![]() The Luftwaffe focused too much on using dive-bombers such as the Ju 87 StukaĪs dive-bombers were so accurate in putting bombs directly on compact targets, Ernst Udet, the technical chief of the Luftwaffe, insisted every bomber have dive-bombing capability. Ultimately, however, the battle would prove to be about more than who had the most aircraft. Initially, the Luftwaffe’s aircraft totalled more than 2,500, outnumbering the RAF’s 749, though Britain managed to step-up the production of fighter planes, building them faster than Germany. The Battle of Britain consisted of several phases, with Germany’s widespread attacks designed to lure British fighter planes into action and inflict heavy losses upon the RAF. It worked best in the short, fast “lightning war”, supported by air strikes – dominating Britain at length was not the kind of mission it was experienced in conducting. The Luftwaffe’s fighting strength was Blitzkrieg ![]() With this accomplished, the Nazis then hoped to be able to force Britain to the negotiating table or even launch a ground invasion across the Channel (Operation Sea Lion), a risky proposition for which air superiority was a precondition.īut the Germans underestimated the RAF and this, coupled with some serious miscalculations, would prove to be their undoing in the battle for Britain’s skies.īruno Loerzer, Hermann Göring and Adolf Galland inspecting an air force base, September 1940 (Image Credit: German Federal Archives / CC). The clash was Germany’s attempt to achieve air superiority over Britain. The movement of Allied vessels in the English Channel was soon restricted as a result of British naval and aircraft losses. It began on 10 July when Luftwaffe chief Hermann Goering ordered attacks on shipping in the waters between England and France, as well as ports in southern England. The Battle of Britain between the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Germany’s Luftwaffe took place in the skies over Britain and the English Channel during the summer and early autumn of 1940, the first battle in history fought solely in the air. After the defeat of France in June 1940, only the English Channel stood between Nazi Germany and Britain. It had taken Germany less than two months to invade and conquer most of Western Europe.
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