing over England and the fourth crashing at Caen on landing and was written off.

 

[Smithy]

Shame that Søren no longer hangs around here as he would love this, a very famous image that ran in Life, the South African ace Albert "Zulu" Lewis of 85 Sqn.

Søren actually wrote a book on Zulu and self published it with only a handful of copies, I was one of the lucky ones who he gave a copy to!

 

[Smithy]

Here's one of my very favourite images and some might recognise it as my avatar from awhile back.

An unknown Sgt Pilot from 610 Sqn, July 1940.

 

[Micawber]

Here's one of my very favourite images and some might recognise it as my avatar from awhile back.

An unknown Sgt Pilot from 610 Sqn, July 1940.

The engine's overheating and so am I. Either we stand down or blow up. Now which do you want?

 

[Smithy]

Another wonderful image, a Spit of 19 Sqn having just landed from a sortie is immediately being rearmed and about to be refuelled. This is when numerous raids are en route to Britain on the plotting table and this aircraft which has just been in combat is having to be made ready for combat again as soon as possible. If you look at the patches over the wing guns you'll see they have holes in them showing that this aircraft was in combat and had fired its guns in anger. You can even see the gun stains on the lower wing edge.

 

[Smithy]

Probably the most special photo I can post here for me personally.

Thomas Wood Savage of B Flight, 64 Sqn. This is scanned from my grandmother's photo album.

 

[Smithy]

And a very rare actual scramble photo. This was not staged for the cameras like many were.

64 Sqn as well but before Thomas was posted to them.

 

[Lorenzo_l]

Probably the most special photo I can post here for me personally.

Thomas Wood Savage of B Flight, 64 Sqn. This is scanned from my grandmother's photo album.

Was he a relative of yours, Tim?

 

[Smithy]

Was he a relative of yours, Tim?

Yes he was Lorenzo, Tom or "Doc" as his nickname was (it came from Doc Savage Man of Bronze a popular cartoon thing at the time and Tom was a big muscular bloke) flew with 64 towards the end of the Battle of Britain. He was posted to 92 Sqn where he flew with them until he was killed - shot down by friendly fire from a British ship during the invasion of Sicily. He flew as Neville Duke's wingman for a time in North Africa with 92 and I have quite a bit about him from talking with Neville. Not blowing my own trumpet about Tom but Neville said he was "easily the best pilot he had flown with and also the most aggressive."

 

[Lorenzo_l]

Yes he was Lorenzo, Tom or "Doc" as his nickname was (it came from Doc Savage Man of Bronze a popular cartoon thing at the time and Tom was a big muscular bloke) flew with 64 towards the end of the Battle of Britain. He was posted to 92 Sqn where he flew with them until he was killed - shot down by friendly fire from a British ship during the invasion of Sicily. He flew as Neville Duke's wingman for a time in North Africa with 92 and I have quite a bit about him from talking with Neville. Not blowing my own trumpet about Tom but Neville said he was "easily the best pilot he had flown with and also the most aggressive."

First off, I am sorry to hear about your loss, Tim. What a story. To have a relative who flew and fought in the BoB and not only discuss him personally with none other than Neville Duke, but also hear from him that he was the best pilot he had flown with. A story to be proud of. No wonder the subject of the BoB is so close to your heart....