xplanes:

Battle of Britain

“Shown up clearly by the sun, and stretching fore and aft as far as the eye could see were rows of 109s riding above the haze, each row flying in line astern and well spaced out - all of them heading south south-east. It was a fantastic sight..

..Tracers passed above and below, curving downwards and giving the impression of flying in a gigantic cage of gilt wire”

Squadron Leader Tom Gleave, 253 Squadron, August 30th 1940.

“He gave the first Bf 109 a four-second burst and saw his bullets hitting the engine. He saw the Perspex of the hood shatter into fragments that sparkled in the sunlight. The Bf 109 rolled onto its back, slewed, and then dropped, nose down, to the earth. Another enemy aircraft came into his sights. Gleave turned with him, firing bullets that brought black smoke from the wings before the Bf 109 dropped vertically, still smoking. Gleave narrowly missed colliding with his third victim, and then gave him a three-second burst as the Messerschmitt pulled ahead and turned into the gunfire. The cockpit seemed empty; the pilot slumped forward out of sight. The Messerschmitt fell. The German pilots were trying to maintain formation and by now there was so much gunfire curving through the air that Gleave had the impression of flying through a gigantic golden bird-cage. A fourth Messerschmitt passed slightly above Gleave, and he turned and climbed to fire into the underside of its fuselage. But after two or three seconds’ firing Gleave heard the ominous clicking that told him he had used up all his bullets. But already the fourth victim was mortally hit, and rolled on its back before falling away.

In spite of his age and rank, Gleave possessed the one quality that distinguished the ace pilots on both sides. It was something more important than flying skill, more important than keen eyesight, even more important than quick reaction times and the ability to “aim off” for the correct deflection. Such men as Gleave had the nerve to fly on collision courses (that forward-facing guns require) very, very close to the enemy. Gleave was 175 yards from his first victim (very close by 1940 standards) and 120 yards from the second one. But the third and fourth Messerschmitts were hit from only 60 and 75 yards respectively. At such close quarters the eight machine guns did terrible damage.” (via)

(painting by Tim Prosser, via)

We can be heroes just for one day…

Today is Battle of Britain day, please support the RAF Benevolent Fund’s 1940 Chronicle Day of Action.

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windsweptribbons:

bunnymitford:

1940, Girls sleeping in the underground passages and dressing rooms at the Windmill Theatre during the London blitz.

(via periil-deactivated20110516)

chinabanana:

It’s Blitz[!]

kiyo:

Tuesday

lindaboucher:

This is a map of Brighton… the black dots are where bombs hit the town.

One of them is right where I am sitting typing this.

The long line of black dots on the right of the map… that was/is one of the poorest parts of town. There’s nothing there worth destroying from a strategic point of view.

Well, Amex is there now… but it wasn’t then.

Anyways. I like maps. Even if they represent such a nasty part of history as this.

You can read a bit about Brighton during WWII here

And see the map in full here