Canadian Airmen in Their Finest Hour: The Battle of Britain

We were fortunate to have Ted Barris come as the speaker at the forum because he was a last-minute substitution for the previously booked speaker. Well done, Talks Committee!

Ted has had a great deal of experience making presentations about many of his books that deal with the history of the second world war. He has been honoured with the order of Canada for his contributions to furthering our knowledge of the history of Canadian involvement in the war efforts. At this forum he was talking about the Canadian men and women who were instrumental in the Allies’ success in the Battle of Britain (July 10 to October 31, 1940). Ted has a flair for a dramatic presentation style, and he engaged his audience with the stories of the battle, giving each person he told us about the intimacy of a real-life experience.

He told us about the planes involved; the spitfires and the hurricanes that the allied airmen flew. The Canadians, including the brilliant engineer Elsie McGill, who were responsible for making some of these planes in Canada.

One of Canada’s greatest contributions to the whole war effort at this time was a motley crew of civilian young men who had learned to fly on their own initiatives in Canada. They were almost left on the sidelines by the RAF until their expertise was recognized.

Radar was a significant advantage to the allied forces as it allowed people (often young women) to radio the time and number of enemy planes, fighter Messerschmitts and bombers, coming over the east coast of Britain on their deadly missions. This advantage held because the Germans did not realize the effectiveness this system. The information so gained allowed the strategists to plan their winning tactics. It was at this time, August 1940, that Winston Churchill said “Never in the field of human conflict was so much been owed by so many to so few”.

Ted augmented his talk with many archival pictures of the events and people and included short video clips from newsreels and movies. His dynamic presentation and his well researched knowledge of the topic made for a vey enjoyable and informative forum event.