I think the greatest of all human virtues is loyalty. It embraces all the best of the human character: courage, faith, love and charity.

I think the greatest of all human virtues is loyalty. It embraces all the best of the human character: courage, faith, love and charity.

Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men.

Like the Spitfire it was immensely strong: a pilot had no need to fear the danger of pulling the wings off, no matter how desperate the situation became.

We were all flying around up and down the coast near Dunkirk looking for enemy aircraft which seemed also to be milling around with no particular cohesion.

I just made a balls of it, old boy. That's all there was to it.

The sea from Dunkirk to Dover during these days of the evacuation looked like any coastal road in England on a bank holiday. It was solid with shipping.