“You ask, What is our policy? I will say; ‘It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.’ You ask, What is our aim? I can answer with one word: Victory - victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.” The Allied air forces based in Great Britain had numerous tactical advantages over the Luftwaffe. These included the use of anti-aircraft guns, the "home field advantage," preference in mission profiles, slight technological superiority, and the use of land-based radar.
Ground-based anti-aircraft fire from friendly allied units provided support for allied fighter and caused another threat for Luftwaffe bombers. A statement issued by the Air Ministry on September 15, 1940 stated that four enemy aircraft were shot down by anti-aircraft fire by 2000 hours. Friendly anti-aircraft units provided an extra threat for the Luftwaffe, gave direct assistance to the Royal Air Force and were a psychological disadvantage for the Luftwaffe.
When Allied fighter pilots were shot down during air battles, they had the ability to either eject or crash in friendly territory where local residents were willing to help the pilots return to action; Luftwaffe pilots who were shot down were most likely done flying for the duration of the war. In August of 1940, the ratio of destroyed planes to pilots reported Missing in Action was 49.14:1. The same ratio for the Luftwaffe during August of 1940 was 1:1.39. This is the combat equivalent to "home field advantage." The Allied pilots were familiar with the terrain, cities and countryside so that if they were forced to "bail out," the chances of them returning to combat were much higher than Luftwaffe pilots. The Luftwaffe had to worry about one more problem that was hardly bothering allied air forces. The high Luftwaffe casualties in comparison to allied forces were a large advantage for the Royal Air Force and its allies.
The only objective for scrambled Allied fighter pilots was to intercept inbound Luftwaffe air raids while the Luftwaffe fighters had to stay with the bombers to provide escort. This gave the Allied fighters much more freedom in terms of the engagement and allowed the Royal Air Force to dictate the engagement. The Luftwaffe fighter pilots were bound by a number of other similar problems also. For example, a dogfight uses a lot of fuel as fighters raise their speeds, roll, and climb. Fuel was something that the Luftwaffe fighter aircraft simply did not have enough of as they had to fly to Britain, engage the Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft and still reserve enough fuel for the flight home, keeping in mind running out of fuel would result in the Luftwaffe pilots being captured as they would be over British soil if they were to eject. The RAF did not have this problem because they could return to their airfield as soon as they reached “bingo fuel” (the state at which there is only enough fuel to return to base with a small reserve to orbit). This gave the Allies a significant tactical advantage; they forced the Luftwaffe to react to their actions as soon as they reacted initially with a scramble. There is no armed force that wants to react to another and the Luftwaffe was no exception. This is simply because it gives the other armed force a tactical advantage.
