Question #c375d

1 Answer
Nov 10, 2017

The Battle of Britain was a confrontation between the two air forces of England and Germany for the control of the air space occurred during 1940.

Explanation:

As soon as Nazi Germany consolidated her conquest of France it was clear that the last remaining adversary was England.

Plans (operation Sea lion) were prepared to invade the British Isles by mean of a landing operation through The Channel. This operation to be successful required the total control of the air space above the battleground and prompted a huge aerial offensive of the Luftwaffe aimed to:

1) Destroy the fighters’ force of the British;
2) Destroy the airports and landing grounds through bombing;
3) Destroy industries and civilian targets by bombing to reduce the military production output and demoralize the population.

Due to the superior technical capability of the British the battle soon turned in their favor.
The British had a superb fighter aircraft, the Spitfire, and had a secret weapon, the Radar.

Although small in number, the RAF (Royal Air Force) fighters could be directed promptly towards the German attackers pinpointing their exact location using the Radar and engaging them before they were even in sight of their objectives. This helped to maintain a high rate of readiness among the RAF pilots that didn't need to fly for hours without sighting any enemy and over-using their aircraft that for this needed less maintenance and were always ready in maximum number.

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[A personal interpretation of a Spitfire and Radar tower during the Battle of England (1:72 Model from Airfix)]