As an ex-serviceman, but whilst I was still active, I met a man who had been a copper before the war, but Enlisted In THe R.A.F., and he was a Hurricane pilot, I asked what his enduring memory was, he told me You just got weary of being scared all the time, You deaalt with it, But It did wear you down. Heroes every one of them, whatever their Rank, or job

I do love it when Al does his impressions, particularly when they're German.

These videos would be great in a graduate course on organizational decision making. Beautiful work. My aunt spoke of watching dogfights overhead. Unimaginable.

It’s the Canadians who get forgot

The more I watch I believe more and more it was Dowding and Park's brilliance and leadership made such a monumental difference

Both Dowding and Park were underappreciated after the Battle of Britain. They were both backstabbed by Leigh-Mallory and Bader whose egos got in the way of the tactics during the battle.

My Grandfather was awarded the George Medal for his efforts in the docks on September 7th

Just at the 13 minute mark talking about the Poles and it reminds me of one of my favourite WW2 anecdotes. A Polish pilot was shot down over England and parachuted to safety. He got hung up in a tree and surrounded by a bunch of angry looking civlians, including one with a shotgun.

Poor polish lad in his anxiety  blanks on his English and the civilians think he is a German.  In a panic he repeatedly shouts the only English he can remember - "f**k off!". Cue immediate relief as the civlians realise he is a friendly and help him down

outstanding boys yet again.

My old man (16-y-o) was working at Stones Engineering on the river at Charlton on the morning of Black Saturday. He finished his shift, went to the Pub and then walked up the hill to his digs in Couthurst Road, next to Blackheath Rugby Ground. He turned at the top of the hill to see a black cloud in the distance as the sirens went off, which was the first wave. He went straight down the air raid shelter in the back garden. Timing.
Coupled with my future Father-in-law (Royal Sussex Regiment) escaping Dunkirk a couple of months earlier, I would say the chances of my son being around today as very slim.

I have a friend who brought a Rhine river barge over the channel to set up as a rather grand houseboat. Given its lack of seaworthiness he had to wait weeks for a viable weather window. The idea that the Nazis could have transported and supplied an army with these vessels at that time of year in the face of RN and RAF attacks, active mine laying, shore batteries and prepared defences was deeply delusional.

I LOVE this series , Al is good fun, but James has the total knowledge

My dad (501. squadron) said they were all on their knees until the Germans switched to bombing London.

On the Seventh of September my father was still a civilian. He was a trained State Registered Nurse having qualified just that year. ( I presume it was sometime in late spring or early summer the Nursing council results came out) Dad was working as a male nurse in the east end at a mental hospital, it is still there but no longer a hospital. It was somewhere east of the Royal London Hospital. He was living in Handley Road just off of Victoria Park Road on the Hackney / Bethnal Green border, with his parents, sister and his wife and my eldest brother who was about 30 month old. He told me he had finished his shift in the early afternoon and was walking home heading for Old Ford and across Victoria Park when the Luftwaffe bombers began to come over, some having already attacked  the docks others I think were targeting civilian infrastructur e. ( I can't exactly remember what dad said as this conversation happened over 60 years ago and my memory is a little hazy now. I know it prompted dad to volunteer for RAF service as a trained nurse rather than wait to be conscripted so that's what he did I believe a few days later.  He was inducted into RAF Service as a trained nurse in early November 1940. He saw service here in the UK until D day+7 when his unit went as the very first RAF Mobile field hospital (Number 50MFH) on to the continent of Europe. He went through the Low Countries and into Northern Germany up to the Danish border. He came home to be demobbed in February of 1946.

Absolute enjoyment anyone with a big understanding will love this thank you both

Wonderful job!! Loving this series!!

On Black Saturday, my mother was with a couple of neighbours in the Boleyn Odeon cinema.  At first they thought there was a thunderstorm until the film stopped and the manager came out to tell them about the raid.  They were encouraged to stay until the raid ended and walking home they could see down the road an enormous pall of smoke over the docks area.  On the Monday after she had to travel across London to work and it took her until midday.  She was so upset with seeing the damage on route that they gave her lunch and sent her back home

They are a good double act

An early memory from my childhood in Cranham UK was waking up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. Mum and Dad were up already.  UXO had blown up in a nearby field. The entire neighborhood was in the street of terrace row houses wearing pajamas and remembering the blitz. We played in bomb craters.

As a side move, could you two have a look at the brilliant NZ-born plastic surgeon Archibald McIndoe, and his work in restoring pilots (especially Hurricane pilots) faces and hands. And his enduring legacy with the Guinea Pig Club and plastic surgery? Arohanui from a No1 fan in NZ! His mentor Harold Gillies (also NZ-born and trained) was a pioneer in the First World War, who continued his work between the wars.. Both men were graduates of NZ's Otago University Medical School.