A RAF hero from Penybanc who took part in the Battle of Britain has stressed the importance of honouring those who took to the skies to save the UK from the Germans in 1940 as the nation marks the 75th anniversary of the aerial dogfights.

Ken Hicks, now 93, was just 16 when he joined the Royal Air Force as an aircraft apprentice, and found himself thrown into the thick of the action two years later as the Battle of Britain raged over southern England when the first wave of the planned German invasion was seen off by British and allied fighter pilots.

The young aces took to the air over the Home Counties in Spitfires and Hurricanes to see off Hitler’s bombers and were heralded as the men who saved Britain from the Nazis.

Their efforts earned the undying gratitude of the nation and Churchill’s praise in his stirring “never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few” speech.

Mr Hicks, who grew up in Newtown, Penybanc, was part of the ground crew at RAF Hornchurch repairing the damaged fighter planes having seen his application to become a Spitfire pilot turned down because of poor eyesight.

"I remember it as if it was yesterday,” said Mr Hicks.

“I fought for three months in the Battle of Britain and our squadron lost 17 pilots.

But while life on the ground was not as glamorous as for those who took to the skies it was no less vital to the war effort – and no less dangerous.

“One day, I looked up and saw rows of brown earth jumping in the air on the other side of the airfield,” he said.

The “jumping” earth showed the impact marks of machine-gun fire hitting the ground.

“They were coming towards me,” he said.

“I could actually see them leaving the Dorniers – a type of German plane - at about 6,000 ft.

“I did 100 yards in 10 seconds to the air raid shelter.”

The Germans were aware of the importance of the ground crews carrying out running repairs on the iconic fighter planes and did all they could to disrupt the maintenance work – by dropping land mines on the airfields and maintenance sheds.

He said: “One morning we woke to find, right outside the hangar, a green parachute and attached to it a big black land mine with a clock going ‘tick-tock, tick-tock’.

“I went outside with a towel around my neck to use the tap when I saw this big black bomb.

“Immediately I ran back in to tell the lads and we ran up the road.

“The Navy later came along to disarm it. Then I helped roll it up two planks on to a lorry which then took it to Canvey Island where it was blown up.”

On another occasion he narrowly escaped death when a bomb that landed right outside as he sat in the bath, leaving him covered in glass and brick dust.

Mr Hicks said: “I was like a cat with nine lives.

“I lost many friends.

“It’s important people take the time to remember it– a lot of people these days don’t know much about what we went through.

“As the years go on, it’s more than important than ever.”

Mr Hicks, who now lives in Oxfordshire, is a former welfare officer for the Oxford and District RAF association and was a guest of honour at a Battle of Britain dinner at RAF Benson on Saturday.

He enjoyed a long career in the RAF, being involved in the Berlin Airlift in 1948, as well as serving on overseas tours to Egypt, the Middle East and Capetown.

He was based at RAF Benson when he joined The King’s Flight in 1950 and The Queen’s Flight in 1959.

After several postings to Germany and other bases around the UK, he returned to RAF Benson in 1963 and has lived near the base ever since.