‘The Few’ was the name given to pilots who fought against the Germans in the Battle of Britain. The word ‘few’ was used by Winston Churchill in his famous speech at the end of the battle – “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” The following table does show that many of the men who flew in the Battle of Britain were from Britain itself (82% of the total number of flyers in the battle), yet thirteen other nationalities were represented with Australia and South Africa proportionately having the highest fatality rate.
Nationality | Pilots | Men killed | % of pilots killed |
Great Britain | 2543 | 418 | 16% |
Poland | 147 | 30 | 20% |
New Zealand | 101 | 14 | 14% |
Canadian | 94 | 20 | 21% |
Czechoslovakia | 87 | 8 | 9% |
Belgium | 29 | 6 | 20% |
South Africa | 22 | 9 | 40% |
Australia | 22 | 9 | 40% |
Free French | 14 | 0 | 0% |
Irish | 10 | 0 | 0% |
United States | 7 | 1 | 14% |
Southern Rhodesia | 2 | 0 | 0% |
Jamaica | 1 | 0 | 0% |
Palestine | 1 | 0 | 0% |
Total | 3080 | 515 | 17% |
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