This July marks the 69th anniversary of the series of aerialclashes and raids known collectively as the Battle of Britain.Sixty-nine years ago the Luftwaffe fought with the RAF overthe skies of southern England and the English Channel forcontrol of the air which would decide if the planned invasionof the British island could take place.The Luftwaffe had a greater number of aircraft but there wereat least two factors that conspired to work against it. Mostsignificantly was the fact that the force possessed only onetype of single-engined fighter. Although it was very capable,it was hobbled by one glaring deficiency, short flying timedue to limited fuel capacity. Thus pilots flying the machinecould not escort fellow raiders all the way across the Channelover the English coast and all the way to their targets andback safely. As a result many Luftwaffe aircraft were lost.Another factor was the poor decision-making nature of the menin charge on the German side. In June the Germans gave theBritish forces on the continent its last defeat at Dunkirk.They were totally in a state of shock. But the Germans didnot press home the advantage. The German leadership decidedto 'take a break' and that allowed the British, especiallythe RAF to recover. By the time the Germans resumed theiroffensive, there were enough pilots and machines to opposethem. More importantly, the RAF had two types of fighters,one for use against the German fighters and another one totackle the German bombers.It was not really good that some German Luftwaffe commanderswere former WW1 pilots. Many of them were still guided bytheir seat-of-the-pants thinking which was not good at allfor the modern Luftwaffe. A German company had produced aprototype jet fighter as early as 1938, but it was rejectedin a fly-off competition the following year despite bestingits propeller-driven competitor. The plane was simply toofar ahead of its time and the German Air Command was unableto accept it.The Battle started in mid-July with Luftwaffe fighters flyingcover for raiders over the Channel. some British ships wereattacked. The RAF responded by sending its fighters to meetthe raiders. Aircraft from both sides were shot down but, onthe whole, the Germans fared better in the initial encounters.Many future German aces first cut their teeth in these aerialencounters.Soon the Luftwaffe began mounting raids on the radar towersand airfields all along the English coasts. By mid-August theraids had become very intense and the casualties soon mountedon both sides. As the raids moved further inland, the raiderswere not very well escorted by the fighters and the RAF madefull use of the opportunity to shoot down scores of bombers.Added to this was the ability of the RAF fighters to matchthe German fighters in aerial dogfights. Thus, the Luftwaffedid not have control of the air. The absence of a really topfighter like the FW 190, which was still not available at thetime of the Battle, was greatly felt by the Luftwaffe. Many
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