Battle of Britain Week

2009 has been one of wartime commemorations and anniversaries. The death of two revered veterans from the First World War, Henry Bellingham and Harry Patch received national respect. Teignmouth started the town's Wings Appeal Week by remembering Gerald Henry Edworthy, an old boy of the former Teignmouth Grammar School (now Community College) who as one of The Few with 46 Squadron R.A.F. died in combat over the Thames Estuary on 3rd September 1940, aged 25 years. Mick Florry of The Royal Air Force Association joined me to lay floral Roundels by Gerald's memorial plaque in the College main hall. An official report of the events leading up to the operation, and the graphic descriptions of the dog fights between the Spitfires and the Luftwaffe Messerschmitts was read by pupils in turn bringing home to a new generation the bravery of the young pilots. The official figures of the time reveal "that pilot losses were disproportionately high". Air Commodore Don Harrison OBE Rtd. addressed the pupils on his memories of the iconic Spitfire and presented the school with a model of the plane.