The Luftwaffe under its commander Hermann Göring, operating mainly from airfields in Belgium and France, had a total of about 2,670 planes, 1,015 bombers (Junkers JU-88s, Dornier DO-17s, and Heinkel HE-111s), 350 dive-bombers (Junkers JU-87 Stukas), 930 fighters (Messerschmitt ME-109s), and 375 heavy fighters (Messerschmitt ME-110s). Against this huge force, the RAF commander Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding counted no more than 650 RAF Spitfires and Hurricanes in 52 squadrons.
Types of planes
There were many different planes used on ether side. The main British planes were the Spitfire, Hurricane, Blenheim, Beaufighters, Defiant and Gladiator.
The main German Luftwaffe planes were: the Dornier Do 17, Heinkel He 111, Ju 87 Stuka, Ju 88, ME or BF 109 and ME or BF 110.
How it started
Following the fall of France in June 1940, Britain was on its own against Hitler's forces, and for a while Britain's only good defence was the RAF's Fighter Command, which had been kept in reserve at bases in the south of England. With his ground forces halted at the English Channel, Hitler launched an attempt to win command of the skies over Britain by aerial bombardment, as a return fire to the destruction of British naval and airborne defences and the invasion of the British Isles by sea (Operation Sealion). The forces engaged in the massive air battle that followed were uneven.
What happened?
The heavy air attack on Britain, on July 10, 1940, involved wave after wave of fighter-escorted bombers targeted against the shipping and harbours of southern England. This reached a climax on August 15, when 76 bombers were shot down with a loss of 34 RAF fighters. The second phase of Marshal Hermann Göring's offensive, targeted at British air defence installations, from August 24 to September 6, German raids destroyed 466 Hurricanes and Spitfires, with 103 British pilots killed and 128 badly wounded, a quarter of the total British pilot strength. German losses may have been twice as many as the British, but at this point the hard-pressed RAF was within a whisker of defeat. Fortunately, on September 7, Hitler and Göring suddenly switched the Luftwaffe's attacks to London, in response to a British bombing attack on Berlin. London was attacked on 57 continuous nights. The Blitz which killed around 45,000 British civilians, gave the RAF time to repair its ruined airfields and concentrate once more on effective defence.
In its attacks on London and other British towns and cities, the Luftwaffe had such gigantic losses that Göring was forced to switch to night bombing. It was clear to the British that this was an acknowledgement of the Luftwaffe's failure to win in the daylight. When, on September 14-15, RAF Bomber Command succeeded in destroying huge numbers of ships the Germans had assembled across the English Channel, Hitler stopped all preparations for Operation Sealion. It was a turning point. The last German daylight attack took place on September 30: the Luftwaffe continued to bomb British towns and cities nightly for months afterwards, but it had lost the contest for control of the air space over the British Isles. Although the Royal Air Force was greatly outnumbered, it succeeded in blocking the German air force through superior tactics, advanced air defences, including radar, and the penetration of German secret codes.
About Radar
Outnumbered though they were, the British forces had certain advantages that were to prove crucial as the fighting progressed. First, the British fighters were faster and more manoeuvrable than their German opponents. Secondly, just before the outbreak of war, the British had constructed a chain of radar early-warning stations which enabled them to measure the strength and course of incoming enemy aeroplane formations and concentrate superior numbers of their own forces to meet them. Radar also enabled the British to get rid of constant patrols, a vital saving in fuel and human energy. Thirdly, the British were flying from home bases with home-controlled lines of communication, allowing them to constantly use and refuel short-range fighters in the continuing battle, whereas the Germans had to return to French airfields. Fourthly, a British pilot shot down unwounded over Britain could be back in action within hours, while a German pilot was definitively lost.
The Conclusion
In the end Britain won by killing and shooting down more enemy pilots than Germans did.
The great loss of pilots made Hitler pull back his forces and change his plans to conquer England.
