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After the German Blitzkrieg steamrolled France in a matter of weeks, things were looking pretty dark for poor, isolated Britain. Repelling the Nazi invasion of the islands would rely upon the bravery of a handful of skilled aviators, observation, wing design, silk, and Hitler’s dumbfuckery.
--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: October 31, 1940--
After the evacuation at Dunkirk, which the Royal Air Force did provide air cover for, despite that prevailing myth, the Battle of Britain began as the attacks by the Luftwaffe (Germany’s air force) were intended to force Britain into either an armistice, or full surrender. Churchill and the RAF weren’t having it. Because fuck Nazis.
The German plan was to first wipe out Britain’s air power, and then consider an amphibious invasion. But that operation never came about, because the RAF kicked some Luftwaffe ass. How? First, the RAF fighter pilots were well-trained volunteers. To become an “ace” you needed to shoot down five enemy aircraft. Almost 200 airmen achieved that distinction during the battle, and four pilots became aces in a single day of fighting. These dudes were badass.
Second, they had the home-field advantage. Any German aircrews who were shot down and parachuted to the ground spent the rest of the war in a prison camp, but a British pilot making his silky landing had some farmer drive him back to his base so he could jump in another fighter plane and shoot down more Germans.
Another was that the Spitfire, a primary fighter craft of the RAF, had a tighter turning rate than the German Messerschmitt due to a curved wing design. The latter had some other advantages, but the Spitfire had a slight edge in a dogfight. While Spitfires engaged in dogfights with enemy fighters, RAF pilots in “workhorse” Hurricane fighters focused on destroying German bomber aircraft.
More important was whom saw whom first, and this is where the Observer Corps came in. Using a combination of rudimentary radar and a chain of people with binoculars scanning the skies, they could report enemy locations to RAF pilots in their fighters so they could dash in and send the Luftwaffe invaders off to Nazi Hell.
Then, a “fortunate” accident. During one engagement a German bomber, apparently by accident, dropped bombs on civilian areas of London. The Brits were all “blow up our civilians, will you?” and retaliated with a not-terribly-successful bombing raid on Berlin to do the same. Hitler was pissed—how dare those limey fucks bomb his capital!—and shifted strategy away from attacking RAF airfields and aircraft manufacturing, and toward blowing up Londoners for some payback. Prior to this, the RAF had been struggling from the constant German onslaught focused on wiping them out, but the shift in strategy gave pilots the respite they needed to get more men and planes ready to counterattack.
Before long the RAF fighters were shooting down German bombers faster than they could be replaced. To avoid being shot down, the Luftwaffe shifted to night bombing of London and lost the chance to attain air superiority over Britain. The Germans would continue to night-bomb London for several more months, but any chance of a German invasion of England was lost. Victory in the Battle of Britain was declared on October 31, 1940.
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So right about the two primary planes of the Brits and their duties (the Spits mostly going after the accompanying German fighters; the Hurricanes mostly designated for the bombers...although they obviously both did double duty). I also appreciated your pointing out the fatal mistake of shifting the German bombing to London and other cities (after being pissed off by the Berlin bombing), giving the RAF some much-needed breathing room to recover from a nearly depleted force. Thanks. Michael