A short, moving service marked 76 years since the first Battle of Britain Day took place on the White Cliffs at Capel-Le-Ferne, Kent on Thursday.
Each year on September 15, members of the public gather at the site to pay their respects to the sacrifices made by RAF aircrew in 1940. The service began after a Spitfire flew overhead, and visitors gathered at the memorial site heard a delivery of Winston Churchill’s famous speech about The Few.
Battle of Britain Day is marked on 15th September each year to commemorate the defining battle in which the RAF repelled the German Luftwaffe’s largest major assault on London, 76 years ago.
The first battle to be fought almost entirely in the air, the Battle of Britain took place between July and October in 1940. Around 1,500 aircraft are thought to have taken part in the aerial warfare, in which men from New Zealand, Poland, Canada and Czechoslovakia fought alongside British soldiers.
A Service of Thanksgiving and Rededication to mark the service and sacrifice of those who took part will be held at Westminster Abbey at 11.00am on Sunday 18th September.
Attendees pay their respects at the at the Battle of Britain Memorial in Capel-le-Ferne, Kent (Rachel Megawhat / Breitbart London).
Royal British Legion standard-bearers stand by the statue of a seated pilot at the Battle of Britain Memorial (Rachel Megawhat / Breitbart London).
A Spitfire flies over to commence the service (Rachel Megawhat / Breitbart London).
A standard-bearer blows his horn (Rachel Megawhat / Breitbart London)
Visitors look out from the balcony of The Wing, the Battle of Britain’s visitor and information centre which was opened to the public in March last year (Rachel Megawhat / Breitbart London).
Attendees heard Winston Churchill’s famous speech about The Few (Rachel Megawhat / Breitbart London).
The statue of a pilot serves as the focal point of the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust’s site (Rachel Megawhat / Breitbart London).
Wreaths line the Christopher Foxley-Norris Memorial Wall, which lists the names of all who flew in the Battle of Britain (Rachel Megawhat / Breitbart London).
The wall reveals neither the rank nor decoration of the men it commemorates, to reflect that all involved played their part (Rachel Megawhat / Breitbart London).
Ken Stoker, who served with Sir Keith Park in Burma, stands beside the Air Chief Marshall’s stone bust (Rachel Megawhat / Breitbart London).
(Rachel Megawhat / Breitbart London).
Wreaths made to look like the RAF insignia, and poppy wreaths adorn the memorial statue (Rachel Megawhat / Breitbart London).
A child stands beside the memorial wall, holding a flag (Rachel Megawhat / Breitbart London).
Replica Supermarine Spitfire Mk 1 (Rachel Megawhat / Breitbart London).
Replica of a Hawker Hurricane.(Rachel Megawhat / Breitbart London).
Statue of Bob the squadron dog (Rachel Megawhat / Breitbart London).
Sudden sea mist on the sunny morning served as a reminder of the dangerous conditions the pilots faced (Rachel Megawhat / Breitbart London).
The figure of the statue sits on a propeller boss surrounded by the badges of all the Allied squadrons and other units that took part in the Battle of Britain (Rachel Megawhat / Breitbart London).
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