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Nov 18, 2022 · In this full series supercut we see what it was like during the battle for Britain’s skies and how the RAF held on and repelled German attac...more. Outnumbered and outgunned RAF Fighter...
- 139 min
- 2.9M
- War Stories
Battle of Britain" re-creates with incredible detail the greatest air battle in history, when the outnumbered British Royal Air Force defied insurmountable o...
Oct 18, 2023 · By June 1940, Britain stood alone. France had surrendered; the Allies faced a humiliating retreat from the beaches of Dunkirk. Hitler had s...more. This fascinating history documentary tells the...
- 2 min
- 4.8K
- BBC Select
May 8, 2024 · What happened in the Battle of Britain? In the Battle of Britain of 1940 the German Luftwaffe repeatedly attacked Britain with fighter and bomber aircraft but ultimately failed to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force.
- Mark Cartwright
- What Led to The Battle of Britain?
- Watch | 3 Myths About The Battle of Britain
- What Did The Battle of Britain Mean For Hitler’s Plans?
- How Strong Were The Raf and Luftwaffe in July 1940?
- What Was The Luftwaffe's Plan?
- Who Were 'The few'?
- Not All of The Battle of Britain Pilots Were British
- Raf Pilots Generally Received Less Training Than Their German Counterparts
- Women Played Vital Roles in The Battle of Britain
- The Spitfire Was Not The only Raf Fighter
Within a few hours of each other, on 3 September 1939, Britain and France declared war against Nazi Germany following its invasion of Poland. With the exception of a brief French incursion into Germany, a few notable naval actions and some small-scale bombing raids, the opening months of the conflict were remarkably quiet. As such, the period gaine...
Faced with what he saw as stubborn intransigence on the part of Britain, Hitler planned to force its surrender by bombing, naval blockade or, as a last resort, invasion. But to do this he needed to gain mastery of the skies over Britain, which meant knocking out the Royal Air Force (RAF). Only then could a large-enough bombing campaign be mounted t...
In July 1940, Hitler ordered plans to be put in place for a seaborne invasion of Britain, which was given the code name Seelöwe or ‘Sealion’. The invasion plan was seen very much as a last resort. Hitler hoped that through blockade, bombing and the threat of an invasion, he could break the British will to fight. 1. What was Operation Sealion, Hitle...
The German Air Force, or Luftwaffe, consisted of three Luftflotten(‘Air fleets’), deployed in an arc round Britain from Normandy to Scandinavia. During the Battle of Britain they had about 2,800 aircraft, two-thirds of which were bombers. The Luftwaffe had already defeated the air forces of Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and the RAF cont...
The aims of the two sides were relatively straightforward. The Germans planned to bomb key British military, industrial and, later, civilian targets, thus devastating Britain’s ability and willingness to fight. They also reasoned that, as the RAF would have to respond to these attacks, its fighter force would be worn down until the numerically supe...
RAF fighter pilots were a cosmopolitan bunch, very different to the public school ‘Tally Ho’ chaps they’re popularly seen as. In fact, of the almost 3,000 pilots that flew during the Battle of Britain, fewer than 200 were public-school educated. The rest came from a wide variety of backgrounds – bank clerks, shop assistants and factory workers all ...
About 20 per cent of Fighter Command’s aircrew came from overseas: New Zealanders, Canadians, Australians and South Africans took part in the Battle of Britain, and they were joined by volunteers from a variety of nations including neutral countries like Ireland and the US. Vital contributions were also made by pilots from Nazi-occupied countries –...
At this time, all German aircrew had to undergo at least six months of basic training; British pilots rarely got more than a month. German aviators received up to 80 hours’ training at specialist bomber or fighter schools, and took part in simulation sorties and mock battles before seeing combat. RAF pilots were lucky if they got more than about 20...
Many worked in factories building the aircraft that actually did the fighting while one out of every eight of the pilots in the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), which delivered planes to stations across the country, were female. One of these was the accomplished Amy Johnson, who died in 1941 when the aircraft she was flying crashed into the Thames es...
For many, the sleek and slender Supermarine Spitfireis the enduring symbol of the Battle of Britain. Indeed, at the time, just a glimpse of its silhouette in the sky gave hope to those below, who knew that Fighter Command were on the scene, tackling the enemy over Britain. But the Spitfire was not the most significant plane in the RAF: Britain's nu...
- 3 min
5 days ago · Battle of Britain, during World War II, the successful defense of Great Britain against unremitting and destructive air raids conducted by the German air force from July through September 1940, after the fall of France. Learn more about the Battle of Britain in this article.
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Key points. Following the defeat of France, Britain and the empire was left to fight Germany. To successfully invade Britain, Germany needed to control the skies over the English channel. This...
