July 12, 2005

of spitfires and hurricanes

Watched a very interesting and moving documentary on National Geographic just now. The show left me in (more) awe and admiration for war veterans, in this case, the British war veterans of the WWII.

It was September 15th 1940.
It was the day that Germany (with about 300 fighter planes) flew into London to have the upper hand in the air so as to accomodate their land troops.
It was also called the Battle of Britain.

Britain might have lost the battle if not for a certain Sgt Pilot Ray Holmes.
He was a Sgt Pilot of the 504 Squadron.
Kay, cut story short (you can read the whole thing here).
While he was flying his Hurricane, circumstances led him away from the rest of the squadron and saw a lone German fighter plane (the Dornier) heading towards Buckingham Palace. He had ran out of ammunition and decided to ram the Dornier (in mid-air).
Oh yeah, he rammed it alright.
There were actually footage of the Dornier crashing to the ground, kay.
Whoa, rite? Yah, I thought so.
Both pilots ejected (of course) out of their planes and Sgt Pilot Ray Holmes landed on a rooftop of a house and was sent back to base. The German pilot, however, was badly hurt and died of his injuries.
Anyway, I did mention that Britain might have lost the battle of not for Sgt Pilot Holmes rite? Well, according to a historian, Hitler was taken aback by the resilience of the British (he thought they were suicidal) and ordered not to attack Britain as of September 17th 1940, until further notice!

So, anyway, Sgt Pilot Holmes' Hurricane crashed into somewhere near Buckingham Palace Road. And in this documentary, Aviation Archeologists were set on excavating Sgt Pilot Holmes' Hurricane based on photographs and footage taken in 1940. Apparently, his Hurricane crashed so hard that it went underground and authorities just buried it under the city. It lay buried for 64 years, until last year, when the Aviation Archeologists successfully unearthed parts of the Hurricane's engine that Sgt Pilot Holmes flew. Not only did they find the engine, they also found the steering control thingy (i've no idea what it's called lah) with the trigger still set to 'FIRE'.

Pretty amazing stuff, I tell ya.
Of course, the wuss here cried lah. Cos Sgt Pilot Holmes made the trip all the way from Liverpool to the excavation site with his family.
It was quite a 'reunion'. I'm just wondering what he's feeling and all.

So anyway, I went online to find more information on Sgt Ray T Holmes only to find that he had just passed away less than a month ago on June 28th 2005.
He was 90.
I'd say he lived quite a life.

Anyway, my point is, I just don't know if any of us would display such heroics and patriotism to this country if ever we're faced with a situation like that (war, lah not excavating planes from underground).
Try to catch the documentary on NG. Not sure when else it's showing though.

A Hurricane.

Photo courtesy of http://www.battle-of-britain.co.uk

luv, tash 2:30 PM