Page 83 - Sylvia Malt - Side by Side

The Battle of Britain

Being only twelve miles or so from central London, this corner of Kent was especially
vulnerable during the terrible concentrated blitz by enemy aircraft on London, which lasted
from July 1940 to September 1940. Aircraft such as Spitfires and Hurricanes, regularly set
off to confront the enemy from local airports such as Gravesend, Croydon and, of course,
Biggin Hill, which was then part of the Chislehurst and Sidcup Parliamentary Constituency.

Many bombs were dropped long before reaching London and thousands of homes were
totally or partially destroyed. Churchill had made it quite clear to the country that if our
pilots failed to win this Battle in the Air, invasion by German troops would certainly
follow. Therefore, the stakes were extremely high.

By late September, the Germans had lost so many aircraft that they had to re-think their
invasion plans. An extremely relieved Winston Churchill made the following speech to the
House of Commons:

"The gratitude of every home in our island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the
world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by
odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the
World War by their prowess and by their devotion.

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

83