The Churchill Series - Feb. 22, 2006

(One of a series of weekday posts on the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

On the morning of Sept. 21, 1940 Churchill sent the Secretary of State for Air, Sir Archibald Sinclair, the following note:

Pray have a look at the Air Ministry communiqué issued in this morning papers. It includes the following:

"The enemy formations were engaged by our fighters, but cloud conditions made interception difficult. Reports so far received show that four enemy aircraft were shot down. Seven of our fighters have been lost, the pilots of three being safe."

It is very unwise to let the Germans know that their new tactics have been successful and that they resulted in our losing seven fighters as against four.

We do not, of course, want to conceal our losses, at the present time when we are prospering, but surely there is no need to relate them to any particular action.

No doubt after that morning there were many at the Air Ministry who were more careful about what they said to the press.