Australians in the Battle of Britain. 21 August 1940

The weather was getting worse. There was only a little enemy activity and, again, no RAF casualties. Pat Hughes was rostered off, as was Des Sheen and Bill Millington. Ken Holland was at the flights again and had some formation practice but during the relatively quiet day he had plenty of time to write up his flying log—‘an awful bore’. At Sutton Bridge, John Crossman carried out some flying exercises, increasing further his familiarity with the Hurricane.

Those who read The Times would have been heartened by the reports of Churchill’s speech in the Commons the day before. The Times journalist considered it a ‘spirited and confident speech’ and noted that it was ‘frequently interrupted by bursts of applause’. It a ‘fine survey of the war’ and The Times considered that ‘the effect of the air battles is to reassure any doubters there may be that ultimate victory is certain.’

The home intelligence gathers spoke to people all around the country to gauge the reception of Churchill’s speech. They discovered that it was received extremely well throughout the country. The consensus in Northern Ireland was that it was the most forceful and heartening of any Churchill had made previously. Bristol was confident that the British were top dogs and believed that, no matter what slight doubts might have been felt before, they would win. Newcastle reported that the speech had created a strong feeling of confidence.

And indeed, the spirit in Newcastle was high. One of the residents from from Newcastle-on-Tyne, the city of Bill Millington’s birth, wrote to the Adelaide connection to assure them that all was well despite the war and threats from bombardment:

‘When we get into the air-raid shelter we feel quite safe. We have seats, the floor is boarded (Dad did that), rugs on the floor, candle light and oil stove in case it is very cold. The lady, two doors higher up the street, has her mother, aged 82, staying with her, and the other night when we were in the shelter for three and a quarter hours they had their oil stove on, and made tea. The old lady was sitting drinking tea, very comfortable, when she looked up and said, “Mind, Mary these are nice little homes, but if you had your pictures up it would look much more ship-shape”’.

The Battle of Britain might not be over but the hearts of the British were strong and they were confident in the men who were defending them. Des Sheen certainly had it right when he wrote five days earlier that the RAF was popular.