Battle of Britain Anniversary-- Part 2

The RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight was formed in 1957, and includes planes such as Spitfires, Hurricanes and one of only two airworthy Lancaster bombers left in the world.

William Walker, one of the "Few" was based at Lakefield in Yorlshire and was shot down.  Initially, German pilots had more experience, having gotten it in early action in Poland and France.  In June 1940, Walker, a complete rookie, was pressed into service after just five hours of training.

As I type this, I'm listening to Neil Young and Crazy Horse do his version of "God Save the Queen" on his new Americana album and feeling a bit Brit.  How's that for timing?  He also went into "My Country Tis Thee" at the end.

He was shot down in August by Luftwaffe Ace Werner Molders, credited with being the first person in history to record 100 aerial kills, with 68 coming during the Battle of Britain, including Walker.

Molders was then transferred to the Eastern Front and by June 1941, he had surpassed the Red Baron's (Manfred von Richtoven) 80 planes during World War I.  By mid-July, he reached 100 and was retired by Germany for propaganda purposes.

Unfortunately, Molders died in a conventional air crash that November when he was ordered back to Berlin for the state funeral of World War I Ace Emst Udet.  How's that for irony?

There are rumors that Molders worked against the Nazis.  In 1973, he was honored by the German government and had a fighter wing named after him, but was stripped of the honor in 2005 over a dispute of his role in the bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War in 1938.

A Key Battle in the War.  --GreGen