It is a privilege to tell the story of the last living veteran of the Battle of Britain, John Hemingway, in this month's edition, and I feel it's a fitting continuation to our 80th anniversary themed coverage of this iconic event in the August issue of FlyPast. It has been common for Battle of Britain aircrew to play the humble card, eschewing the term 'hero' and stating that they were simply doing their job. It's an admirable attitude, but I'm sure many readers will feel as I do that the RAF in the Battle of Britain exemplifies heroism in its purest form, scrambling day after day to meet the enemy in those visceral bullet-ridden dogfights, laying one's life on the line in the defence of freedom. This month we also revisit the bravery of USAAF pilots with our examination of the Debden-based 4th Fighter Group, the most successful of the Eighth Air Force units stationed in the UK. Comparing RAF flyers from 1940 to their American brethren just three years later and onward, does prompt thoughts of how technology and engineering progressed relatively quickly during World War Two. But the prevailing ethos of the aviators remains the same, regardless of the tools at their disposal: they had the courage and the will to get the job done.
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