World War II - Battle of Britain

1. After Hitler defeated France he decided to invade Britain, this plan was called Operation Sea-Lion.

2. His generals were worried about the strength of the RAF and advised him to wait until the Luftwaffe had defeated the RAF.

3. The Battle of Britain started 10th July 1940 and was fought in skies over southern England

4. The Luftwaffe had four times as many planes as the RAF.

5. The Luftwaffe used Messerschmitts and Junkers, the RAF Hawker Hurricanes and Supermarine Spitfires.

6. Germany’s first plan was to attack ships in the English Channel, Channel ports and radar stations on south coast.

7. Radar, invented by Robert Watson Watt, informed of incoming enemy aircraft.

8. Many radar stations on the south coast were attacked by Stuka dive- bombers.

9. As well as radar, observers with binoculars were on duty day and night, watching and listening for enemy planes.

10. All information was plotted on a large map at Fighter Command HQ.

11. They then decided which RAF stations and anti-aircraft batteries to contact

12. The information made pilots more efficient as they knew where their targets were.

13. The planes were lined up ready for action - when ‘action stations’ sounded the pilots would run to their aircraft.

14. They needed to get planes off the ground quickly so the Germans could not damage them on the ground.

15. The RAF were losing planes faster than they were being built and pilots faster than they were being trained.

16. Pilots from other countries such as Poland, Canada, New Zealand etc joined the RAF to help.

17. Anti-aircraft guns were used to break up the formation of bombers, disable enemy aircraft and hamper bombing accuracy.

18. Women had been trained to use targeting instruments but were not allowed to fire the guns themselves.

19. Then the Germans changed plan and started attacking airfields.

20. Planes were moved to smaller airfields which was not a problem as Spitfires and Hurricanes could take off from grass.

21. Ground crews suffered heavy casualties and many maintenance depots were destroyed.

22. Germans could not fly over Britain for long - they had to return for fuel.

23. During the Battle of Britain a fighter pilot’s life expectancy was eighty-seven flying hours.

24. The RAF were stretched and close to defeat, then German plan changed again.

25. They now started to bomb major cities.

26. This gave the RAF time to repair the airfields and radar stations and focus their fighters on the cities.

27. By October, German losses were very heavy, the weather worsened and Hitler realised the RAF were not going to be beaten.

28. During the Battle of Britain, Luftwaffe lost nearly one thousand five hundred planes - the RAF lost nearly eight hundred.

29. After the Battle of Britain, Winston Churchill said, ‘Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few.’