Why did Britain win the Battle of Britain

There are two phases to the Battle of Britain which contributed to their success in the Battle of Britain.

On the 12th August 1940, the German airforce began its mass bomber attacks on British radar stations, aircraft factories and fighter airfields. During these raids radar stations and airfields were badly damaged and twenty-two RAF planes were destroyed. This attack was followed by daily raids on Britain.

As a result of the effective range of the Luftwaffe, the battle was mainly fought over southern England. Fighter Command No. 11 and Fighter Command No. 12 protected this area. They also received support from the squadrons based in the eastern counties.

Between 1st and 18th August the RAF lost 208 fighters and 106 pilots. The second half of the month saw even heavier losses and wastage now outstripped the production of new aircraft and the training of pilots to fly them. Those British pilots that did survive suffered from combat fatigue.

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During the Battle of Britain Trafford Leigh-Mallory came into conflict with Keith Park, the commander of No. 11 Fighter Group. Park, who was responsible for the main approaches southeast of London, took the brunt of the early attacks by the Luftwaffe.

The climax of the Battle of Britain came on the 30th-31st August 1940. The British lost 50 aircraft compared to the Germany's 41. The RAF were close to defeat but Adolf Hitler then changed his tactics and ordered the Luftwaffe to switch its attack from British airfields, factories and docks to civilian targets. This decision was the result ...

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The Blitz brought an end to the Battle of Britain. During the conflict the Royal Air Force lost 792 planes and the Luftwaffe 1,389. There were 2,353 men from Great Britain and 574 from overseas who were members of the air crews that took part in the Battle of Britain. An estimated 544 were killed and a further 791 lost their lives in the course of their duties before the war came to an end.

There wasn’t any real relationship between Goering and Dowding other than one was head of the RAF and the other head of the German Air Force.

Differences can be seen mainly between their personalities. Goering was an optimist and Dowding was a pessimist.

Hitler knew that the only way he would be able to invade Britain was to destroy the RAF so that there was no air defence. So at first he concentrated his attacks on airfields in the south of England and tried to eliminate the RAF on the ground. This met with limited success as the Radar stations on the south coast could see the bombers coming and were able to get British fighters off the ground before the bombers arrived.

However the airfield and the fighter squadrons suffered heavy losses as the bombers were able to keep fighter support for the time of the raids.

In the second phase Germany switched their attacks to British cities. This gave the fighter squadrons some breathing space. Added to this German fighters did not have the range to stay with the bomber squadrons while over the cities and as a result were unprotected on their way back to France.

The RAF formed their fighters into massed groups known as 'Big Wings' and attacked the bombers on the way back causing massive damage to the unprotected German air force. The losses were so great that Germany eventually called off the invasion plans.

The Battle of Britain was effectively an air war, and took place during a very short period in the Summer of 1940.

The German aim initially was to destroy the RAF on the ground to lead the way for a German invasion of Britain.

Initially the Germans were very successful in severely damaging RAF bases and for a while it was touch and go as to whether the pilots in Britain could hold back the German air force

However the Germans made the mistake of switching their attacks to British cities, primarily London. This left the bulk of their bombers undefended and as a result Germany began to suffer serious losses.