Remembering The Few

Rotorua residents (from left) Jim Dennan, Maisie Bond, John Bond and Reg Coleman have vivid memories of the Battle of Britain more than 70 years later. Photo / Stephen Parker

Battle of Britain memories have not dulled for four Rotorua people who witnessed the crucial conflict 72 years ago.

Commemorating the attack was as important now as it has ever been, Rotorua RSA member Reg Coleman said.

Mr Coleman will join Jim Dennan and John and Maisie Bond at the annual Battle of Britain and Air Force Commemoration Day church service, wreath laying and "colour hoisting" at St Faith's in Ohinemutu on Sunday.

Fifty seven of the 172 New Zealand pilots attached to either Fighter Command, Bomber Command or Coastal Command were killed in the conflict.

They were among "The Few" British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill referred to in his famous line - "never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

There were also non-combatants - ground crews, police, fire and ambulance, home guard, technicians - who also endured.

Londoner Maisie Bond slept under a dining room table every night during the bombing.

In the mornings she would go off to work.

"We lived on the Folkestone-Dover flight path and every night the planes would come over," the 94-year-old said.

"We were not really scared, we just got on with living as best we could."

Mrs Bond salvaged a German parachute - attached to an unexploded bomb - and sewed it into a silk night dress.

The Battle of Britain cut short her husband John's promising opera singing career.

He became a Royal Air Force radar technician instead.

"If it had not been for radar we would not have won the battle," Mr Bond said.

Mr Coleman was a 14-year-old Hertfordshire schoolboy, seconded to Air Raid Precautions as a Boy Scout, to help the war effort when the battle broke out in July 1940.

"I remember watching 33 German Heinkel bombers fly in perfect formation overhead," the 87-year-old said.

"We said they must be 'ours' but soon after three Hurricanes appeared and cut them to pieces."

The Battle of Britain is regarded as "probably the most important air battle ever", he said.

"It was crucial for the survival of Britain as the German army had conquered Europe and Britain was next on the list."

Former RAF officer Jim Dennan enlisted as a 16-year-old - one year before hostilities began - in 236 Fighter Bomber Squadron, later part of 11 Group, assigned to defend London under the command of New Zealander Sir Keith Park.

"Earthquakes give people a nasty shock ... but they cannot be compared with the bombings, blackouts, street fires and general hardships endured by those who experienced the Battle of Britain", said the 91-year-old.

More than 55,000 men and woman served with the Royal New Zealand Air Force between 1939-1945 and 4149 were killed.