Today being September 15, we remember all those RAF pilots who saved this country from invasion.

This of course was ‘Their Finest Hour”, as Sir Winston Churchill so rightly said. We owe more than that magnificent victory to them.

The Royal Air Force did more than engage with enemy aircraft. It had many other duties to perform. Defending our air space was the priority, but also our seaways. Coastal Command gave outstanding protection for our Atlantic convoys.

Anti-U boat patrols, protection from attacks from the air by the German long range ‘Condor’ aircraft, searching for survivors from sunken merchant ships, sometimes adrift for days in lifeboats. One can imagine their overwhelming sense of relief at the sight of a Sunderland flying boat after such an ordeal.

We have much to remember and thank the RAF for as we remember those few who bought us freedom with their lives, and all the other brave airmen who fought in that war.

Alvin L Hopper

Walpole Street

Weymouth