The Airmen of the Battle of Britain
2,937 British and Allied airmen were awarded the Battle of Britain clasp for having flown at least one authorised sortie with an accredited unit of RAF Fighter Command in the period 10th July to 31st October 1940.
The term ‘airmen’ is used throughout the site as obsolete twin-engined Blenheim aircraft were used as fighters by the RAF. As these carried Observer and Gunner crewmen it would be incorrect to class everyone named on the Monument as pilots though of course the majority were.
During the Battle 544 lost their lives and a further 795 were to die before the end of the war.
Information on each airman – where we have biographical data and/or photographs on an individual airman (and this is being researched and added all the time) the airman’s name appears in blue text on the lists of names, click on the name to go to that airman’s page. The abbreviations for each rank are explained here.
Note that the definition of countries is specified “at the time the Battle” took place. Henc
e some countries do not exist anymore, or have changed.
The names of all the airmen are listed on this site. Just click on country name below to view by country. Alternatively use the search facility (on the home page) to search by name. Airmen came from the following countries:
Australia – 32
Barbados – 1
Belgium – 28
Canada – 112
Czechoslovakia – 88
France – 13
Ireland – 10
Newfoundland – 1
New Zealand – 127
Poland – 145
Rhodesia – 3
South Africa – 25
United States – 9