Battle of Britain/ Blitz series of UK progs (2 Viewers)

[Rob]

Thanks Mitch

Rob

 

[Rob]

First light was good last night. Sad to hear Jeoffrey Wellum eventually had a complete nervous breakdown after months of daily fighting and the loss of many comrades, he stated in the docu that he is still struggling with the trauma and memories. We owe him and all his colleagues so much that I don't think I could ever say it enough, thank you.

Three B.O.B progs on the Military Channel look good today (thanks for the heads up Mitch) Battlefield detectives, The Lost evidence, 13 Hours that saved Britain. There is also a three pt Battle of Britain series .

Rob

 

[Mitch]

What I find remarkable is that these 'heroes' pardon themselves for their emotion and percieved weakness when shedding tears etc for their mates but, they have no need IMO to apologize for their bravery and strength means I can yak like this about trivia with like minded people.

Nothing but the utmost admiration for everyone of them and, the programmes to date have been a fitting tribute to them
Mitch

 

[Rob]

What I find remarkable is that these 'heroes' pardon themselves for their emotion and percieved weakness when shedding tears etc for their mates but, they have no need IMO to apologize for their bravery and strength means I can yak like this about trivia with like minded people.

Nothing but the utmost admiration for everyone of them and, the programmes to date have been a fitting tribute to them
Mitch

I do agree, BBC,ITV,Yesterday and the Military channel are all doing a fine job and serving us up loads of excellent progs this summer, a very nice tv tribute.

Also agree about the admiration, respect, and gratitude I have for all the RAF Pilots and ground crew, myself and my wife were just saying last night after watching First Light, we only live the free and happy life we do because of those few brave men in their aircraft.

Rob

 

[uksubs]

Rob[/QUOTE]
Also agree about the admiration, respect, and gratitude I have for all the RAF Pilots and ground crew, myself and my wife were just saying last night after watching First Light, we only live the free and happy life we do because of those few brave men in their aircraft.

Very well put Rod & totally agree
The only down side to me was the way Hugh Dowding was treated after the battle

 

[Rob]

Any of you guys watching 'fighting the Blue' ?. Its contains scenes from the Battle of Britain, reconstructions and interviews from pilots involved. Quite enjoyable so far.

Rob

 

[Mitch]

They have been good but, to be honest I could have watched three hours of memories etc from the surviving pilots alone. These have been the highlights for me.
Mitch

 

[Rob]

Yes, am watching '13 Hrs that saved Britain' now, which along with film footage has lots of Pilot and Civilians testaments, and its pretty moving to be honest.

Rob

 

[Mitch]

I have so much recorded and more is coming that I am having trouble fitting it in. Two more left then onto what you are currently veiwing. Its not a real trouble if I am honest though!!!
Mitch

 

[Rob]

I have so much recorded and more is coming that I am having trouble fitting it in. Two more left then onto what you are currently veiwing. Its not a real trouble if I am honest though!!!
Mitch

Me too, so far I've got about roughly sixteen hours of stuff taped with loads more to come.13 hours was very good, next up Battlefield Detectives.


Tommorow is seventy years since Hitler was forced to cancel Operation Sealion, the Luftwaffe had had such a mauling they could not sustain the losses any longer.And although there was much more bombing to come and five years more War, it was Hitlers first defeat and the start of the long road to Victory. I don't think I will ever be able to express my gratitude enough, we stood up to Hitler on our own ground and won, god bless every one of them. Goering got a huge shock because he thought bombing civilians and Tanks in France and Poland was the same as taking on the Royal Air force with brave determined pilots with excellent aircraft, a huge error of judgement.

Rob

 

[Mitch]

Just finished watching the building of the wellington bomber as a world record. Very interesting.

13 hours next. Cannot agree more about the mauling we gave Hitler and his Luftwaffe he could never have beaten us with the spirit and courage that has been clearly shown to the world in these documentaries
Mitch

 

[Rob]

Battlefield Detctives is really good, it looks at strengths and weaker elements of the Spit and ME109, tactics and air defences. It shows how important the E shape fighter Pens were and how the Observer corp were so vital. The programme concludes that the victory is not down to just the Spitfire or the Hurricane, neither to Hitler switching tactis to bombing London. After running computer programmes charting losses on both sides it comes to this conclusion. It states that the whole Luftwaffe plan was doomed to failure and marred by arrogant self confidence. It says the vital element in the victory were the huge losses on a daily basis suffered by the Nazi's whilst they underestimated the strength of the RAF. The RAF were receiving 250 aircraft a week and growing stronger all the time. It was this, combined with radar, the Observer Corp and of course the bravery of our pilots that won the battle for Britain. It also says right at the end that during the trial at Nuremberg a senior Luftwaffe officer was asked was it at Stalingrad you first realised Germany would not win the war, no he replied, it was during the Battle of Britain.

Rob

 

[aujj65]

250 aircraft a week is quite a major feat....and a Wellington Bomber made in just 24 hours! I've learnt a lot over the past week....we take a lot for granted now a days.

Jeff

 

[Rob]

250 aircraft a week is quite a major feat....and a Wellington Bomber made in just 24 hours! I've learnt a lot over the past week....we take a lot for granted now a days.

Jeff

Me too Jeff. Its very interesting to see how all the factors came together to help win the Battle. In the Battlefield Detectives programme today the computer model showed that if the Luftwaffe had kept up its attacks not only would the RAF not have been destroyed but the Luftwaffe would have been all but destroyed ,such were the losses, thus making the invasion of Russia almost impossible. It also showed the German escort pilots had phsycological stress from the outset as they constantly had one eye on the fuel gauge as they dare not run out of fuel over Britain or even worse over the English Channel. The bomber crews had even more stress as by the time they got to London the ME's were turning for home, the bombers then had to turn alone and face the Spitfires that were now attacking in larger numbers.

They also had some good experiments that showed how good those E shaped Fighter Pens were. And there was another problem for the Luftwaffe, those Pens made it much more difficult to either bomb or machine gun our fighters on the ground, in France and Poland aircraft had been lined up in nice rows as sitting ducks, but suddenly it was not so easy over England.

It was simply too big a task for an airforce to subdue a country the size of Britain and take on a well prepared Royal Air force who were taking delivery of 250 planes a week, all these factors plus Goerings absurd confidence and boasting, doomed operation sealion from the start.

From the pilots,to the ground crew, from Radar operators to the Observer Corp every single person played their part in the victory.

Rob

 

[Rob]

Well I've just read some very good news. A contract has just been signed that will mean Bentley Priory in Middlesex, Dowdings HQ and hub of fighter command is going to be turned into a Battle of Britain museum. Will keep you updated.

And its only about 45 mins from where I live!

Rob

 

[Mitch]

That first defeat which, we argued not so long back with some forum members showed the world the germans could be beaten and, allowed us to go on the attack in the ways at that time we could but, I maintain that we beat them good and proper and, paved the way to may 1945.
Mitch

 

[Rob]

That first defeat which, we argued not so long back with some forum members showed the world the germans could be beaten and, allowed us to go on the attack in the ways at that time we could but, I maintain that we beat them good and proper and, paved the way to may 1945.
Mitch

Absolutely right Mitch. It pretty much put the Victory down to two main factors.1. We could see their force building up and where they were headed. 2. The large numbers of Spits and Hurricanes being produced. The Luftwaffe were being attacked day after day by larger and larger numbers of aircraft and were simply losing too many aircraft. The bombing of London was not considered a major factor more of a sideshow to the sheer amount of RAF aircraft. It was our pilots going up there and shooting down their pilots that did it.

Actually on a side note, I was reading recently in James Hollands book (he has a tv prog next week) that German aircraft production was much slower and riddled with problems compared to the British system which appears to have been much slicker and well oiled.This shocked me a bit as its the type of thing you expect the Germans would have been really good at somehow, but I believe infighting and the switching of planning from a heavy bomber to the Stuka caused some problems. And of course we know how badly the Stuka suffered until being withdrawn from the Battle.

The Brits were not only producing 250 a week they were also repairing a greater number of aircraft than the Germans could.

Rob

 

[Mitch]

I think with most dictators a bit of meglamania and, in fighting of the faithful to be the brightest light in a dark circle caused many problems but, not realising that industry needed to be put on a war footing was something we did not need to be told twice and caused the germans dearly. Hitler even at the early stage wanted to poke his nose in and caused programmes to be stoped and then changed and, then started up again. Its amazing they did as well as they did for so long. A prime example is the ME 262 which, everyone who knew what its potential wanted a fighter but, Hitler wanted a fighter bomber.

The result the plane came to late to wreak the havoc it could have caused in the US bomber streams by day.

Also, underestimating the resolve of the english to fight to the end was a massive mistake we had a cause, a goal whatever you want to call it and they did not.
Mitch

 

[Rob]

Just watching the Battle of Britain memorial service attended by Prince Charles. The Royal family were of course very popular during the War because of the Queens insistance they stay in London. The Queen of course had a very close escape during the Battle, whilst in Buckingham Palace a German bomber used the Mall as a aiming run in to the Palace, it was only the pattern of bombs falling that saved her, one fell in the Mall, one inside the gates and another in the Garden, the House itself escaped whilst the Chapel was hit.


In another very well known incident a German bomber also heading up the mall was chased by an RAF Hurricane Pilot, running out of ammo he simply flew his plane into the bomber to stop it hitting the Palace. Balls of steel those guys

Rob

 

[trooper]

Interesting programme yesterday "Spitfire Women", the story of the girls of the Air Transport Auxilliary. Fantastic to hear how they would be flying a Tiger Moth one minute and a Lancaster bomber the next without very much prior instruction on any particular type. Unusual times bring out unusual people. They deserve more recognition than they have received so far.