Battle Of Britain: Told By Those Who Fought It

Three fighter pilots look back on their experience fighting in the Battle of Britain as the Queen prepares to mark the 75th anniversary of the start of one of the most significant periods in Britain's history.

Flying Officer Ken Wilkinson, Spitfire pilot (97 years old)

"From 1st September 1939 I wrote myself off. I thought, 'you've got no chance' lasting through whatever is going to be. It was quite obvious, in the way the Germans were moving, they were going to make a hell of a war out of it, so I was ready for war.

"I can remember saying 'we've got to stop this fellow Hitler'. When you think of all the thousands of citizens that were being killed by this absurd bombing. They had to pay for it didn't they.

"Yes, we lost people. Friends that didn't come back. I don't think we were the sort of people to brood over it, ever. You have to get into an attitude to make sure that you're as cold as a fish. Once someone has failed to return, that's it. Fortune smiled on me and not on some of the others. I can only say that whoever it was who pooped off at me, wasn't a very good marksman.

"It transpired that we were doing something far more important than we thought. As far as we were concerned, it was just that there were some untidy creatures from over the other side of the channel, trying to bomb England and the United Kingdom. And we didn't want them to bomb us. After all, we never asked the Germans to start this nonsense, did we? But they did, and we had to stop them, and we did.

"It's our country. You die for you country."

Squadron Leader Tony Pickering, Hurricane Pilot (95 years old)

"I knew that there was a war coming. I decided that if I was going to take part in the war then I was going to fly Spitfires or Hurricanes.

"I was attacking some German bombers, when the front gunners of theses bombers blew the sump of my Hurricane away and I caught fire. Soon as you see flames in an aircraft and you're by yourself, you don't stay on board. I just raised myself out of the seat, pulled the pin and ping - I was out like a cork out of a bottle. I got a little bit scorched round the face, but not burnt.

"The only thing I can remember is the comradeship and the way we were looked after by the ladies. The girls fed us and tucked us up in bed at nighttime, just like Mother!

"When you're 19 years of age I don't think you think too deeply about what's going to happen. You're young and you're enthusiastic. That was the trouble with most of our people, they were too enthusiastic. You had to be careful that they didn't shoot you down!

"You do think to yourself that there's a possibility you'll get shot down, but I might be able to jump by parachute or I might be a prisoner of war. I was quite prepared, if my time had come, to go.

"I never considered I was a great hero. I did a job that I was paid to do and I did to the best of my ability."

Wing Commander Paul Farnes, Hurricanes (97 years old)

"You've got to remember that we joined the air force to fly. To be able to fly several times a day, every day, in one of the finest airplanes going, we thought was good!

"It was very fragile, but strangely enough it was a good life. I enjoyed it.

"Some people say about the loss of your friends, but you didn't really have time to make friends. A chap would come and join the squadron and he'd probably last 24 hours, 48 hours and you wouldn't see him again. We lost 20 pilots out of 60. You'd suddenly say 'where is that chap who joined a few days ago?' He hadn't come back."