History of the Battle of Britain

 

The Battle of Britain was the biggest Air Battle ever fought in the history of the human conflicts. It took place between july and november 1940 and was won by the Royal Air Force (RAF). This represented the first major German loss on the WWII and changed its course.

After the fall of France in june 1940, Hitler turned its attention to his last enemy in the western Europe, Great Britain, whose morale had been affected after the Dunkirk defeat. During the Battle of France, the results of the confrontations between the RAF and the Luftwaffe were completely favourable to the German. Their pilots had gained experience and developed several manouvers during the Spanish Civil War. That was a great advantage over the unexperienced RAF pilots.

During the Battle of Britain however, things changed considerably, since the British were fighting for their country and their people against a possible Nazi invasion (Operation Sea Lion). Above all, they needed to gain the air supremacy.

The Battle was divided in five phases:

In the first phase, tthe Luftwaffe attacked the British ships convoys that crossed the English channel, whilling to attract the RAF fighters to combat. The second phase was the fighter against fighter. In the third phase, the Luftwaffe placed a huge air raid against all air fields, industrial centres and industries, using for the first time all their bombardiers and fighters power, which had never been really tested before. The fourth phase was the one in which Great Britain most required the support of its people: with the Blitz, London and its surroundings were totally destroyed by continuous German bombardments. The fifth phase represented the British reaction and the clearer skies in november of 1940; the Operation Sea Lion was cancelled.

These were the most important dates of the Battle:

July 10th: Beginning of the Battle; august 13th, Adler Tag, the first big Luftwaffe attack; september 9th, beginning of the British reaction.

The RAF airplanes were the Supermarine Spitfire IA, Hawker Hurricane MK I, Bristol Blenheim, Boulton-Paul Defiant and the Gloster Galdiator. The Luftwaffe used the - Heinkel He 111, Junkers Ju 88, Junkers Ju 87 Stuka, Messerschmitt Bf 109 E4/3 and the Dornier Do 17. The biggest air confrontation was between the Supermarine Spitfire IA and Messerschmitt Bf 109 E4. Despite of the German loss, only 180 Bf 109 were destroyed against 219 Spitfires.

During the Battle of Britain, the two most valuable pilots were Adolf Galland and Johnnie Johnson. Adolf Galland, the most feared Luftwaffe pilot, achieved 57 victories in the Front of the Channel. He flew the Messerschmitt Bf 109 E4/N (Wk nr 5819) and was the Geschwaderkommodore (squadron commander) of the III/JG 26 squadron. Defending the RAF, Johnnie Johnson flew the Supermarine Spitfire IA and achieved 38 victories. Johnson only participated in july and august; because of an injury in his shoulder, he rejoined his squadron in december 1940.