10 luglio 1940 – Oggi segna l’85 ° anniversario dell’inizio della battaglia della Gran Bretagna. Non dimenticheremo mai il loro coraggio e il loro sacrificio.

About 20% of pilots who took part in the battle were from other countries. The Royal Air Force roll of honour for the Battle of Britain recognises 595 non-British pilots (out of 2,936). These included 145 Poles, 127 New Zealanders, 112 Canadians, 88 Czechoslovaks, 10 Irish, 32 Australians, 28 Belgians, 25 South Africans, 13 French, 9 Americans, 3 Southern Rhodesians and individuals from Jamaica, Barbados and Newfoundland.

Well good

Can’t pass this post by without recommending my favorite BoB book: *The Most Dangerous Enemy, A History of the Battle of Britain*, by Stephen Bungay (2015). A thrilling retelling, but given the topic that’s pretty easy. More interesting is his clear eyed view of the strengths and weaknesses of both sides, with some fascinating data analysis to back up his conclusions about the battle.

Yes his name makes me giggle too, but he wrote one helluva book!

And now people around the world are doing nazi salutes and supporting the far right. It does sadly seem we have forgotten 😢

“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.” I think we’re entering, or in, weak men creating hard times. Most people around today are capable for what was done back then too, but boomer generation got too comfortable, the unofficial spokespeople for the subsequent generation or two got even limper, and here we are.