Defending London In A Spitfire | WW2: I Was There

[@roconnor01]

What a wonderful gentleman,his mild-mannered, unfussy temperament must have been perfect for the job he had to do. Thank you for defending this dear old country of ours.

[@simonflower6356]

A true English gentleman - a velvet glove over an iron fist. Fascinating interview.

[@pennylane9730]

Britain's greatest generation Their likes will never come again.never. I salute you and all of your generation. Heroes..bless you all. Respect... thank you.❤

[@talkingdonkey1817]

As a young American boy, to me there was nothing more noble, heroic and “cool” as an RAF Spitfire Pilot. Now that I’m older, I realize that I was correct.

[@georgielancaster1356]

Though the fighter pilots rather hero worshipped the bomber pilots. They couldn't believe the cold bravery of flying a slower big target, full of bombs to blow up, for half the flight... The stoic bravery of lining up to fly steady speed and height, as you approach the target, is hellish. Then to stay on that line to take your photograph, before FINALLY trying to protect yourself...

[@TarletonsLegion]

This reminds me of a story about a young English boy who saw American soldiers for the first time arriving in England during WW2. He said to his father that he wanted to be an American soldier when he's older. Once of age he became a U.S citizen. Fought in the Vietnam war. Then sadly died in 9/11

[@covidcol3505]

yes but so do all pilots deserve our respect. hurricanes shot down more planes, and the poles were magnificent. i heard.

[@stewartw.9151]

@@TarletonsLegion You are perhaps referring to Rick Rescorla from Cornwall, England who became director of security for the financial services firm Morgan Stanley at the World Trade Center. A remarkable man and a hero indeed! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Rescorla

[@warringtonminge4167]

​​@@covidcol3505correct on all three points and more. Other nations' pilots also contributed but the Hurri bagged a vastly bigger tally than the Spit even though the Spit is the iconic Battle of Britain or WWII British fighter

[@resnonverba137]

God bless you Mr Scott, and all those like you. Quite possibly our finest generation.

[@jackmason4374]

I now weep for my country !

[@runswithwindz9875]

On reading this comment, tears have run down my cheeks.

[@andyb.1026]

hear hear 🙃

[@andyb.1026]

Oh I dont know,, I'm sure that come the next conflict all the immigrant Blokes (who accept all the myriad Benefits) but dont share our Culture, our Standards . our believes, or religion etc etc will be queueing up to defend their Adopted Country from Foreign Invaders, with their last breath. Tho I'm not holding my Breath

[@robinmcewan8473]

Cheer up. We have plenty of fight left

[@redtobertshateshandles]

Fighting internal enemies. Commie politicians.

[@markmerry1471]

WE can never fully repay you but from the bottom of our hearts we thank you

[@chriscarter5720]

Allan Scott and my fathe (T.C. 'Nick' Carter) were pretty much contemporaries and followed a similar path. After a tour flying air-sea rescue my father was transferred to Spitfires and flew with 234 Sqn in the UK and then 549 Sqn in the far east. Like Allan he came home from the war. Years later he was the inspiration for my own RAF service, and although mine was a 'cold' war, I will always be proud that I served and thank Allan Nick and all their comrades for the freedom we enjoy today.

[@helenel4126]

A hero. All of the pilots were heroes. So were the spotters, the factory workers, the civilians who sacrificed and got on with their jobs, despite the bombing, the rationing, the destruction. These were members of a generation that puts the current ones to shame.

[@robleary3353]

And the Womens Auxilary group who ferried new and repaired aircraft back to the airfields.

[@michaelgardner2581]

People don't understand with out these men we would have been slaves . Thank you very much sir I hope you have had a good life since the end of the war .❤

[@WildMorgan]

We are slaves. Think about it.

[@WildMorgan]

​@@paulhicks6667 Do you have a birth certificate? And do you pay tax? If so, I've got news for you...

[@Kevin-mx1vi]

Hats off to this wonderful & modest man.

[@jeancolapierrearmande3326]

Agree. He doesn’t speak about his victories at all. God bless you, sir!

[@rotorheadv8]

So glad we are able to preserve this history.

[@melanielester2106]

What a gent. I've now watched two episodes with this particular chap talking about his personal experiences during WWII and I have learned so much fascinating information from him.

[@alanmusicman3385]

Hats off to you Allan - the selfless service you and your comrades did this country will forever remain a yardstick for true valour. My dad was in RAF ground crew during the war as a mechanic, but like so many of that generation he would never talk about it, except in very broad brush details - even when he got old and knew he was dying he still refused to talk about it. My mother always thought it was because he didn't want to share the horrors he had seen with anyone and that he wanted to forget them himself. She had - at some stage - said to him that if the horror and futility of war is not shared with younger generations there is a danger that they will keep thinking it is a lark or in some way full of glory - but he wouldn't budge. I guess that the modern media world has (or should have) dispelled any sane person's ideas about combat being in any sense a good experience, but first hand testimonies like Mr Scott's are an essential part of understanding how real people experience war.

[@kathleenjansen2402]

My dad was in the RAF as a mechanic with the reconnaissance unit out of North Africa. He refused to talk about his experiences as he had signed the official secrets act and believed that meant he took his testimony to his grave. He never ate rice after the war and always said it was because of the war. As a mechanic and carpenter he patched up many planes and saw many terrible injuries. He just kept it inside suffering with PTSD the rest of his life. He died in 2000. Still protecting the King, Queen and country with his war secrets. An amazing man, humble and proud.

[@alanmusicman3385]

@@kathleenjansen2402 My dad was much the same - so many of that generation were like that. From our perspective now, in 2023 its easy to incline to the view that they had a naive belief in the integrity of the country's leadership and that they never questioned things - but that's far too simplistic and I suspect that until or unless we have a deeply predatory military force bearing down on the UK every day we are not equipped to understand them properly. Nonetheless we can admire their deep integrity and sympathise with their PTSD struggles for which they got little, if any, help. Even the civilian population had such issues to deal with. I can well remember the look on my mother's face when she told us about her memories of being a teenager being straffed by machine gun fire from a Stukka driver bomber in a North London High street - not just once either. She said that as the plane passed very low overhead she briefly saw the pilot and realised he was not much older than her and the thought went through her mind "You're just like me - why do you want to kill me?" Yeah, the problems we face these days are hard to compare to what that generation went through. Thanks for sharing your story.

[@bobthebeat2008]

LEGEND! Thankyou sir for your service! Tho shalt not forget

[@maxineblick2002]

Great man and a handsome one.

[@susandilaudo9534]

sooo handsome! my goodness!

[@philallen5406]

What an amazing heroic job these young guys did at the time in defending GB

[@tonydavis5628]

Thank you for your brave duty sir to keep Britain safe from tyranny.

[@BestDanTheMan80]

I love how people like this “wanted to fight for there country”

[@letsridehard]

Now these woke leftist imbeciles all seem to hate their countries…

[@Wadaryu1000]

Respect. Lest we forget.

[@Postpunk-cx1ph]

A real gent. So modest he only brought 3 copies of his book to a signing session once because he thought there’d be no interest! He sent me one by post and emailed me back after I said how much I enjoyed it!

[@letsridehard]

What’s the name of his book?

[@Postpunk-cx1ph]

Hi, it’s called Born to Survive.

[@letsridehard]

@@Postpunk-cx1ph thank you!

[@davidpatterson9107]

Thank You Allan,and to all the Services Army, Navy, RAF etc during Ww2.God Bless.

[@letsridehard]

This interview is priceless! ❤

[@JoeSmith-zv4ic]

7:49 is that not a vampire? Lovely to see a vet talking - especially about the RAF. Thankyou for uploading

[@oleandersen2228]

One of "the Few".

[@Venoxisguides]

What an inspirational person

[@dazpike3472]

It saddens me some of these videos with heros of our world have less than 700 views ....... Just like the death and destruction of war this just isn't right

[@antonrudenham3259]

To listen to this marvelous gentlemen and his cool clear unexaggerated desire to defend our country leaves me weeping with rage as I watch from the confines of my living room everything he held dear come crashing down. I served in the army in the 80's and held the same convictions as Mr Scott, I genuinely thought I was doing good but it pains me to think that the likes of Starmer was alive while I served.

[@Lewdogg123]

Great vid!

[@montyzumazoom1337]

Amazing story. My uncle Fred was a rear gunner in a Lancaster Bomber during the war.

[@philipnestor5034]

Men like your uncle saved us!

[@b577960]

There was something special about that generation which I feel is now sadly long gone. Would the modern generation pull together and have the same patriotic pride - I wonder

[@redblack8414]

@b577960 They were living special circumstances then. If the modern generation had to go through similar circumstances, maybe it would surprise us. Who said that ''extraordinary circumstances turn ordinary men and women into extraordinary people.'' ?

[@neilfoster814]

There are few things in your life that even come close to when you do your first solo flight. It's scary, but very exhilarating all at the same time. I remember mine like it was yesterday, but it was actually 12th January 1980!

[@Twister051]

Turned down once for answering "architect", but returns on his own a second time to answer "draftsman"....haha! His tenacity and deviousness to get into pilot training: Boy!, can I ever relate to that. Almost every military pilot has met some kind of setback on the road to getting their wings. Well done, Sir, well done!

[@raytoop3704]

Thank you Sir

[@richarddutchholland4780]

Well, well, well....... what a video.

[@reconassassin4427]

My grandpa was a fighter pilot in the pacific war fought in Burma and Korea and flew aircraft in the raf his whole life both as a fighter pilot and test aircraft pilot he died at 38 and my father never met him. Always wondered about his experiences training and flying in ww2 I found his old pilot log book he had over 5000hrs in the air while in the RAF. After ww2 he moved to Melbourne Australian and started a small aircraft transport company

[@peterhart7433]

A very modest gentleman, heroic men one and all. Thank you, and many more like you, for what you did for our country.

[@WildMorgan]

You didn't strap yourself into a Spitfire. You strapped the Spitfire to you.

[@cs7th]

Excellent video. What a lovely, modest gentleman.

[@benlewis2475]

Legend. What a gent.

[@englishkernigit8294]

God Bless you, Flight. Thank you and Per Ardua

[@northdevonpictures826]

Really enjoyed this interview, these people had loads of mettle. Good on yer, Alan. Anyone know if this man is still alive?

[@martinhambleton5076]

Churchills few. God bless them all.

[@georgebarker3356]

What a hero,could listen to stories like this all day.Thanks for the upload 👏👏👏🤓

[@murilomartins1954]

Thanks, Mr. Scott!!! 🇧🇷

[@mattj9197]

What a legend

[@richardtierney7724]

When I was 9 I took my first flight in a Silver DH Fox Moth off Southport Beach :-) 10 bob. My Mum said when we got back and I climbed out of the tiny 4 seat front cockpit, the smile and look on my face said it all..... I was hooked.

[@julianwatson2301]

Thank you Sir!

[@wekapeka3493]

Too short!

[@CW-rx2js]

Wow you were super handsome, sir! And obviously very grateful for your service :)

[@tjs6363]

True British hero :)

[@martinjeffery3590]

I WOULD JUST LIKE TO SAY SORRY TO ALL OUR VETERANS FOR LETTING THIS COUNTRY BECOME ALL THE THINGS YOU FOUGHT AND DIED TRYING TO PREVENT FOR OUR TOMORROWS

[@calsurflance5598]

There is a reason they call this “The Greatest Generation “!

[@StevieZero]

Hero

[@grahamwatts8836]

My father told the pilots were so young ie 20, the Spitfire was a high performance plane, pilots were thrown in the deep end either learnt how to survive in the sky’s or die.

[@Jason-io5bu]

At 8.34 in the photo with the King George, both are masons handshake

[@tinymonster9762]

June 18th 1940, Churchill to the House of Commons: “… I look forward confidently to the exploits of our fighter pilots-these splendid men, this brilliant youth-who will have the glory of saving their native land, their island home, and all they love, from the most deadly of all attacks.”

[@psk2266]

They were a very few young pilots who saved Britain becoming a colony of Grrmany...

[@georgielancaster1356]

What year is this recorded? That should be in your description box. Year recorded and age. Bit slack.

[@paulmcewen]

We owe so much to this generation they were legends 👍

[@BarrettCarr-r4f]

I noticed that he was wearing the DFM ribbon (Distinguished Flying Medal)

[@davidshattock9522]

Read about ray Holmes and Buckingham palace bomber

[@davidshattock9522]

Swimming bathes at Southland's road.perhaps..

[@roenamorgan5863]

"You were on your own 'sport':U K. G.I., during (world war 2. . .) interview,had a spot 'of humour"8--30--2022'

[@davidshattock9522]

Old boy years back wore his old para stuff tie or blazer to Arnhem day sat at cafe nothing too fashionable owned by older gent asked for bill only to be told your money no good here he asked why to be told he had paid long ago

[@maryoconnell3857]

What a handsome, brave, and incredible man! Defending his country where our American young people are being taught to hate their country!