Biggin On The Bump

by Bob Ogley

Very slight signs of age or use. SIGNED on title page, 1990 Froglets Publication

160 pages, Paperback

First published May 24, 1990

Reviews

[Tyler Brannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biggin Hill is the air base responsible for most enemy planes shot down by in the UK. This brief history focuses on Biggin Hill's decisive role in the Battle of Britain. Local author and amateur historian of Kent, Bob Ogley, marshals numerous anecdotes and photos from surviving veterans to retell the stories of "the few" during the dark days of 1940.

I was struck by how few men survived the war. Numerous photos were included as the last surviving photo before a pilot died in combat. The captions of a photo featuring 7 pilots might include that two died the next week and only 3 survived the war.

I had not realized that pilots would repeatedly get shot down and survive. Several pilots had stories of being shot down in the morning, hitchhiking back the base and fighting again the evening.

The author has a reverence for the sacrifices made by the pilots and the air crews that supported them. The author and remaining veterans strive and fail to keep Biggin Hill open as an existing RAF base. What was an RAF base in rural Kent is now a general aviation airport within the metropolitan area of London.