An Cosantóir

29 80 years ago, The Battle of Britain raged over the skies of Britain. The RAF furiously defended the skies from Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe Air Force. 2945 RAF air crew faced down the Luftwaffe from July to October 1940. Millions of Britons played vital roles in the defence of their country including Air Raid Wardens, Firefighters and members of the Home Guard. Thousands also worked in aircraft factories and between June and October in 1940; around 2000 Hurricanes and Spitfires were built during that period, in addition to the 'Chain Home' system, which was the construction of dozens of radar stations along the British coastline. This gave the RAF an early warning of attacks, detecting German aircraft from up to 80 miles away. Information gathered by radar and the Observer Corps was relayed to RAF Fighter Command Headquarters in Bentley Priory in North London. After confirmation of the information RAF aircraft, anti-aircraft guns, searchlights and barrage balloons were deployed in the area the attack was believed to be taking place. It took the Luftwaffe aircraft just 20 minutes to reach possible targets from the point of the detection. The RAF took just 16 minutes to scramble and intercept a Luftwaffe raid, giving themselves only 4 minutes to decide on how to respond. The RAF had only 749 fighter aircraft at the peak of the fighting during the Battle of Britain compared to the Luftwaffe's 2550 aircraft. The average age of an RAF pilot was just 20 years old, their training was a mere 2 weeks during August 1940. During the Battle of Britain 544 of those pilots lost their lives. The Battle of Britain was the first major military defeat for Nazi Germany in WWII. 29 LAST OF THE FEW The Battle of Britain Pilots scramble to their Hurricane fighters at an RAF station had taken its toll on the young pilot. His commanding officer Peter Townsend, famed for his later romance with Britain's Princess Margaret and described by Hemingway as a "first-class wartime leader in a fighter squadron", was also good at recognising the signs of battle fatigue. Mr Hemingway was rested, with light duties, for two years. He served as a Flight Controller during Operation Overlord, the allied invasion of Normandy, in 1944. He was later restored to active duties as a spitfire combat pilot and fought in the 1944-45 campaign in Northern Italy. After the war he served as a staff officer in the Middle East, he spent two years at the Air Ministry in London and as a senior staff officer at NATO headquarters in France. He then returned to England as station commander at RAF Leconfield in Yorkshire. He retired from the RAF in 1969. He was one of 36 Irish pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain including Wing Commander Brendan 'Paddy' Finucane, who was one of the RAF's most successful fighter aces in the war, and Victor Beamish, a scion of the brewing industry. Both were killed in the war. Last year he gave an interview to The Irish Times on the occasion of his 100th birthday. He told military historian Joseph Quinn: "I can't say don't drink. I can't say don't fool about with people. I can't say don't fly aeroplanes. I can't say don't shoot and get shot at – I've done everything, and I'm an Irishman. The only advice I can give to people is be Irish!" He currently lives in Dublin in a nursing home community. Mr Hemingway's wife Bridget died in 1998, the pair had three children. After several years in Canada with his daughter, he returned to Ireland in 2011. His decision to return was "one of my absolute correct decisions. I was always going to come back". His son, Brian, regards his father as "the lucky Irishman". Speaking to The Irish Times, Brian felt that, at the age of 100, his father's luck had yet to run out. "He feels lucky because he is well cared for in his nursing home, he is loved and not forgotten," he said. "At a personal level and at a Royal Air Force level that gives him a certain comfort. He is very mindful of the thousands of other pilots who are not with us anymore." Regarding his father's Irish identity as the last survivor of the Battle of Britain, Brian added: "If people feel proud to be British because of the part he played in the Battle for Britain, then he is proud. This article previously appeared in The Irish Times online edition on 22nd Sept 2020. v Mr Hemingway looks up to the sky before jumping into his RAF fighter plane in WWII

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