85 years since 1940: a pivotal year in history, as Iron Maiden themselves remind us in their own way, since some of their songs take us back to the dramatic and crucial events of that period. Let’s analyse two tracks that tell the story of the Royal Air Force (RAF)and its role in the Second World War: Aces High and Tailgunner.

A Preamble: Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, and the Blitz

Professional historians, history buffs, and film lovers will know what I’m talking about. In late May 1940, the German Wehrmachtsurrounded the British and French troops on the beach at Dunkirk. The entire United Kingdom watched the evolving maps of the conflict in the newsreels with bated breath: black arrows indicating the Germans multiplied and converged on that beach, and kept advancing and tightening their grip.

Then something shifted, and under the leadership of the new, gritty Prime Minister Churchill, a miracle occurred: a fleet of small boats, the famous “little ships,” supported the Navy and allowed almost the entire British army and a part of the French one to be saved. Following this great feat, Churchill delivered his famous speech “We will fight on the beaches,” which Maiden fans know well: traditionally, the most spirited part of that speech introduces Aces High during live concerts.

But it didn’t end there: the United Kingdom refused to surrender (“We shall never surrender!”) and leave the Continent to the Third Reich. As a result, Field Marshal Göring unleashed the might of the German Air Force, the Luftwaffe, against Great Britain in an attempt to force the nation into submission. First, supply convoys, radar installations and ports were attacked, then the RAF itself, whose bases were bombed. Heroic young men in fighter aircraft like the Spitfire and the Hurricane and heroic young women acting as plotters in the control rooms, the auxiliaries of the WAAF, sacrificed themselves and resisted the attacks of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters and bombers: this was the Battle of Britain.

The Germans then upped the ante and, starting on 7 September 1940, began to bomb London and various British industrial centres: this phase of the war became known as the Blitz (from Blitzkrieg, “lightning war”, an intensive and rapid combined attack by all armed forces). As many of you may know, London alone was bombed for 57 consecutive nights.

It was no use: the British did not give up. For the first time, the Third Reich’s war machine had to desist. The British would, of course, make the Germans pay for the Blitz in the months and years to come, first with Vickers Wellington bombers, then with the more famous Lancaster and Halifax.

Aces High

A few decades later, a boy who grew up in the East End of London was seeking inspiration for a song that would end up changing musical history.

The East End and East London had been ravaged by the Blitz, as they were home to the docks on the Thames. The memory of that year between 1940 and 1941 was still palpable, sometimes even visible when this boy, a certain Steve Harris, began his musical career.

Who knows, maybe in this boy’s mind there was also the memory of the grandfather of a friend who recently left the band, a certain Paul Andrews/Di’Anno: his grandfather was, in fact, an RAF pilot (see Remember Tomorrow). But, above all, I suppose that Harris saw in those pilots a great example of heroism. Smiling young men between the ages of 17 and 25 who jumped into the cockpit to defend their base, their home and their homeland, even though they knew they had an average life expectancy of just four weeks. At that age, Steve and his friends were thinking about football and music, certainly not about stopping the Germans and trying not to die.

Steve Harris thus gives us Aces High, one of the band’s most famous singles and an homage to the RAF fighter pilots. The song catapults us into those adrenaline-fuelled moments experienced by young heroes, who had to fight both to avoid being hit on the ground during an attack on their base, and to intercept enemy fighters and bombers. The song is one of those classic pieces with a galloping, uplifting rhythm, and it opens one of the band’s so-called “perfect albums,” in my opinion, the extraordinary Powerslave.

The single’s cover perfectly reflects the content: Eddie is sitting in the cockpit of a historic Supermarine Spitfire fighter, recognisable by its characteristic roaring Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. Behind him, a German plane crashes, another plane meets the same fate completely in flames, while a pilot bails out with a parachute. An English fighter is banking instead.

The lyrics are a simple but vivid description of a fighter pilot’s mission, from the sound of the siren (which indicates a bomber attack, as the alert for pilots was a simple bell) to the combat. The use of the word “Bandit” is interesting, as it was the RAF radio slang for an enemy aircraft, while for their own aircraft they used terms like “Friendly”. To better appreciate the lyrics, I recommend watching two films: Battle of Britain (1969), with an exceptional cast (Christopher Plummer, Michael Caine, Laurence Olivier, Lawrence Fox, Ian McShane…), and Angels One Five (1952), whose title refers to the RAF slang for altitude (15,000 feet, in this specific case).

Finally, the title is a stroke of genius. Aces refers to those pilots who shoot down at least five enemy aircraft. High has multiple meanings:

• the altitude at which the combat took place;
• the high number of enemies shot down, a symbol of their success;
• and the high status that aviation aces had within society. If you want, you can also see a reference to poker, which I’m not an expert in.

A brief concluding note: there is also a 1976 film with the same title as the song, Aces High (in which Christopher Plummer appears again, much to the delight of us ladies). This, however, is about the nascent British air force in the First World War rather than the Second: at the time, the very infancy of aviation, there was an average life expectancy for a pilot of fifteen days, compared to the approximately four weeks of 1940-1941. I obviously recommend watching that one too, to understand where the RAF and the mindset of its pilots came from.

Tailgunner

A few years later, Steve Harris decided to write another song inspired by Second World War aviation, this time with Bruce Dickinson, who also has a master’s degree in history. Their attention shifts to a different figure, perhaps less celebrated and romantic than the fighter pilots: the tail gunners, part of the bomber crews whose job was to defend the plane from enemy fighters. As already mentioned for the fighter pilots, bomber crews also had a tragically low life expectancy: only about a third of the airmen who began training managed to survive the war. The gunners, moreover, were particularly exposed and were often hit even when their plane managed to return to base.

The song, in this case, opens the album No Prayer for the Dying, a record that tends to divide and often disappoint fans. The rhythm is less galloping, and the sound changes significantly thanks to the arrival of Janick Gers in place of Adrian Smith, making the sound less bright and less adrenaline-fuelled, less uplifting. If you think about it, the song could easily fit on Balls to Picasso (like other songs on the album, after all).

The lyrics present a novelty compared to Aces High: the mention of the horrors of war that enriches the description of the mission. It is a very indirect mention, but it is there: it refers to the horror of Dresden, razed to the ground by a firestorm caused by the RAF itself (Trace your way back fifty years – To the glow of Dresden, blood and tears) and even to that of Hiroshima (Enola Gay). In this song, the humanity of the enemy is recognised: there is a philosophical question about who really started the war, who fired the first shot. If Aces High is a just and fitting ode to those who fought without shame, in Tail Gunner there is not only the adrenaline-fuelled and quite explicit description of the gunner’s job (Nail that Fokker, kill that son – Gonna blow your guts out with my gun), but the moral ambiguity of bombing as an act of war is also acknowledged.

Of course, a line like The weather forecast’s good for war – Cologne and Frankfurt? Have some more, hahaha! may sound horrible to those who did not live through those years. But if we put ourselves in the shoes of young men who lost loved ones due to bombing and who were horrified by the ideas of National Socialism, it becomes easier to understand how many young people chose to fight on a bomber. The line refers to the fact that a clear sky was a necessary condition for a night bombing mission.

The single’s cover shows Eddie in the tail turret of a heavy bomber, probably an Avro Lancaster or Handley Page Halifax. The machine gun he holds has four barrels, representing the Browning 0.303-inch machine guns, which were the standard armament of the British bomber tail turrets. Unlike Aces High, where Eddie was in a Spitfire with an expression of rage mixed with triumph, here he is in a very exposed and vulnerable position. Flames shoot out from the turret, and his face is marked by despair and terror.

Conclusions

I hope you enjoyed discovering the stories behind two of Iron Maiden’s iconic songs, in commemoration of the eighty-fifth anniversary of the Battle of Britain and the Blitz. The history of music, in this case, is inextricably linked to that of our past, giving us unique and touching perspectives on events we must never forget. The history (social, political and medical) of the years 1900-1945 is one of my specialisations, and it was a joy for me to share my analysis with you.

If you are a fan of history and cinema, here are a few recommendations:

• The two Dunkirk films (1958 and 2017), which tell the story of the “little ships” miracle in two very different ways. The 2017 one includes some well-recognisable tributes to the 1958. I am aware the British aren’t fans of the 2017 one; however, I appreciated them both. Feel free to leave a comment on the topic on the Facebook or Instagram page Antonio Biggio!

• The Darkest Hour (2017), with Gary Oldman as Churchill.
• The two episodes “The Empty Child” and “The Doctor Dances” from TV series Doctor Who, which offer an interesting take on the Blitz. We get to see not only the so-called “Blitz spirit” of the middle class, but also the perspective of society’s last ones. Have your tissues ready, though!

In my next articles, I am going to write about other Iron Maiden songs related to the two World Wars. If you have requests, questions, or observations, just leave a comment on the Facebook or Instagram page Antonio Biggio.

Finally, to honour the memory of these heroes, you can support the RAF Museum by “sponsoring” my Battle of Britain 85 Challenge. Donations will support various educational history projects, the purchase of essential materials, and the repair of books available in the library. You can do so by clicking here.

If you’d like to read a story that also talks about the RAF (from chapter 29 onwards), rich in references to Iron Maiden and other artists—completely for free—I recommend my fanfiction titled Remember Tomorrow (Tears for remembrance, Tears for joy)—a clear reference to the Maiden ballad. It is an alternative and more realistic version of the film The Sound of Music, but you don’t need watch the film or be a fan to read it. The story is a journey through Austrian, Italian and British history, with elements of comedy, love, drama, tragedy and war scenes. You can find the story here and here (you might have to create a profile as the story is rated M).

If you like, you can also follow me on Instagram, where I talk about languages (Italian, English and German), history and politics, medicine, and music, and I share photos of beautiful landscapes and architecture.

See you again on this blog with my next articles!