The Random Thoughts of Henry Holloway
Before his early and lamented death, Leslie Howard, one of the most outstanding actors and producers of our day, made two films which were most impressive and which added greatly to the education as well as to the entertainment of the British public. One of these films was entitled, ‘The First of the Few’. The title was, of course, taken from Sir Winston Churchill’s famous words: ‘Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.’ The film drew its inspiration from the life of Leslie Mitchell, the designer of the Spitfire.
Aeroplanes were the passion of Mitchell’s life; but more than that, he was a kind of prophet; he was consumed by a vision. Watching, from the cliffs, a bird wheeling and diving in flight, he thought, ‘That is what I want; that is what England will need, a bird that will do all these things, a bird that will breathe fire - a spitfire’. Mitchell saw that, in time, England would need the fastest and best fighters that could be produced and he put all his powers of mind and heart to the task of making his vision come true. He was a man who had found something bigger than himself to live for.
Mitchell’s health had been giving him serious thought. His doctor advised a rest and change but Mitchell wouldn’t have it. Talking to his wife about it he said, ‘You really believe that this work I am doing is important - I mean more important than us for example?’ At first his wife could not bear the thought of his working until his health would break, and she pleaded with him to have a rest and a change. Appearing to agree with his wife’s suggestion, he said he would give up his work and go away. But she knew as well as he did that the work must goon. ‘You know I really couldn’t give up, don’t you?’ said Mitchell. ‘We must live what we believe.’
So he worked until his health broke down beyond any hope of recovery but he lived long enough to see his design for the Spitfire accepted by the Government and put into production. Mitchell sacrificed his life to the making of Spitfires so that men might live in freedom. He was the first of ‘the few’. Later on, ‘the few’ who won the Battle of Britain, flew the Spitfires for which a man gave his life. In the sacrifice of ‘the few’ lay the salvation of the many.
There is a Greek epigram which says ‘For your tomorrow we gave our today.’ and there is a word of scripture which says, ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’ You and I will be thinking of these things when, on Sunday, we pay our silent tribute to ‘THE FEW’.
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