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That's the Explorers Podcast. Hello everyone and welcome to History of the Second World War, episode 213, The Battle

Before Britain, Part 5, Churchill, and The Few. This week, a big thank you goes out to Christopher,

Cody, Julian, and Snarky for choosing to support the podcast by becoming members. You can find out

how to support the podcast or become a member over at History of the Second World War.com

slash members. The last few episodes have focused on some of the technology that was put in place in the years before the Battle of Britain,

that would have an important impact on the overall course of the battle.

This episode will shift focus completely to the human element of the fighting in the air during the battle.

To quote one of the greatest fighter pilots of all time,

it's not the plane, it's the pilot, which is of course

a quote from Captain Pete Mitchell, who you may know as Maverick from the wonderful two-part movie

documentary Top Gun. But in all seriousness, the ability and experience of the pilots were critical

to their success or failure in any aerial

combat during the war, but nowhere was that more important than in dogfights between

single-engine fighters. This episode will focus on the importance of pilot experience,

and then how the Royal Air Force benefited from all the foreign pilots that flooded into the

country during

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