The Few

Dowding with "The Few"

The Few is a term used to describe the Allied airmen of the Royal Air Force (RAF) who fought the Battle of Britain in the Second World War. It comes from Winston Churchill's phrase "Never, in the field of human conflict, was so much owed by so many to so few".

The pilots

Main article: List of RAF aircrew in the Battle of Britain

Nearly 3,000 men were awarded the Battle of Britain Clasp. As of 2009, there were fewer than 90 alive.

By one tally, British RAF aircrew numbered 2,353 (80%) of the total of 2,927 flyers involved, with 407 Britons killed from of a total of 510 losses. The remainder were from other former colonies of the British Empire (particularly New Zealand, Canada, Australia and South Africa), as well as exiles from many conquered European nations; in particular, there were several squadrons composed of men from Poland, Czechoslovakia and Belgium. Other countries supplying smaller numbers included France, Ireland and the USA.

The statistics

The Battle of Britain was considered officially by the RAF to have been fought between 10 July and 31 October 1940.

• RAF pilots claimed to have shot down about 2,600 German aircraft, but figures compiled later suggest that Luftwaffe losses were more likely nearer 2,300.
• Of 2,332 Allied pilots who flew fighters in the Battle, 38.85 percent could claim some success in terms of enemy aircraft shot down.
• The number of pilots claiming more than one victory amounted to no more than 15 per cent of the total RAF pilots involved.
• To be proclaimed an "ace" a pilot had to have five confirmed victories. During the Battle of Britain just 188 RAF pilots achieved that distinction - eight per cent of the total involved. A further 233 of those RAF pilots claiming successes during the Battle became "aces" later in the war.
• There were two pilots who were "ace in a day" in the Battle of Britain: Antoni Glowacki, a Polish pilot, and Brian Carbury, a New Zealand pilot.

Leading Aces

The leading Aces of the Battle of Britain (between 10 July and 31 October 1940) were:

Rank	Pilot	Nationality	Squadron	Aircraft	Kills	Notes
1	Plt Off Eric Lock	United Kingdom	41	Spitfire	21	Total 26 kills. KIA 3 August 1941.
2	Sgt James Lacey	United Kingdom	501	Hurricane	18 (23 by end of November)	Total 28 kills.
3	Sgt Josef František	Czechoslovakia	303	Hurricane	17	Killed 8 October 1940.
4	Fg Off Brian Carbury	New Zealand	603	Spitfire	15 + 1/3
5	Flt Lt Archie McKellar	United Kingdom	605	Hurricane	15	Total 15 (possibly 17) + 3 shared. KIA 1 November 1940.
6	Fg Off Witold Urbanowicz	Poland	145 and 303	Hurricane	15	Total 18 (possibly 20) kills.
7	Plt Off Colin Gray	New Zealand	54	Spitfire	14 + 1/2	Total 27.7 kills.
8	Plt Off Bob Doe	United Kingdom	234 and 238	Spitfire / Hurricane	14 (+2 shared)
9	Flt Lt Paterson Hughes	Australia	234	Spitfire	14 + 5/6	KIA 7 Sept 1940.
10	Sqn Ldr Michael Crossley	United Kingdom	32	Hurricane	14	Wartime total 22 victories.

Memorial

The memorial to The Few at Capel-le-Ferne, on top of the white cliffs of Dover...

...which faces towards the English Channel

The pilots are remembered on the Battle of Britain Memorial, Capel-le-Ferne, Kent and their names are listed on the Battle of Britain Monument in London. The Battle of Britain Roll of Honour is held in Westminster Abbey in the RAF Chapel, and is paraded annually during the Service of Thanksgiving and Re-dedication on Battle of Britain Sunday.

There is a preserved Hawker Hurricane fighter aircraft known as "The Last of The Many"—which may be a play on words with "The Few"—that flies as part of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, along with a Supermarine Spitfire that flew in the Battle (one of five Spitfires in the Memorial Flight). As the Hurricane was the last production model of that type, it did not itself fly in the Battle.

Popular culture

Pink Floyd loosely refers to "the Few" on the track, "One of the Few", on their anti-war concept album The Final Cut. The heavy metal band Iron Maiden released a single named Aces High, telling the story of a pilot flying in the Battle of Britain. In 2010 the Swedish power metal band Sabaton recorded a song about the foreign contingent of the Few, on their album Coat of Arms.

The Few, a novel by Alex Kershaw, tells the stories of the men who flew in the Battle of Britain. As of 2003, a Hollywood film similarly named The Few was in preparation for release in 2008, based on the story of real-life US pilot Billy Fiske, who ignored his country's neutrality rules and volunteered for the RAF. A Variety magazine outline of the film's historical content was said in The Independent to have been described by Bill Bond, who conceived the Battle of Britain Monument in London, as "Totally wrong. The whole bloody lot."

See also

• List of RAF aircrew in the Battle of Britain
• David Moore Crook
• Paddy Finucane
• Non-British personnel in the RAF during the Battle of Britain

References

Bibliography

• Bickers, Richard Townshend. The Battle of Britain. New York: Salamander, 1990. ISBN 0-13083-809-8.
• Wood, Derek and Derek Dempster. The Narrow Margin. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, reprint 1990. ISBN 0-87474-929-8.

Further reading

• McGlashan, Kenneth B. with Zupp, Owen P. Down to Earth: A Fighter Pilot Recounts His Experiences of Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, Dieppe, D-Day and Beyond. London: Grub Street Publishing, 2007. ISBN 1-90494-384-5.

External links

• Battle of Britain Historical Society official website
• Battle of Britain Memorial website