• Parades and services are held today throuhout the UK to commemorate the Battle of Britain [edp24]
  
  
• I have been contacted by some good people from BBC who pointed me to an interesting recent story on The One Show which fits the occasion prefectly. It's a meeting with John Freeborn, who was a 19 year old Spitfire pilot when war was declared on 3rd September 1939 and became a distinguished airman who flew more operational hours in the Battle of Britain than any other pilot and went on to attain the rank of Wing Commander. But he still thinks about his one deadly error over the Barking Creek every day.
  
  Watch Spitfire pilot John Freeborn's story - which regrettably is available to UK audience only [BBC]
  
  
• There is also a Farewell to another Spitfire pilot. Battle of Britain veteran John Pattison from New Zealand died at the age of 92. Pattison also commanded No. 485 (NZ) Spitfire Squadron late in the war.[Stuff.co.nz]

• A subject that raised heated controversy last year was the takeover of the Canadian Y2K Spitfire project by privately-owned Vintage Wings from Quebec. The debate took rather painful turns particularly as the partially restored aircraft, with $250,000 tax dollars invested in it and countless work hours put in by a broad group of volunteers was sold by Comox Air Force Museum for a symbolic sum of $1.
  
  Recent news updates on this subject include:
  - Warplane patron makes no apologies for military help [The Standard]
  - Still reaching for the sky: Work on Spitfire restoration comes to a halt for now, but on track to fly in 2012 [Canwest News]
  
  
• St George’s RAF Chapel of Remembrance in Biggin Hill starts a fundraising for a new replica Spitfire and Hurricane to replace its current gate guardians. [This is Local London]
  
  

Labels: history