For the first time, the Luftwaffe faced a first-class opponent. Two superb fighters would bear the brunt of the coming battle. The Spitfire was one of the greatest fighters of all time. It had been introduced in but was still around to shoot down a German jet aircraft Me in It became the symbol of the Battle of Britain.
The Hurricane was larger and slower, but like the Spitfire, it could turn inside the Bf Bf pilots, if they could, attacked from altitude, which gave them an advantage. The RAF had several force multipliers, the most important of which was radar. The German Navy made limited use of radar. However, the incompetent Udet had rejected radar for the Luftwaffe in because it did not fit with his notions of air combat. Dowding was an early champion of radar. Britain had a chain of 29 RDF stations along its southern and eastern coastlines.
The radar was effective for more than miles out. The RAF knew when and where to respond, and could delay scrambling its fighters until the last moment. Yet another RAF force multiplier was high-octane fuel. When the war began, both the Luftwaffe and the RAF were using 87 octane aviation fuel. It boosted the performance of the Merlin engines in the Hurricanes and Spitfires from 1, to about 1, horsepower.
He was the oldest of the RAF senior commanders—intensely private, eccentric and obstinate, but a leader of exceptional ability. It was on his authority that the first British radar experiments with aircraft had been carried out.
Dowding was unbending and thus not favored by the politicians in the Air Ministry. Fighter Command, headquartered at Bentley Priory in the London suburbs, was organized to fight in four groups.
The largest was 11 Group, covering southeastern England and the approaches to London. Park, an excellent officer but, like Dowding, not attuned and responsive to the politicians.
The other two groups had lesser roles—southwestern England was covered by 10 Group, and northern England and Scotland by 13 Group. German officers gaze across the English Channel at the white cliffs of Dover. Germany would employ two main air fleets. Its Bf fighters were concentrated in Pas de Calais, across from Dover at the narrowest point of the English Channel.
Luftflotte 2 also had bombers and fighters elsewhere in northern France and Belgium. Goering and his staff consistently underestimated the RAF. In early August , Goering insisted that the British had no more than to fighters. In fact, Fighter Command on Aug. When France fell, Hitler ordered a strategic pause, believing the British would accept a dictated peace on his terms.
The Luftwaffe mounted sporadic bomb raids on southern England and shipping in the Channel. However, in the official reckoning, the Battle of Britain began July 10 with a fighter engagement over the channel; the Luftwaffe lost 13 aircraft and the RAF The German Navy said Sept.
On Aug. Finally recognizing the value of the radar sites, the Luftwaffe tried to destroy them, but did so by aiming bombs at the radar towers, which were easy to replace and almost impossible to hit. The radar site buildings where the trained operators worked would have been easier targets but were seldom attacked.
In yet another mistake, Goering told the Luftwaffe to ignore the radar sites and strike at other targets. The RAF lost 58 airplanes in July, but the full fury of the battle was yet to come. With great fanfare, Goering declared Aug.
Unfortunately, I am one who does not believe that it is going to do the slightest bit of good. They flew more than 2, sorties that day, the most of any day during the Battle of Britain.
The German high command claimed 99 RAF fighters destroyed in the air. In actuality, the RAF lost 34 fighters while shooting down 75 German airplanes. The fighting on Aug. This had the effect of freezing some German fighters in place for air base defense, limiting the number that could be committed to the attack on Britain.
After the defeat of Germany in WW I, the service was dissolved in under the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles. During the interwar period, German pilots trained in violation of the treaty in secret. Throughout the history of the Third Reich, the Luftwaffe had only two commanders-in-chief. When the Second World War began, the Luftwaffe was one of the most technologically advanced air forces in the world. In the summer of , the Luftwaffe contributed to the unexpected success in the Battle of France.
During the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe, despite causing severe damage to the Royal Air Force's infrastructure and British cities during the subsequent Blitz, did not achieve air superiority.
The Defence of the Reich campaign gradually destroyed the Luftwaffe's fighter arm. Despite its belated use of advanced turbojet and rocket propelled aircraft for bomber destroyer duties, it was overwhelmed by Allied numbers and a lack of trained pilots and fuel. Production of bombers was also pursued so that by Germany had 3, air craft at its disposal. Yet the flaw behind the imposing German air force was its principle design as a short-range tactical air force meant to work in concert with advancing armies.
This design foundation was not conducive for long range strategic bombing missions which the Germans embarked upon during the Battle of Britain. London after-hours event, 12 Nov.
Learn more. London Photography Night Shoot, 19 Nov. Cosford Photography Night Shoot, 26 - 27 Nov. Watch that prop…what prop? Dammit, chaps — who remembered to bring this thing anyway?
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