On August 20th 1940, Winston Churchill gave one of his most famous speeches celebrating the bravery of Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain and Bomber Command in its attacks on Nazi Germany. To celebrate the part played by the men of the RAF, Churchill addressed the House of Commons. His speech is seen as being as famous as his ‘we’ll fight them on the beaches…we’ll never surrender” speech.
“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. All hearts go out to the fighter pilots, whose brilliant actions we see with our own eyes day after day; but we must never forget that all the time, night after night, month after month, our bomber squadrons travel far into Germany, find their targets in the darkness by the highest navigational skill, aim their attacks, often under the heaviest of fire, often with serious loss, with deliberate, careful discrimination, and inflict shattering blows upon the whole of the technical and war-making structure of the Nazi power.
On no part of the Royal Air Force does the weight of the war fall more heavily than on the daylight bombers, who will play an invaluable part in the case of invasion and whose unflinching zeal it has been necessary in the meanwhile on numerous occasions to restrain.”
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- On August 20th 1940, Winston Churchill gave one of his most famous speeches celebrating the bravery of Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain…