Britain’s Prince Charles met veteran pilots and watched a flypast at a thanksgiving service to mark the Battle of Britain yesterday (20.09.15).
Spitfires and Hurricanes flew over London as the heir to the throne and survivors of the fighting – that took place 75 years ago during World War Two – remembered ‘The Few’ at Westminster Abbey.
The monarch laid a wreath in the RAF Chapel on behalf of ‘The Few’ – the term coined by Sir Winston Churchill’s phrase: "Never, in the field of human conflict, was so much owed by so many to so few."
Six pilots, now aged in their ’90s, stood in front of a 2,200 strong crowd at the ceremony, as the last remaining aircrew out of the 2353 who took part in the 1940 conflict.
Back then, the average age of a pilot was 20 and 544 men died fighting to resist the strength of Hitler’s opposing Luftwaffe.
One of the pilots, Flying Officer Ken Wilkinson, 97, flew Spitfires with 616 Squadron under Sir Douglas Bader.
Recalling their determination and fighting spirit, he told The Daily Mirror newspaper: "We were cocky. Stupidly cocky, if you like. We just didn’t envisage defeat. Some people may have been killed, but we knew we were going to win."
Prince Charles remembers ‘The Frew’
