Probably the second most important factor which helped Britain win the battle was the technology the RAF had and used. The RAF had the radar, which the Germans had decided to develop to use. It gave the British a massive advantage, able to sense Luftwaffe aircraft at a distance, determining their height, distance and strength. With this information the RAF was able to intercept them with appropriate force and protect their airfields, towns and cities. It also meant that RAF planes would very rarely be caught on the ground in an air strafe. The Germans had thought they had destroyed the British radars after several successful hits, but the radars were only damaged, and could be repaired quickly.
Another technology the British developed which the Germans didn’t have was the ‘bullet proof aircraft windscreen’. It gave the RAF a slight advantage in dog fights and helped Britain hold of the German Luftwaffe advance.
The tactics of the British were also superior to the Germans. Hermann Goering kept changing his bombing targets, not allowing enough time to thoroughly destroy individual targets so that the British could just repair instead of rebuild.
He made a massive mistake though in accidentally bombing London. Churchill ordered a retaliation attack on the Germany capital Berlin the following night. The British bombers blitzed Berlin and its citizens very badly.
Another mistake of Goering was to launch a huge Luftwaffe air armada to try and defeat the British RAF once and for all, but this attack failed and the Luftwaffe was significantly weakened.
One good tactic of the Luftwaffe was their flying formation, nicknamed ‘the swarm’. Planes flew in twos or fours so they had effective cover when one of them was being attacked. But the British tactics were very good all round and this helped them overcome the Germans in the Battle of Britain.
Another factor which helped Britain win the battle was their weapons. The two British planes, the Spitfire and the Hurricane were very fast, manoeuvrable and effective. The only Luftwaffe plane which came near to comparing was the Messerschmitt 109. However the Germans managed to destroy a significant amount of RAF planes on the ground and had a much larger number of planes to begin with, which seemed to give them an advantage in the battle.
But Dowding doubled fighter production during the battle to counteract the losses. The Germans also failed miserably to protect their bomber aircraft, leaving them as easy targets for British fighters.
The Luftwaffe bombers also carried too few amounts of fuel, enough to guarantee them merely 30 minutes of flying time over Britain.
A further British strength was with pilots. As the battle was happening over Britain any British pilots who bailed out could land safely and go back into service. But German pilots who bailed out would become POW’s, and no longer be of use to the Luftwaffe. And although the British pilots were outnumbered and exhausted, they possessed great courage and resolve and managed to fight of the German onslaught.
In conclusion, Britain’s great air force leader Dowding helped them immensely to win the Battle of Britain through his superb leadership and tactics, whilst Luftwaffe leader Goering lacked the ability to lead as successfully. The British also developed vital technologies like the radar which helped them greatly. The RAF also possessed better weapons and pilots than the Germans.
