The Battle of Britain - 8 weeks in...

THE FIRST 8 WEEKS of fighting saw the Luftwaffe concentrate its air power directly on the Royal Air Force air bases and infrastructure as well as the Royal Navy and within 2 weeks forced the Royal ships to abandon their shipping routes through the English Channel. However, with the constant and relentless procession of air raids over England, the Luftwaffe began to quickly suffer far more losses in the air even though they had nearly twice as many aircraft. Between the 8th of August and the 18th, the RAF had lost 175 aircraft compared to nearly double by the Luftwaffe with 332 lost.

MID August saw some of the highest number of sorties by both sides. The trend continued for the Luftwaffe experiencing nearly double the amount of losses of aircraft and casualties. This lead to Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring withdrawing the Junkers 87 Stuka from the Battle. It’s interesting to note that both sides felt as though they were losing the fight or at the very least were not making the progress that they deemed necessary to ensure victory. This heavy period of fighting also leads to the Luftwaffe shifting its focus from the RAF itself to the major cities and factories of London. A move that many believe lead to the defeat of the Luftwaffe in this historical conflict.

Although this is a very brief overview of the events that had unfolded at this point of the battle what we can definitely ascertain is that each and every air victory counted tremendously. 

Sgt Reg Llewellyn

BORN Reginald Thomas ‘Lew’ Llewellyn on 25th March 1914. He joined the RAF in 1930, a decision that was influenced by the fact that he had several close friends that were pilots. Llewellyn served as ground crew in Iraq from 1934-37 and later took and completed a weapons training course that lead to a promotion to Sergeant and with the outbreak of war after a brief allocation to Gladiators he joined 213 Squadron in January 1940 where he was assigned to fly Hurricanes. He is credited with 13 enemy aircraft destroyed, 1 shared destroyed, 1 unconfirmed destroyed, 1 probable and 2 damaged. He first saw battle over Dunkirk and was a major contributor in the Battle of Britain until he was shot down by a Messerschmitt 110 on the 15th September and suffered serious damage to his right arm which saw him in hospital for a year and put an end to his combat capabilities as an operational pilot for the remainder of the war.  

 Sgt Reginald 'Lew' Llewellyn

'Piece of Cake' by Peter Randall-Kent

Piece of Cake by Peter Randall-Kent painting, Angels Twenty Collection. 

Peter Randall-Kent nearing the finish line, April 1999, Sydney.

 Peter Randall-Kent RAF, 1959.

Sgt Charles 'Tich' Palliser.

Charles 'Tich' Palliser was a DFC recipient.

'Piece of Cake' - The Limited Edition Prints

Piece of Cake Limited edition prints signed by Battle of Britain heroes, Sgt Reginald 'Lew' Llewellyn and Sgt Charles 'Tich' Palliser are now available in very limited release in the A20 store - here  

Llewellyn signing the prints, November 1999, Hobart, Australia. 

IN contrast to Llewellyn, Palliser, in detail, told of escapades of escaping from certain doom in dog fights to watching Messerschmitts disappear into the Channel without even making a splash and his personal struggles with other service men and woman not believing he was a pilot due to his boyish appearance.

 Palliser and Randall-Kent signing the prints, October 1999, Moorabin Airport, Melbourne, Australia.

OVER the coming months, I hope to share as much of these stories, interviews, and insights on the A20 site. I hope that many of you will find them as truly fascinating as I have and a first-hand reminder of this incredible time.  

Framed limited edition print, with 1939-1945 Star with ‘Battle of Britain’ clasp and Battle of Britain 1940 Distinguished Flying Cross medal display - A20 Collection.