World War II Greats
04 January 2010
The RAF's most illustrious names line up in the latest RAFBF poll to find the greatest character in the history of Air Force. Dowding, Bader and Gibson battle it out for the title of the Greatest of the Great
Leading the poll with 28 per cent of the vote is Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, with Spitfire ace Sir Douglas Bader bringing up the rear in second. Click here to view the current RAFBF results for yourself.
Third and fourth place are Air Marshal Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris and Wg Cdr Guy Gibson while Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park, recently honoured with a temporary statue in Trafalgar Square is fifth.
Honorary RAF member Sir Winston Churchill is sixth and night fighter ace Grp Capt 'Cat's Eyes' Cunningham seventh.
As always the poll has stirred up a huge amount of interest and controversy.
We like to play Devil's advocate here at RAF News, so were inviting readers to nominate the men and women they think should win the honours.
What about the man whose DFC citation stated: 'This officer has never failed' ?
The heroic Wg Cdr Adrian Warburton, whose involvement in the defence of Malta became legendary may be worth a mention, along with Air Vice-Chief Marshal James Edgar 'Johnnie' Jonhson, the highest scoring Western Allied pilot with 38 kills, and Hunter test pilot and Spitfire legend Sqn Ldr Neville Duke.
Send us your top WWII greats to editor@rafnews.co.uk, marked 'Alternative Greats'.
We'll be publishing the results in the next edition of RAF News.
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