THE SACRIFICE of the courageous pilots of the Royal Air Force, the ground staff who serviced the aircraft and civilians who built them will be specially remembered this year, the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

The epic events over Southern England all those years ago will be remembered with pride by the people around at the time of the confrontation with the Luftwaffe and the many youngsters who will want to learn about it for possibly the first time.

Fighter Command was outnumbered three to one - 900 Spitfires, Hurricanes, Defiants and Blenheims against some 2,800 Luftwaffe aircraft from early June to September 17, the date when the planned invasion of Southern England, Operation Sea Lion, was postponed.

"My outstanding memory of the summer of 1940," says Michael J Barnard, "is of the clear blue skies week after week and also the time of gas masks, air raid alerts and fire drills.

"As a 12-year-old schoolboy at Prince Henry's Grammar School, the summer was spent scanning the skies for vapour trails identifying the squadrons of fighters passing over the Vale, which meant our aircraft recognition studies received more attention than the French and Shakespeare lessons in the classroom.

"The increase of aircraft movements over Evesham from June 1940 and on into the summer was a pointer to the dog fights in the skies above Southern England.

"Wall maps and newspaper cuttings began to appear in our classrooms and expressions such as Tally Ho, Wizard Prang and a Piece of Cake entered our schoolboy vocabulary.

"Returning to school in September coincided with the height of the Battle and the Daily Express of September 16 reported 175 raiders shot down by the pilots of Fighter Command who were to enter the realms of legends known as the 'Few.'

"My sketch of a Spitfire was drawn in the summer of 1941 as a tone study and it was returned to me with the advice 'look after it, it may be of interest in years to come.'

"The sketch has survived the years and was kindly signed by Dr Gordon Mitchell, son of R.J.Mitchell, designer of the Spitfire, on my visit to his home 10 years ago.

"Even to this day, the thrill of seeing a Spitfire in flight with that unmistakable sound of Rolls Royce Merlin engines brings a tear to the eye and a lump to the throat, and at this time of the 60th anniversary of this vital battle, airfield names such as Duxford, North Weald, Hornchurch, Henley, Biggin Hill, Tangmere, Manston and many others have their own special place in our nation's 'Finest Hour.'"