Never was so much owed by so many to so few...

In September 1940 the Battle of Britain against Nazi Germany was at its height in the skies above southern England. Aircrew who had escaped occupied Europe joined the RAF with many others from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and all parts of what was then the British Empire.

In India, ordinary people collected much needed funds to finance the building of Spitfires to join the battle and in tribute, many RAF squadrons were named after Indian cities. But of all the nations that joined the RAF, it was Polish pilots who in particular distinguished themselves, losing more lives proportionate to their numbers than any single other nationality in the Battle. United for freedom, against fascism.

Philosophy Football have produced a commemorative shirt (above) to honour the Polish contribution, listing the Poles who gave their lives to join the 'few', with the symbol of the Polish airforce they carried on their Spitfires and Hurricanes, and the words 'For Freedom'. Wear it with pride, against fascism then and now.

Philosophy Football

‘My turban saved me in World War 2’

Squadron Leader Mohinder Singh Pujji was one of a few Indian ace flyers in the RAF and as the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain approaches, 91 year old Pujji has revealed how his turban had saved his life.

The young Sikh fighter was forced to crash land his fighter aircraft near the White Cliffs of Dover after a dogfight. After a dangerous crash landing and with serious head injuries, the young pilot was pulled from the wreckage of his Hurricane fighter plane. Sqdn Ldr Pujji gave his account of what happened and how his religious symbol saved him:

“The padding of my turban saved me, it was full of blood. I was taken to the hospital but after seven days I was back to flying again. In the fight a German bullet smashed into my dashboard and all my instruments were gone. Oil was pouring out of the engine and covered the windscreen. I asked for directions back to the nearest landing strip as I could see the Channel beneath me and it looked so cold – I really didn’t want to bail out.

“I could see the White Cliffs and I thought I would make it and then the landing strip appeared with fire engines around it. But as I put my landing gear down the fire took hold of the plane – there was blood pouring from my head but that six feet of wound cloth which makes up my turban saved me from worse impact injuries. People say you claim this as you are a religious man but I really think it was the case.”

Sqdn Ldr Singh Pujji explained that he signed up to the RAF after seeing an advert in an Indian newspaper titled: ‘Pilots needed for Royal Air Force.’ When he had learnt to fly in 1937 he became one of just eight pilots from the Empire colony good enough to fight. Mohinder Singh Pujji has also recently campaigned against the BNP and Nick Griffin for using the Iconic Spitfire as symbol; Pujji was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for bravery.

The Sikh Times

Join the BNP fund-raiser demo at Laindon

Anti-fascists wishing to greet the BNP's Battle of Britain Road fund-raising event can meet up at 6.30 pm Monday 23rd March outside Merrylands Primary School, Cumberland Drive, Laindon, Essex SS15 6QS. This is not the BNP venue but is close to their re-direction point. All people wishing to make a peaceful protest against Nick Griffin and his traveling circus are welcome to pop along.

A likely number is 01268 544231 if you would like to ring up and ask politely if British Heritage (a fake name frequently used by the BNP) is meeting there.

Pub closed over fears of clashes at BNP rally

The fear of a violent confrontation between the British National Party and anti-fascist protesters led one landlady to close her pub last night.

Farm machinery was placed across the car park of the Huntsman pub near Thornbury after landlady Kaye Thomas found out that the right-wing group had told people to meet there before going on to a local hotel.

Mrs Thomas was told on Friday that a group of BNP activists were due to meet in her car park before going to a secret fundraising dinner at the nearby Park Hotel, booked by a group calling itself the British Heritage Party. Anti-fascists found out about the dinner and more than 25 placard-waving protesters demonstrated outside Mrs Thomas' car park.

After being told about the protest Mrs Thomas, 46, and her husband Jim, 54, alerted the police and were advised to close their pub for the night.Now they are angry that up to £1,000 in takings may have been lost because of a gathering which they had no part in organising.

A BNP spokesman accused the protesters of being responsible for Mrs Thomas' loss of trade and of preventing the party from holding a legitimate meeting. But he would not confirm that the booking at the hotel had been made undercover for the BNP. No references to the British Heritage Party could be found on the internet when the Post searched it last night.

Mrs Thomas said: "I had no idea these people were planning to meet in my car park and I've had to close the pub for the night rather than risk any trouble. It's been an incredibly stressful couple of days, finding out that the pub's name is being mentioned in all these circles, and now it's lost me money. It's hard enough making a living at the moment without things like this happening."

Mike Jones, manager of the Park Hotel, also said the weekend had been a difficult time and that he had been advised by police to cancel the booking for the dinner.

He said: "We were certainly never aware the booking was made for the British National Party but the event was cancelled because of all the things which have been related to it. We didn't want to cause any problems and we also didn't want to breach our licence by being responsible for any kind of public order offences.

"The complaint I have is with the people who have been starting up the protest, creating rumours which aren't even true and sending us nasty emails. They're the ones who've caused all this trouble and it's been a bit of a nightmare for everyone involved."

Last night the protesters held a good-natured protest outside both the pub and the hotel and the planned meeting of BNP members failed to materialise.

Simon Darby, BNP spokesman, said: "There's a group of left-wing thugs threatening violence which has led to a fundraising dinner being cancelled and this poor woman from losing trade. We're in a run-up to an election, we're contesting every seat in the South West and we've every right to hold a meeting. This woman is a member of the community and incidents like this aren't fair on her, or us."

Bristol Evening Post

BNP fundraiser alert

The British National Party’s nationwide “Battle of Britain” roadshow will roll up at an 18-bedroom country hotel in Gloucestershire on Sunday 8 March. Nick Griffin, the party leader, is touring the country with an “invited European mystery guest” to launch the BNP’s campaign for the European election.

The event, for which tickets are being sold at £30, promises an “exclusive preview of campaign film and broadcast, Champagne reception, entertainment and light supper”. Many of the party’s wealthier supporters live in the West Country and Griffin hopes the function will raise a large sum towards the campaign to get him a seat in the European Parliament.

As always with the BNP, the venue was supposed to be a well kept secret. People attending have to turn up a rendezvous point and only then are they told the actual location, which is usually quite close so that no one gets lost on the way.

But there are not many hotels that could host such a function near the RV point, the Huntsman pub off junction 14 on the M5 southbound. Three in fact.

A few phone calls quickly established that one had no functions booked for Sunday evening and another had a booking from a commercial wedding organising business. That left the Park Hotel in Falfield, a mile from the RV point.

Owner Lynda Jones told Searchlight that the hotel had a function on Sunday evening but it was definitely not the BNP, whom she would not want in her hotel. Even when we pointed out that the BNP often books venues under other names because many places will not entertain the racist party, she was adamant the booking was not the BNP. Too adamant. She sounded like she had been briefed.

Now the BNP has every right to book a hotel for a fundraising event. Equally, members of the public have a right to express their views, politely, to the owners, Mike and Lynda Jones, about them putting their hotel at the service of the BNP to raise money to promote racism and destroy British society. You can phone them on 01454 260550.

Hope not hate

BNP use POLISH plane in campaign poster despite plans to ban East European migrants

British National Party chairman Nick Griffin speaks at a fundraiser with the
campaign poster featuring the Polish squadron plane in the background

The British National Party was ridiculed last night for fronting its anti-immigration campaign with a picture of a Polish Spitfire.

Its poster for the European elections, for which its manifesto includes a ban on Eastern European migrant workers, shows the Second World War plane above the slogan ‘Battle for Britain’. But Air Force history experts have identified that the aircraft was actually flown by the RAF’s 303 Squadron – made up of expatriate Poles rescued from France shortly before Nazi occupation.

BNP party chiefs defended their use of the image and insisted they knew all about
the background. But John Hemming, MP for Yardley, Birmingham, ridiculed this claim. He also condemned the far-Right party for using the image of Polish heroism in a campaign that includes stemming immigration from Poland.

He said: ‘The BNP often get confused and this happens because they haven’t done their research. This is just another example of them getting it wrong. They have a policy to send Polish people back to Poland – yet they are fronting their latest campaign using this plane. It is absurd to make claims about Englishness and Britishness fronted by this image. It’s obvious they just picked an image at random and they are really clutching at straws if they say this was deliberate.’

The 303 Squadron was the most effective Polish squadron during the Second World War. During the Battle of Britain Polish pilots shot down 203 Luftwaffe aircraft which stood for 12 per cent of total German losses in the battle.

A Royal Air Force museum spokesman said: ‘The Spitfire in the poster can be identified as belonging to 303 Squadron of the Polish Air Force by the code letters ‘RF’ painted in front of the RAF roundel. 303 Squadron operated Spitfires from Northolt, Kirton- in-Lindsey, Coltishall and other RAF stations in the UK between 1941 and 1945 after flying Hurricanes in the Battle of Britain.’

BNP spokesman Simon Darby said: ‘The 2009 election campaign poster features a spitfire plane and represents the Battle of Britain. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Polish squadron plane at all. It’s a symbol of Britain’s struggle at the moment. Using that plane doesn’t go against our policies. It’s not a question of disliking the Polish people – it’s just a question of economics.’

The poster is being used by the BNP to promote its election campaign in general and specifically a series of black tie dinner events with leader Nick Griffin as the speaker. In 1998 he was found guilty of inciting race hatred at Harrow Crown Court for denying that the Holocaust took place.

The campaign has already seen the threat of legal action from Dame Vera Lynn over their use of her song White Cliffs of Dover on a BNP album of Second World War songs.

Daily Mail

Coventry’s Champagne Charlies

With the European election fast approaching we can reveal the BNP's latest attempt at fundraising with a series of Champagne dinners based on a Battle of Britain theme.

The BNP hopes to have several of these dinners around the country, designed by Nick Griffin to persuade the party's wealthier donors to part with their cash. This Saturday 28 February sees the charade turn up in Coventry.

The regular meeting place for the BNP in Coventry, the Royal Warwickshire Club is no stranger to controversy. Back in 2007 it was revealed that the club intended to host a meeting by none other than the Holocaust denier and false historian David Irving. However the meeting failed to take place after Searchlight revealed to the local media that Irving intended to speak in their proud city.

The Royal Warwickshire Club pleaded ignorance claiming that Irving had booked the meeting under a false name, The Military History Book Club. Whether a false name was used or not, the club has continued as a regular venue for the BNP's meetings and fundraisers.

For those not familiar with the Coventry area the Royal Warwickshire Club can be found on Tower Street, Coventry CV1 1JS. Alternatively you can phone the club on 02476 220425.

HOPE not hate

They’re taking our Spitfires!

The BNP have been setting out their stall for this summer’s European Election campaign. Just as they’ve systematically looted chunks of British history, symbolism and legend for their own cynical purposes before, they’re at it again. This time they’re campaigning under the slogan “Battle for Britain” and accessorising their usual ranting with Second World War RAF nostalgia and imagery.

This has already seen the threat of legal action from Dame Vera Lynn, as the BNP are marketing an album of Second World War classic songs, including “White Cliffs of Dover”. Much of the national press has covered this story, and a little more research has revealed the album also includes contributions from the once famous black singer “Hutch”, Leslie Hutchinson, plus the composer Irving Berlin, bandleaders Bert Ambrose and Joe Loss and comedian Bud Flanagan, who were all Jewish. A rather more multicultural mix than Mr Griffin and his chums might have realised.

Something a bit closer to us in R J Mitchell’s old home town is their use of a Second World War Spitfire as the main image for the campaign. I’m sure that a lot of us, even people who aren’t usually given to having a go at the BNP, might think that this was overstepping the mark, hijacking such an iconic image for party political purposes.

The Spitfire picture – “Romeo Foxtrot Delta” – is the one on the BNP website.

It’s identifiable from its “RF” marking as belonging to 303 Squadron. And guess what? 303 was a Polish squadron!

It seems that none of the “patriots” at the BNP obviously know or care enough about the history of the Battle of Britain, despite all their enthusiastic flag waving, to get this detail right. Whereas I, a female of the left-wing political tradition, spotted it as soon as I got hold of a colour version of the picture.

We even know which Polish pilot flew this plane: Squadron Leader Jan Zumbach. Here he is in 1942.


Now I don’t know about you, but that seems to be an odd choice for the party currently circulating local election materials damning the present Government for opening “the doors of Britain to the hudled (sic) masses of Eastern Europe”.

Still, it’s an easy mistake to make. After all, if they just picked a random photo of a Battle of Britain plane, they would have had about a 1 in 5 chance of picking a “non-Brit”.

During the Battle of Britain the Poles shot down 203 Luftwaffe aircraft which stood for 12% of total German losses in this battle, punching well above their weight in numbers, though credit where it’s due – the highest scoring individual “ace” was a Czech, Sgt Josef František!

According to the website of the Battle of Britain Historical society, aircrew came from the following countries:

Great Britain - 2,340, Australia - 32 , Barbados – 1, Belgium – 28, Canada – 112, Czechoslovakia – 89, France – 13, Ireland – 10, Jamaica – 1, Newfoundland – 1, New Zealand – 127, Poland – 145, Rhodesia – 3, South Africa – 25, United States – 9.

So it’s probably just as well that when the Nazis invaded their home countries, those guys from France, Belgium, Czechoslovakia and Poland didn’t take the BNP’s advice to refugees and asylum-seekers and just go to the nearest safe country, which could well have been neutral Switzerland or Sweden.

And that was just the situation in 1940 – before the end of the war “our” planes were piloted by airmen from many other nations, including India (including modern-day Pakistan and Bangladesh) and Sierra Leone.

But though we might laugh at this gaff, this is a serious matter. Let’s remember what this image is being used to promote – the BNP’s European election campaign, and specifically a series of “black tie” dinner events with BNP leader Nick Griffin as the speaker.

That’s the same Nick Griffin who in 1998 was found guilty of inciting race hatred at Harrow Crown Court for denying that the Holocaust ever took place.

Remember that, when you see the BNP daring to try and bask in the glory of “the Few”.

Plane Jane

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