Battle of Britain flypast celebrations

Forty Spitfires, Hurricanes and the last remaining Bristol Blenheim aircraft took to the skies over Britain on Tuesday to mark the 75th anniversary of World War II's "Battle of Britain."

On September 15, 1940, the German Luftwaffe had launched its largest and most concentrated aerial attack on London.

The planes took off on Tuesday from the Goodwood airfield in West Sussex before spreading out over the southern English counties for a number of different displays. It was the largest assembly of the aircraft in one place since the war which ended in 1945.

The grandson of Queen Elizabeth, Prince Harry, a Royal Airforce (RAF) trained pilot, was due to take part in the display but gave his place to a battle veteran when one of the Spitfire planes was grounded.

Earlier on Tuesday, a church service was held at London's St Paul's Cathedral. It was attended by Prime Minister David Cameron and the new leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn.

The Battle of Britain took place in the summer and autumn of 1940. It began in July of that year with German attacks on coastal shipping convoys and naval centers such as Portsmouth on the south coast. RAF airfields then became the focus of the attacks before factories and buildings of political significance were targeted.

The RAF lost 1,023 aircraft and the German Luftwaffe lost 1,887 fighters and bombers in the battle.

Germany's inability to gain air superiority was a key element in the cancelation of the Nazi regime's planned invasion of Britain.

This comment made by Britain's wartime leader Winston Churchill at the time summed up sentiment towards the Battle of Britain pilots: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

jm/msh (AP, EFE)