Fighter Command proved that Adolf Hitler and his military commanders who controlled the largest fighting machine the world had known, could not just march in and take control of Britain as they had done in Poland, Norway, The Netherlands and France. Britain's natural barrier was the English Channel, and Great Britain had a formidable defence system that was in its infancy at the beginning of the Second World War, but greatly improved as time progressed. We may argue for many years to come as to whether Britain won the Battle of Britain by determination and strategy, or whether Germany failed because they had 'just lost the plot'. The fact remains, it was Germany's plan to destroy Fighter Command so as to make way for the planned German invasion. The Luftwaffe did never learn from its mistakes, they failed to give any thought when changing tactics and because of this time simply ran out for them and they knew full well that once the northern winter had set in, it would have been impossible for any invasion to take place.

The air battle did continue through September and on into October. The official date of the end of the battle of Britain is October 31, 1940. Air fighting in October was at time hectic and often fierce, pilots continued to strive on determined that the enemy would not get the advantage, Pilots of both Fighter Command and the Luftwaffe continued to be casualties of the Battle even though attcks and sorties became fewer and fewer.

But all victories come at a cost. Thousands of civillians lost their lives in the bombing and millions were made homeless. 515 fighter pilots lost their lives and never saw the victory that they were fighting for, over a thousand were injured, disfigured or burnt and we shall always remember them. 2,421 Battle of Britain aircrew survived but many were later killed in action during the rest of the war. Many still tell stories of the great times they had during the Battle of Britain, some were laughable, some were facinating and others were intriguing. There were sad stories too, because the Battle of Britain brought together new friendships, many of them close but many of these friendships were brought to an abrupt end when the circumstances of war claimed another casualty.

But the Battle of Britain was not just about those pilots. It was about thousands of people working together, organisations that joined forces to support Fighter Command and its quest for victory. From the citizens of London, especially the East End that took the brunt of the bombing, to the regular and volunteer services of the fire brigades, the medical personel and ambulance drivers, electrical technicians, water and sewerage maintenance, telephone operator and engineers, the civil defence, the Observer Corps, the radar operators, filter room personel, cooks, aircraft amourers, fitters and riggers. There are so many, but they all played a part in supporting Fighter Command and keeping the airctaft in the air.

Whether you think that the Royal Air Force won or the Luftwaffe lost or even those that lay claim these days that the Royal Navy won, the true fact remains that whoever may be responsible, they thwarted Germany's plan of an invasion of Great Britain and so many people from so many services can take credit for that.

Today, on the Thames Embankment close to Westminster, we now have a constant reminder of all those that took part in the Battle of Britain. It is a monument in the form of a split plinth that was designed by award winning architect Paul Day. So impresive is this moonument that it is now listed as one of Britian's top ten monuments.

Surrounding the monument are a variety of friezes in bronze that depict the role played by all those services that supported the cause in 1940. Naturally the emphasis is on the 2,936 airmen of Royal Air Force Fighter Command, but the success that they fought for would not have been possible for the other military services that took part, the civil defence, the fire services as well as hospital and medical staff and members of local councils.

The friezes combine to tell the story of life in 1940 and are told in inspiring detail by the talent of Paul Day. They all capture the time, the place, the agony and the victory that was...the Battle of Britain

Paul Day describes the panels around the monument.

FIRST PANEL - FIGHTER COMMAND
The Pilots: Here we see the realistic scultures of the pilots at rest. Many are exhausted, the battle is a hard fought one. Dogfights in the air may be an adrenalin pumping experience but they are exhusting. At every opportunity they take time out to rest and relax. They wait for a signal to be brought to readiness. The backdrop of the English Channel is a reminder of where too many pilots were to end up finding a place of permanent rest. WAAFs crop up at different intervals, looking down, and watching over, their pilots. I see them as guardian angels, willing their young men home to safety or to a pain-free end.

The Observers: Scattered around the coast and inland, the 30,000-strong Observer Corps ceaselessly scoured the air to intercept, visually and orally, enemy raiders. After RDF (Radio Direction Finding, later known as radar) volunteer observers were the next line of intelligence, relaying crucial information to Group and Sector Stations.

Mechanics and Riggers: None praise the work of the ground crews more highly than pilots themselves, whose very lives depended on the vigilance and efficiency of their RAF colleagues. Their tasks were more repetitive, their heroism less glamorous than that of the aircrews, but they shared significantly in the danger and took many risks. From bombing raids to machine gun sweeps by enemy fighters, the ground crews faced battle at the sharp end. Here the armourers wrestle with bullet belts whilst arming Hurricane fighters.

'SCRAMBLE': That classic moment, when the signal to 'scramble' is given, had to take centre stage. It is the very symbol of the Battle. In this case, the pilots surge off the wall, out of their picture and onto the pavement, into our world, a reminder that these men really did exist and do those incredible things.

This I hope is the case with this pilot who is surrounded by:

Pilot's Head & Plotters: Depicting an air battle in painting or sculpture is never easy. Aviation painting generally adopts the viewpoint of a fixed lens attached to the wing of an observation aircraft, maintained at reasonable distance from the action to serve the needs of composition. The image is normally taken at a thousandth of a second and completely freezes the action. I adopted the view that air combat took place above all in the cockpit and in the eye of the conibatant, that it was fast and somewhat blurred. It is as much about the psychological intensity etched into the pilot's brow as the superb ellipses described by a Supermarine Spitfire trying to avoid a pursuing Messerschmitt Me 109. In this case, with the huge pilot's head, I wanted to put us in touch with the flesh and blood behind the machine, though in some way, the flesh and blood and the machine are one. A young face can look old when enduring excessive physical danger and intense concentration. speed, smoke and tracer fire. He is not alone, however. His moves are being followed; his sometimes frantic speech passes directly from the air into the ears of the young girls at the plotting tables who will him on to victory and home to safety, or who may even share his last moments of agony.

Tales From The Mess: Young, inexperienced pilots drank in the commentaries of their battle-hardened counterparts. Knowledge gained this way was as necessary to their survival as the initial flying course. I imagine that it was camaraderie and a sense of the squadron spirit that gave those young men the strength to face death and injury on a more or less daily basis. Having read a great many pilots' memoirs, I am still amazed at how easily death came through accident and inexperience: a raised undercarriage on landing, navigational error, or unchecked propeller pitch.

SECOND PANEL - BRITAIN AT WAR
The Slit Trench: There are some superb archive photographs of Kentish hop pickers watching from the shelter of slit trenches, the air battle raging overhead. The expression on many faces seems, at this early stage of the war at least, to be one of curiosity and fascination. The real nature of the threat had not yet become apparent. Images of London's children sheltering in the same way reveal their amusement at seeing tracer dots racing around the skies. Not exactly what I imagine when thinking of the front line of a war. Yet this was Britain in 1940. The contrast between civilian normality and a pilot's life at `angels twenty' was marked.

The Gunners: The threat appears in the form of aerial bombardment. At first only the RAF installations were targeted. Illusions of a clean war remained intact, that is before civilian casualty statistics started to rocket. The gunners pass shells from one to the other before their ultimate discharge into the sky. Before researching the Monument I had no idea how antiaircraft shells worked, that the art was in choosing the correctly timed fuse, as well as in accurate aim. In the kiss blown between the gunner and a factory girl I want to remind us that this action did not take place in some sort of heroic bubble, but in a world of human feeling and frailty. Time, in removing events and their witnesses from us, seems to filter out most of what is common in human experience, making it seem distant and unreal. Anecdotal humour can perhaps remedy slightly this distortion of time.

The Role Of Women: Liberation for women; this war wrote a major chapter in the evolution of society's attitude to women at work in the war. The woman worker's role did not stop at the aircraft and munitions factory gates. Women ferry pilots also delivered new combat aircraft from factory to airfield. This is not political correctness, just interesting, historical fact.

The Dogfight: In my mind, pilots have to be at the centre of this Monument on both sides. Their lives are at its heart. As I wrote earlier, I have chosen to portray a pilot's eye view of air combat and not that of the aviation painter. In any case, skies in relief sculpture are not the easiest of subjects to convey. I have put the head of a Messerschmitt pilot onto the shoulder of an RAF one, to try and create the sense of a duel being fought out by two knights of the air, in close proximity and to the death. The 'Hun in the Sun' has the advantage, but as their aircraft fly past behind them, the Spitfire has managed to slip onto the tail of the Me 109 and has caught it with tracer fire. The pilots on both sides had a healthy respect one for the other. Likewise, in this work, I am in admiration of all the young men who took part.

St Paul's Cathedral: St Paul's became the symbol of resistance during the Blitz having remained standing while all around was seemingly demolished. The famous news photo collage of the Cathedral inspired this sequence. Although, not part of the Battle of Britain as such, the Blitz was the direct result of Dowding's successful strategy to save the RAF and keep fighters in the air at all costs. German attack passed from airfields and factories to almost any other legitimate and less legitimate target.

Searching The Ruins: I think one of the most harrowing aspects of the Battle of Britain was bombing of heavily populated areas, using inaccurate means, and the subsequent horrors that befell certain cities. The suddenness of loss through bombardment is dramatically portrayed in Guy Hamilton's film version, The Battle of Britain (1969). That people could wake up the morning after a bombardment and find their home blown away is terrifying. Of course, some were never to wake up at all. This scene is in homage to the rescue services and a reminder that, although the British people were tried by fire, the nation was never to be put through occupation and the trauma that entailed. In any case, had we lost this battle, the war in Europe would have been irrevocably lost.

"Brew Up !!: Making tea in an `Anderson' shelter is not an act of great heroism, more one of defiance. I like this as an image of the British spirit of 1940 - like the home guard armed with broom handles and supplied with bicycles; the removal of signposts to confound enemy invaders; the collection of saucepans for the war effort; a tin dug-out at the bottom of an ordinary garden, offering shelter to a suburban family against 1000-pounders. Perhaps derisory means on the face of it, but cultivating that immensely powerful spirit of resistance so essential to the nation's survival.