In the case of JEJ, I gather that there was also some debate as to whether he qualified for inclusion on the Battle of Britain roll.

I met JEJ a few times in the 90’s and he was always clear to point out that he did not consider himself to be part of the BoB as he was still training at the time.

As for claims/kills, I don’t think we can ever be sure of who got what. Pilots would have made genuine mistakes, some may have been over enthusiastic about the damage inflicted on an enemy aircraft during combat.

I was told that Ginger Lacy scored more than he claimed but let some of the less experienced pilots take the credit for a kill he was responsible for (as long as they’d attacked it with him and got a shot in) to boost their confidence. It didn’t matter to him as long as someone shot them down. I think it was grumpy Unwin that told me this but can’t remember with 100% certaincy.

Well, remember the old saying, It’s better to have loved and lost – Much better!

I’m not sure if I can put a picture up, not very good with computers etc, bit of a dinosaur in this area. However we will have a candle lit and next to it will be a battered RFC badge from an unknown airman.

There were five houses along our road (including ours) that had bothered as far as I could see. All the street lighting reained on yet a few months ago most of it was off to save money!

Hi John, that is pretty much what they said on the documentary, the Bren was very accurate and the spread of shot stayed close together. They said that for covering fire, shoot and advance etc. a wider spread of shot is preferred. The natural spread of an automatic weapon is actually designed in to achieve this (they said). The automatic fire is not to try and hit a bull but cover an area making it difficult for the enemy. This sort of makes sense as weapons like a Bren on it’s tripod may be difficult to move around and natural spread would achieve this without the need for much movement of the weapon.
I am not from a military background and have no knowledge of these things, merely passing on the information from what I watched on the history channel a couple of nights ago. It may be complete BS but I found it interesting and surprising, if there is any truth in what they were saying, after all the aircraft documentaries they put on are usually full of mistakes and false truths.

You would think so but I find it amazing that such a great country still clings on to a 200 year old law that was referring to early revolvers and muskets!