Why did the Royal Air Force win The Battle of Britain in 1940?

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                F.Moynan

                Shell 1

                14/03/02

Why did the Royal Air Force win The Battle of Britain in 1940?

The Battle of Britain was not just a single Battle but a series of many different air battles that took place in the summer of 1940. It was decided by the strengths of the RAF and the weaknesses of the Luftwaffe. The Luftwaffe should have theoretically won, Hermann Goering who was head of the German Air Force was confident because they had more high quality planes (The Messerschmitt 109 and other such fighters) than the British and the pilots were more experienced and well trained. The codename for Hitler’s invasion of Britain was Operation Sealion, it began on 1 July 1940 and was planned to knock out the British Air Bases.

The German force had the advantage as they outnumbered the British Air Force by a considerable margin; the Germans had 1000 fighters accompanied by 1400 bombers as opposed to the 820 fighters of the British. Thought the British had some extremely influential strengths that were to win the Battle for Her.

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Firstly the leaders were significant in the Battle as Sir Hugh Dowding had been making important progress in the British air defence system since 1936 and had some very intelligent ideas that were to prove essential to the outcome of the Battle.

Command and communication systems (which he himself had introduced this new invention) were very useful for sending orders directing the fighters to enemy fighters. He also was the introducer of the bulletproof glass for pilots’ windscreens, this was a small part to the campaign but very substantial to the success of the safety of pilots ...

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