The Battle of Britain in 1940 was the
biggest air battle ever fought in the history of armed conflict.
After the fall of France Hitler hoped to sign a peace treaty with
Britain allowing the Germans to dominate Europe, and ultimately
attack Russia in the East. Being rebuffed by the British, Hitler and
his senior military advisers formulated Operation Sea Lion. This was
to involve an invasion of Britain after the Luftwaffe had attained
total domination over the RAF. As plans evolved for knocking out the
RAF, the Germans began assembling a large number of airfields in
Holland, France, and Belgium to be used for the attack. In their
arsenal the Germans had more than 800 medium range bombers including
the Heinkel He-111, the Junker Ju-88, and the Dornier Do-17. They
also had more than 200 Ju-87 Stuka dive bombers, and more than 900
Bf-109 and Bf-110 fighters to escort their attacking forces. The
British had far less than 1000 defensive aircraft at their disposal
with Hawker Hurricanes outnumbering Supermarine Spitfires about
2-to-1. Despite the German’s numerical superiority the British had
at least five advantages in this epic Battle. First, radar allowed
the Brits to determine where to target its fighter defenses. Second,
when British aircraft were downed many of the pilots were recovered
and returned to flight duty. When German aircraft were downed the
pilots became British POWs. Third, the BF-109, Germany’s best
fighter, had limited range, and generally could spend only about
twenty minutes over British soil before having to return to Europe.
Fourth, the British dispersed their defensive forces widely into
many small groups, eliminating the ability of the Luftwaffe to
deliver a knockout punch on the ground. Fifth, the RAF pilots were
surprisingly well trained, and while few in number were supplemented
with volunteers from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Poland, South
Africa, and the United States. Also important was the tenacity of
the RAF support staff that kept an amazing amount of the aircraft in
the air. The man most responsible for the British victory was Air
Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, head of Fighter Command. In the first
phase of the Battle the Luftwaffe focused its efforts on knocking
out RAF airfields. The RAF lost 50 fighters in the first 10-days.
This resulted in modified tactics permitting looser formation flying
similar to that employed by the Germans. The Germans suffered too
with the Bf-110 and Ju-87 proving particularly vulnerable. In August
Hitler authorized a massive attack called “Eagle Day” that was
designed to obliterate the RAF by attacking coastal radar stations.
Again the German effort fell far short and later in August the
Germans had one of their worst days losing 75 aircraft on Black
Thursday. In late August the German tactics changed again with the
focus now on destroying RAF fighters in the air. In a two-week
period ending on September 6, the RAF lost 466 fighter aircraft,
taking the Germans to their closest point of victory during the
Battle. The turning point in the Battle is generally acknowledged to
be September 7 when the Germans shifted focus to general attacks on
London. This gave the RAF a breather, and on September 15 they took
down 60 Luftwaffe aircraft. The losses on the 15th convinced the
Germans that their strategy had failed and they slowly retrenched
their attacks. September 15 is celebrated in Britain as Battle of
Britain Day.
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Collector Sized Lithograph:
$40
16" x 11 1/2"
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Giclee on Canvas:
$445
18'' x 27''
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