The “light blue” uniforms were on full display at the High Commission’s annual Battle of Britain Day commemoration this week. Two Royal Australian Air Force Air Marshals were present – Vice Chief of the Defence Force Mark Binskin and Chief of Air Force Geoff Brown – together with a range of serving military personnel and veterans.
My Air Adviser Wing Commander Tony Bull, a pilot himself, gave a moving speech about those few months from July-October 1940 when the Royal Air Force stood between Britain and the tyranny which had overwhelmed much of Europe. It was the period about which Winston Churchill was to remark “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few”.
Tony pointed out that the RAF crews who made up “the few” included Australians, New Zealanders and those from other nations. He went on to talk about the involvement of Australian airmen and women in Bomber Command during WWII, and the very high casualty rate they endured: 3,486 of the 10,000 RAAF personnel involved. He referred to the Lancaster Bomber, G for George, one of the most popular exhibits at the National War Memorial in Canberra.