Battle of Britain August 1940 day by day

Did you know 9 civilians flew in #BattleofBritain? In 1940 although not yet part of WWII, pilots like Pilot Officer William ‘Billy’ Fiske were able to join the @RoyalAirForce without giving up their citizenship due to a special arrangement.

Billy joined 601 Squadron and on 16 August 1940 he was flying a Hurricane which was damaged in a dogfight over Boignor. He crashed and landed in a nearby airfield that was under attack and died the next day.

In 1941, at St Paul’s Cathedral, a monument to Billy was unveiled that read “An American citizen who died that England may live on.”

81 years later we are still with each other, shoulder to shoulder,

To protect and protect our shared efforts.

The painting ‘Comrades in Arms’, depicting a flight taken by Billy with Squadron Leader Max Aitken on the morning of 13 July 1940, hangs in the British Embassy as a symbol of our enduring special relationship.