Battle of Britain 75th Anniversary and "Repeat please!"

Today is the anniversary of the start of "The Battle of Britain".  A flypast of RAF Second World War and modern war planes took place over Buckingham Place.  Six surviving pilots joined the Queen for the display and her fellow war veteran husband, 94 year old Prince Philip, said a rude word about a photographer.  

Some 3000 aircrew fought for Britain's survival during the Battle, 20% were from the British Dominions and occupied European or neutral countries; 544 RAF Fighter Command pilots were killed and 2,500 German Luftwaffe aircrew were killed.

This clip from the film, Battle of Britain, is one of my favourites long before Polish plumbers became a political issue. Lest we forget those who fought and died for us in our long hours of need.

Berlin 1939 and Berlin 1945

My late father (another John Gray) carried out his national service in the RAF in Germany 1947-1948 as a Aircraft Technician.

I picked up an envelope of postcards and photos he had collected during this time from my sister Lucy during the New Year holiday.

I had remembered that he had a set of postcards titled "1939 Berlin 1945". In this set were photos of prominent and historic buildings in Berlin before the War and after. As a child looking at these cards I can remember being horrified by the devastation.

My father wrote on the inside of the pack "I spent a weekend in Berlin while based at RAF Gatow. The photo's speak for themselves. Thank God we didn't lose the War".

(click on collage to bring up detail)

Nightingales and Lancaster Bombers

I've just watched "Bomber Boys" on BBC 1 which you can watch here on BBC IPlayer. Featuring the actor Ewan McGregor and his brother Colin (who was a RAF fighter pilot during the first Iraq war). The programme was pretty moving and made a genuine attempt to explain the total war carnage in Coventry and Dresden as well as the great sacrifice of the RAF Bomber Command during World War Two.

When I was younger I was a member of the Air Training Corp in Holywell, North Wales. One of our ATC officers had been a Lancaster Bomber crew member and had been shot down over the North Sea during his first mission. He was rescued but spent the rest of the war in a German Prison camp. A few years ago there was a Newham Labour Party picnic on Wanstead Flats. One of the Party members who turned up had served in bomber command and had survived 30 Lancaster missions. I really don't know for certain but I think both of them would have thought that the mass bombing of Germany was right. 

This genuine video recording is from 1942. BBC sound engineers were recording the sound of Nightingales in the Countryside when hundreds of RAF Bombers flew overhead on route to attack Germany.

Listen and weep.

Hat tip Captain Swing.

Captain Frederick John Matthews MC: Royal Naval Division

This is the scanned picture of my Teid (my Welsh maternal grandfather) which I received yesterday morning.  In the beginning of the First World War there were too many volunteers for the Royal Navy. So Winston Churchill created the Royal Naval Division which fought on land but retained Naval ranks and traditions.  

"It was regarded as a highly efficient fighting force and played a prominent part in some of the bloodiest battles of the war".

Teid had volunteered to join the Navy in 1915 and was sent to the RND.  He eventually became a Captain (temporary wartime commission RNVR). He fought in Gallipoli and on the Western front in the First World War. In 1917 he was awarded a Military Cross for attacking and capturing a German Machine Gun post and taking 40 prisoners.

After the War he became a Regular Warrant Officer in the Royal Welch Fusiliers and in the Second World War he was a Warrant officer in the Royal Air Force.  So he served in all three Armed Services.  I was 9 when he died in 1971.

This picture is important to me.  I have waited a long time to get a copy.  It was obviously displayed in pride of place in my grandparents' home in Denbigh, North Wales.  Together with the actual Military Cross and the Certificate of Honour from his hometown of Abercarn.  All my (seven) maternal aunties and uncles also had copies displayed prominently in their homes.  I am sure that many families can relate to this experience.

However, equally important to the Mathews family, Teid, was also known as someone who would stand up for ordinary people in the local community.  Someone who write and send letters to Landlords, employers, the Bank, the Council or whoever - on behalf of those who could not express themselves in this way.

In our family we took pride in him representing ordinary working people as well in his bravery in Battle.