Battle of Britain

• Germany was going to invade by air first before invading by air. Pg. 12

• Was called operation Eagle. Luftwaffe would keep Royal Navy ships out of
English Channel, then destroy all the RAF planes as they protected the navy.
Then launch operation Sea Lion, invasion of the British Isles. 12

• Luftwaffe had 4,000 plus aircraft ready to go; RAF was battered and was weak.
They were out numbered about 4 to 1. Pgs. 23-26

• The British used Hawker Hurricane fighters, Supermarine Spitfire fighters,

Bristol Beaufighter bomber/fighters, Vickers-Armstrong wellington bombers. Pg.
45

• The Germans used Dronier Do 17 bombers, Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers, Heinkel

He 111 bombers, Junkers Ju 88, and Messerschmitt Me 109 and Me 110 fighters.
(The Me 110 was used as a bomber later on.) pg. 44

• British were helped very much by Radar, used to locate German planes on their
way to Britain. Provided quick warning for the British pilots. The Germans didn’t
know at first about how good the British radar was. A lot of times the Germans
would reach Britain to find British fighters waiting for them. At first radar
stations were piloted by civilians unable to fight, but later on they were manned
by the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. Without Radar the British would probably
have lost the Battle of Britain. Pgs. 31- 33

• The British had only 500 planes before it started but the British factories soon
started making about 400 fighters a month. Pg. 20

• The RAF didn’t have many experienced pilots, so they took a lot of precautions
to keep them alive. RAF lost over 100 pilots over the course of the campaign.
Pgs. 20-21

• The British withstood the greatest aerial attack in history. Pg. 43

• Canadians, Australians, men of Polish and French air forces, and American
volunteers fought too. Pg. 43

• Operation Eagle was cancelled; therefore Operation Sea Lion was postponed
and later cancelled. Pg. 43

Spartacus Educational: RAF

• The British were closer to their airfields; the German planes could not stay over
Britain for more than 30 minutes.
 • They were also helped by ULTRA, which provided intelligence information.

• Battle was mainly fought over southern England.

Periodical

• July 10 was 1st major attack.

• Outnumbered british pilots drove off their german counterparts and bombers.

• Shot down 13 german planes.

• Began at dawn hitting south and east coasts of England, more attacks later in
the day on shipping convoys, later at night some hurricanes spotted bombers
trying to attack a convoy but broke through the 50 fighters protecting them and
shot two down. When second wave came the ships anti-aircraft guns started
shooting and spitfires arrived to help. Even though they were outnumbered the
british pilots proved their superiority.

Online 2

Two days later it became clear Hitler had indefinitely postponed Operation Sealion - his plan
to invade Britain.

British intelligence decoded a message from the German General staff to the officer
responsible for loading the transport aircraft earmarked for the invasion ordered him to
cease the operation. Without this equipment there could be no invasion.

Air raids continued over London and the south east of England into October and the German
bombers inflicted considerable damage and casualties.

But they were also losing planes faster than they could repair or replace them and switched
to night-time raids.

As summer gave way to autumn and worsening weather conditions, the Germans realized
the RAF could not be beaten in 1940 and as Germany was preparing to attack Russia,
Operation Sealion was cancelled.

The actual number of planes lost is far lower than the RAF and Luftwaffe claimed at the
time. In fact only 60 German aircraft were shot down on 15 September.

In total the RAF claimed to have shot down 2,698 German planes. The actual figure was
more like 1,294. The RAF lost 788 planes - far fewer than the 3,058 the Luftwaffe claimed.

During WW2, RAF commitments were stretched to their limits due to the extent of the operations and their role
became primarily defensive. However, their success in aerial developments continued and during the Battle of Britain,
Goering, threatened to wipe the service from the skies. The order was not successful. Increased developments,
including new long-range aircraft, had provided an edge for Britain particularly in tackling the threats presented by U-
boats. Life expectancy for British pilots was still low at four to five weeks, and the public remained in awe at their
bravery and heroism in the face of adversity.

Read more: http://modern-british-history.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_royal_air_force#ixzz0ErdaLURD&B