RAF 5: Air Chief Marshal Sir Christopher Foxley-Norris GCB DSO OBE and His Tribute to the Polish and Czech Squadrons
Royal Air Force
Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
Introduction
The Carousel at the end is a Tribute to the Polish Airmen who served in the Free Polish Air Force with the Royal Air Force between 1940-1947.
The Free Polish Air Force comprised Polish Airmen who had managed to reach Britain to recommence the war against Nazism and the liberation, eventually, of their beloved Homeland, Poland. The Polish airmen and groundcrews operated within RAF Squadrons that became exclusively Polish, and, for the RAF, this is a matter of immense pride and one of great fortiitude.
Because of the natural ‘language barrier’ I can understand why RAF High Command were reluctant to commit the Polish squadrons to battle. Whilst I do not set the 1969 film ‘Battle of Britain’ directed by Guy Hamilton and produced by Harry Salzmann and Szlomo Benjamin Fisz above good, hard, old-fashioned and dedicated research, the writers of the film script (by James Kennaway and Wilfred Greatorex) perfectly capture the dilemma.
RAF High Command very quickly discovered the ferocity, commitment, dedication and selflessness of the Polish Squadrons, which, in turn, very quickly proved their ability to take on, and defeat, the enemy in the Battle of Britain 1940. A link at the end of this article takes us to RAF KTW.
This article is taken from page 16 of the Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Yearbook 2020 Battle of Britain 80th anniversary issue.
Having flown Westland Lysanders in France during the early part of the war, Sir Christopher Foxley-Norris flew Hurricanes with 3 Squadron during the Battle of Britain.
In 1941, whilst serving with the 615 Squadron, he was shot down in his Hurricane by a Bf 109 and forced to bale out. After a period as a flying instructor in Canada, he was engaged on ship-busting duties, flying Bristol Beaufighters and De Havilland Mosquitos, and becoming a Squadron Commander.
Remaining in the RAF after the war he rose to the rank of Air Chief Marshal and became Commander-in-Chief of RAF Germany.
He was later the Chairman of the Battle of Britain Fighter Association and President of the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust.
He died in September 2003, aged 86.
He wrote this for the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF):
“With all the advantages why did the Germans not win? The answer basically lay in radar and the essential warning and ground control system that it supported, in the quality of our aircraft – the Hurricane and Spitfire – and of the pilots. What sort of men were they?
They have often been misrepresented as dashing young gentlemen amateurs. Some were certainly "dashing", but too often an excess of dash meant a lack of prudence and an early departure. Some - too many - were certainly young, but many of the best were men of maturity and experience. Douglas Bader and ‘Sailor’ Malan were 30 years old; some of the superb Poles and Czechs were older still.
Many were not gentlemen in the traditional sense; nearly every squadron was blessed with a hard core of NCO pilots who made no claim to gentility but possessed the essential professionalism for the job. And they were not amateurs; even the well-publicised ‘long-haired’ pilots of the original Auxiliary Squadrons were well trained and experienced, usually up to the standard of their regular service comrades.
If ‘The Few’ were not all of these things, then what were they?
Probably the secret of their success was that they were ordinary men who, when the call came, rose to extraordinary heights.
In the words of the poem the average Battle of Britain pilot was:
"a common, unconsidered man
who, for a moment of eternity,
held the whole of mankind
in his two sweating palms,
and did not let it fall.”
The aircrew formed only a small minority of those who played a central part in the Battle. For every pilot in air operations, there are dozens of backers-up.
Perhaps above all the victory was a people's victory.
Other governments and peoples had cracked under the blitzkrieg. To the surprise and discomfiture of the enemy, the British not only suffered it but sustained it and never failed to maintain the fight or their determination to see it through.
So, if you as a member of the British people are ever asked who won the Battle of Britain, you can answer, WE DID."
This Tribute appears on page 16 of the RAF MEMORIAL FLIGHT OFFICIAL CLUB YEARBOOK 2020 and is reproduced with the kind permission of the Officer Commanding the Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
29 March 2024
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© 2024 Eyes to the Skies
First published 23 August 2023