Spitfires and Hurricane honour the Few
THREE Spitfires and a Hurricane staged a flypast marking the Battle of Britain’s 80th anniversary yesterday after the first socially distanced memorial service at Westminster Abbey.
Only 79 guests attended the service, which usually attracts around 2,000 people, to commemorate the heroism and sacrifice of The Few – the pilots and aircrew who saved Britain from a Nazi invasion.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer were among those allowed to attend, along with Marshal of the Royal Air Force Lord Stirrup, who was representing Prince Charles.
Organisers said the service was “reduced in stature but not in spirit” and was the Abbey’s first service since lockdown.
Guests wore face masks, although those giving readings were allowed to remove them before doing so, and each chair was spaced two metres apart to allow social distancing.
Protective plastic screens separated the north and south transepts.
Mr Johnson, along with the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Mike Wigston, gave readings, while an address was given by the Chaplain in Chief, the Venerable Air Vice Marshal John Ellis, who drew comparisons between the Battle of Britain and the efforts of NHS staff and other key workers in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
Quiet
He said: “Once again there have been sacrifices made, often quiet, often humble, unnoticed by many.
“Although starkly different events, each of them has two things that are so important for our humanity – service and value.
“We have seen the selfless giving to a greater cause.”
Led by Dr David Hoyle, the Dean of Westminster Abbey, the service included an act of remembrance, during which the Battle of Britain Roll of Honour bearing the names of 1,497 pilots and aircrew killed or mortally wounded in the battle was carried through the church.
This was followed by a procession of flags, readings, prayers and music by the Band of the Royal Air Force Regiment and singing by the church choir.
Around 50 members of the public gathered outside in the sunshine to watch the flypast over the Abbey at the end of the service.
Although the battle over the skies of southeast England took place between July and October, September
15 is commemorated as Battle of Britain Day as it saw the RAF gain a decisive victory over the Luftwaffe in Nazi Germany’s largest daylight attack.
Some 1,120 Luftwaffe aircraft were sent to attack London, but were repelled by just 630 RAF fighters. Two days later Hitler postponed his plans to invade Britain.
Westminster Abbey has held a service of thanksgiving and rededication on Battle of Britain Sunday every year since 1944.
Commemorations have been limited this year because of coronavirus restrictions, but a variety of tributes took place across the UK, including special exhibitions from the Imperial War Museum and the addition of several new sites to the National Heritage List. Last week, on Battle of Britain Day, former RAF pilot George Dunn also watched Spitfires and Hurricanes in a flypast at Biggin Hill in Kent.
George, 97, of Saltdean, near Brighton, recalled: “Watching the dogfights was really something. All these aircraft up there and realising that people were going to get killed but being young I was thinking: ‘ I wouldn’t mind having some of that.’
“So I volunteered. We realised the future of the nation was at stake.”