Tuesday, April 01, 2008

The RAF Celebrates 90 Years

Happy 90th birthday to the Royal Air Force! The RAF is the world's first independent air force -- a bit of historical trivia for you. News blurb here.

I would be no real student of history if I didn't give you this quote by the incomparable Winston Churchill, speaking about the airmen fighting in the Battle of Britain:

"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. "

—Tribute to the Royal Air Force, House of Commons, 20 August 1940.


(OK, I'm a nerd and I can't help myself: here's the most recent book I read on the subject.)

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