Today, 15 September, Britain remembers one of the most extraordinary moments in its history — the day that became known as Battle of Britain Day.
Eighty-six years ago, the skies above Britain filled with aircraft.
The country stood alone against Nazi Germany and faced the terrifying possibility that defeat in the air could be followed by invasion on the ground.
On 15 September 1940, the Luftwaffe launched one of its largest and most concentrated assaults of the Battle of Britain. Fighter Command met it head-on.
What followed was a day of furious aerial combat over southern England and London. By the end of it, the German attack had suffered heavy losses and the RAF had demonstrated that it was still capable of defending Britain's skies. The date subsequently became known as Battle of Britain Day.
It is tempting, 86 years later, to reduce the story to a handful of famous names: Spitfires, Hurricanes, Douglas Bader, the iconic pilots of Fighter Command.
But the reality was both more frightening and more remarkable.
These were young men climbing into aircraft knowing that they might not come back.
The average age of an RAF pilot in 1940 was just 20. Many had only weeks of training before being thrown into the battle. The RAF records that 2,945 aircrew faced the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain, with 544 members of “The Few” killed.
And “The Few” were not all British.
Pilots from across the Commonwealth, occupied Europe and elsewhere flew for Britain. Roughly a fifth of the RAF's Battle of Britain pilots came from outside the United Kingdom. Poles, Czechs, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, Frenchmen and others fought alongside British airmen.
This was an international force defending an island that had become the last major European power still fighting Nazi Germany.
But the pilots were only part of the story.
Behind them stood The Many.
Radar operators tracked incoming formations. Ground crews worked desperately to refuel, rearm and repair aircraft. Controllers directed squadrons into battle. Women of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force worked in operations rooms. Air Raid Wardens, firefighters, police officers, engineers, mechanics and countless civilians played their part.
The RAF itself stresses that the victory depended on the hard work and determination of “The Many” as well as the courage of “The Few.”
That is perhaps one of the most important things to remember today.
Great national achievements are rarely the work of one person.
They are built by thousands of people doing their jobs, often under extraordinary pressure, while knowing that failure could have consequences far beyond themselves.
And failure in 1940 would have been catastrophic.
Much of continental Europe had already fallen to Hitler's Germany. France had been defeated. Britain was isolated. German forces were massed across the Channel and Hitler's planned invasion of Britain depended upon Germany first establishing control of the skies.
The RAF's victory prevented that.
The Battle of Britain was the first major battle fought entirely in the air, and its outcome represented Nazi Germany's first major military defeat.
The battle itself continued beyond 15 September and formally lasted until 31 October. But that September day became the symbol because it demonstrated, in spectacular fashion, that the Luftwaffe could not simply sweep Fighter Command from Britain's skies.
Two days after the great battle of 15 September, Hitler postponed Operation Sea Lion — the planned invasion of Britain. The RAF's resistance had helped make the invasion impossible to proceed as originally envisaged.
That is why this anniversary matters.
It is not merely nostalgia for old aircraft.
It is not simply an excuse to admire the elegant lines of a Spitfire.
And it certainly isn't about pretending that war was glorious.
War was terrifying. People died. Civilians suffered. Young men went into combat and never returned.
Battle of Britain Day is about remembering what those people were willing to risk when the consequences of defeat were enormous.
It is about courage.
It is about duty.
It is about ingenuity under pressure.
It is about ordinary people performing extraordinary tasks when their country needed them.
And it is about remembering that Britain did not stand alone because Britain was invulnerable.
It stood because people refused to give up.
Today, when a Spitfire or Hurricane passes overhead, it can be easy to see only the romance of history: the roar of the Merlin engine, the RAF roundel, the unmistakable silhouette against a summer sky.
But imagine being underneath those aircraft in 1940.
Imagine hearing the sirens.
Imagine looking upwards and seeing hundreds of aircraft fighting overhead.
Imagine being one of those 20-year-old pilots climbing into the cockpit knowing that the next few minutes might determine whether you ever saw home again.
Then remember the names.
And remember the nameless too.
The pilots whose stories survived.
The pilots whose stories did not.
The mechanics who kept battered aircraft flying.
The women watching plotting tables in operations rooms.
The ground crews working through exhaustion.
The families waiting for footsteps that sometimes never came.
The Few were never really alone.
They were carried by The Many — and behind them stood a nation determined to remain free.
That is what we should remember today.
Not simply that Britain won a battle.
But that, at one of the darkest moments in our history, a generation found the courage to fight for the future.
Lest we forget.
