I sometimes hear a Spitfire when visiting my mum on the Isle of Wight. Very distinctive sound - confirmed by a look on Flightradar. In the summer, walk up to the village shop and it is not unusual to see and hear a Spitfire flying over. Out of interest flights cost about £100 / 1 minute of flying - which isn't that much really for a 30 minute fly around.
And just a reminder - no matter how brave were the "few" of the RAF - it was the many of the Red Army that defeated the German Army in the field. By 1945, despite the huge losses they had sustained, the Soviet Army was over 11 million strong. When the Russians turned up in Berlin, looking for Mr "H" himself - he decided to call it a day when they came knocking on his door ! Epic stuff.
And also remembering the brave souls of over 80 countries that came to the UKs aid before Russia and America were even in the war. Without the help of people of every colour, creed, religion and language we most likely would not have survived in 1940.
Having previously assisted Nazi Germany in it’s ambition of carving up Europe, both materially and militarily in the hope that they would defeat France and the UK and Commonwealth in very short order. Luckily the ‘few’ helped thwart that ambition along with land forces on other Continents, how that must have smarted for the Soviet Union backing the wrong horse only to be attacked by a former ally. I give no credit to the Soviet Union being forced to fight a previous ally.
This short history misses the reason why the Soviets were anti British and French. In 1919 they had approached many countries for normalisation of relations but instead Britain sent military support for the White Russian aristocrat army. This was before the time of Stalin and his despotic lunacy. Britain then spent the next twenty years trying to destabilise Russia. Had Britain acted differently perhaps the Russians would not have been so keen to see the existing world order overturned. History is very rarely black and white, it’s always grey. Every action, however crazy or good/ evil it may seem when viewed in isolation, is always based on previous experiences. If you are interested in the Russian attitude to Britain, there are a wealth of good books on Britain’s influence in Russia from 1850 to the outbreak of ww2. The streets of St Petersburg still reek of history at every turn. Sadly I would not travel there at the moment, but as someone interested in history, I have had the pleasure of several days over a couple of trips.
BBC News - WW2 Spitfire emergency landing after losing power https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn80dkmn3jno
They were never allies. Mr. H wrote Mein Kampf in 1924 - in which he wrote some very unpleasant racial things about the Russians, being an enemy that had to be destroyed. He wrote that in 1924. Germany of the - National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi) signed a non aggression pact with the Soviet Union agreeing not to wage war against each other for 10 years.This was proposed and started by The National Socialist German Workers Party. If they were friends and allies why would they need a non-aggression agreeing not to fight each other ? The biggest regret surely came from the government of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi) for picking a fight with the Soviet Union. "....the whole rotten structure..." that Mr H ranted on about was actually centered in his own Berlin.
The Soviet Union assisted Germany in rebuilding its Army and Airforce in the inter war years, it materially helped Germany with raw materials to build its fighting strength. It held war games with the German Army on Russian soil, Allies in all but name. The Molotov Ribbentrop pact was an agreement to carve up Poland, Allies in all but name. I would think their biggest regret or 2 was allying with an over ambitious Italy and declaring war with the USA. I hardly credit a fellow arsonist with putting out the fire. We’re not going to agree with each other, I’ll leave you to your opinion and keep to my own and let this thread climb down the page.
But by ignoring what caused the Soviets to act as they did, there is no context and you miss the reasons behind their actions making the comment irrelevant. Where do you stand on the Finnish input? They carried out a process of mass extermination of left leaning people in the 20s (amazing museum/ memorial dedicated to it in Helsinki if you ever go), then fought with the Nazis before changing sides. Unless you look back the history of the region, these actions seem utterly incomprehensible. History is nothing without context………
Anyhow... managed to catch a glimpse of the planes flying over while doing some weeding in the garden, I did have to stand on the table to see them over the bushes though. So thank you @Expat Jack for posting this otherwise I would of completely missed it
We caught all of the fighters apart from the red arrows. They turned north over Twickenham according to my brother. There were no spitfire or hurricanes due to crosswinds at RAF Coningsby. Apparently they will make an appearance over the next few days at four other events.
