Battle of Britain: for me it is about courage

It’s been 75 years since The Battle of Britain. Given that my daughter thinks the 1990s were the ‘olden days’, this is quite some time. Yet still we remember it, and rightly so. Not only because it’s important to honour those who sacrificed themselves for us, but because of the enduring legacy the Battle has left behind, and because it’s message is still relevant today. For me it is about courage. Courage to do what is right, even when doing so is difficult. Courage to overcome our fears, even to risk our lives. Courage to put aside personal need in the service of a higher cause.

We have all known fear in one way or another. Mine usually takes the form of heights. My children relentlessly pressed me to go on a ridiculous amusement park ride called Atmosfear; which is composed of swings that dangle at the end of a thin wire 70 meters off the ground, in which you are then flung around in a circle at 70 km per hour. It should be renamed Insanity. For weeks I resisted. Then thinking I’d found a cunning way out I suggested we go zip lining. Yet even then, standing on the edge of a deep crevasse, hanging on the end of another thin wire, my fear returned. It took a friendly, yet firmer than necessary, pat on the back from my guide to launch me into the air. I did it, and for a moment I was proud. (I am never going on Atmosfear though.)

We have all have felt similar emotions at different times. Standing on stage at a primary school concert ready to sing a solo, or worse, watching our children as they are about to. Flying a plane for the first time. Going to see the boss when we know we’ve just lost a client. But we carry on anyway. As Nelson Mandela said, “Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.”

Yet despite this, when I try to picture what the pilots who fought in the battle of Britain endured, when I try to comprehend their courage, when I try to understand the relentlessness of their fight – I find it barely imaginable. It is almost impossible to compare our daily existence with their experience. Day and night, through weeks and months of exhaustion, they climbed into Hurricanes and Spitfires; knowing they may well be shot down and killed at any moment. They did so, in many cases I am sure, realising that in their hands lay not only the outcome of the war, but the fate of nations. No pressure then.

If that sounds over-dramatic, let me quote from Winston Churchill, who spoke with his usual remarkable prescience, on 18 June 1940, approximately a month before the battle began: “Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age…

And who achieved this remarkable act of courage? Fewer than 3000 pilots flew in the Battle of Britain, around 100 of them Canadian. Pilots also came from Poland and Czechoslovakia, from Australia and New Zealand, from Belgium, France and many other countries besides. Of course along-side the pilots were the trainers, ground crews and engineers, who worked tirelessly to ensure victory. But even when we consider all of them, it remains true that so very few people indeed were at the heart of this turning point in our history.

So in my mind, the legacy of this Battle goes even beyond our shared past and the liberty we have enjoyed since then. The Battle of Britain is also a tangible reminder that we can stand together as an alliance of free nations and overcome the most determined of adversaries. It is a calling still relevant today. It is also a legacy that reminds us of the need, from time to time, to find the courage to stand up for what is right. Security challenges continue to face our military and security personnel in many places around the world. Our thoughts should be with them and their families. Nor should we forget all the soldiers, sailors, airmen and women, who died not only during the Battle of Britain and throughout World War II, but in other previous and on-going conflicts. Their values, determination, and courage, will not be forgotten. We continue to owe so much to those few.