Aces High

my grandad listens to this song. He was an RAF pilot during WWII. He says it sums it up perfectly.

Explanation for Americans: The Supermarine Spitfire was the RAF's (British Royal Air Force) best fighter in WWII (for attacking other fighters at least) and is now legendary and known to almost everyone in Britain. The Messerschmitt was the Luftwaffe's (germen air force) main fighter, and was regularly used for escorting bombers. This song is can't possibly be about Pearl Harbour, because neither the Japanese or the USAAF used either aircraft. After France was occupied by German forces, large areas of England were within bomber range for the Luftwaffe. The song is obviously set during the Battle of Britain, as Axis bombers flew over London escorted by ME-109s, trying to destroy Britain's capacity to resist a land invasion. The Spitfires would have gone after the escorting fighters while Hawker Hurricanes took out the bombers. "Flak" = Anti-aircraft fire "Scramble" = Getting out to the planes and into the air as fast as possible when incoming bombers are detected. RAF pilots would wait inside at their airbase, and a siren would sound when Fighter Command ordered them to take off. Ace = A highly skilled fighter pilot. It's interesting to compare this with The Trooper, which take a very different view of war. They seems to actually celebrate the heroism of the pilots in Aces High. I suppose Iron Maiden recognise that it was not just pointless conflict and that Britain was actually saved from a Nazi invasion.

Is it about the Battle of Britain? I know that the spitfires were British during WW2 but i don't know if the ME-109's were German or not. It would make sense that they were though. The air raid siren, scrambling to get airborne to fight...sounds a lot like the Battle of Britain to me.

I love this part of Churchill's speech they added as intro when playing live: [...] We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, We shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, We shall fight in the fields, and in the streets, We shall fight in the hills; We shall never surrender, [...] June 4, 1940 House of Commons Sir Winston Churchill We Shall Fight on the Beaches

Yeah, I love this song. Is it just me or are all of Iron Maiden's best songs their war songs? "Aces High", "Paschendale", "Where Eagles Dare" and "The Trooper" for instance...

Exactly. This is a truly brilliant song. It's definately about all the dog fights in world war 2 happening during the battle of Britain. That's fight between planes, not literally between dogs by the way. A song about dogs fighting wouldn't be a good song.

WWII and the Battle of Britain. That's this song. ME 109 refers to the Meessersmicht BF 109E series, the choice of aircraft for most of the German aces, though the Flocke Wluff 190 and several other German aircraft were much faster and beter handlers than 109s. That's not to say it outperformed the Spitfire, which was a more stable and reliable plane with more firepower and a better dive and roll capability. But I won't go on a warplane rant here... Great song and a nice tribute to the RAF and everything they did for not just Britain but the world at large. For nearly 3 years, these guys kept the Germans at bay over England and prevented Hitler from following through with the invasion of England, which could have very well succeeded and defeated the Allies in Europe.

the greatest metal band ever. a great song too.

That is damn good point. But they other great songs too

This song is about how The Royal Air Force defended Britain agaisnt over 5000 German bombers in the beginning of WWII "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few" -Winston Churchill