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OK, Ive been reading all these stories and tweets about the valiant "Few" who won the Battle of Britain, and I do feel its necessary to put this myth to bed (particularly for those who have not listened to the @WeHaveWaysPod podcast with @James1940 and @almurray
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Britain was not in any way the "Few" in the Battle of Britain. It was in many ways the superior power that won the battle quickly and at relatively little cost. It was never in doubt.
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First--the Battle of Britain was a combined air-sea war. As such Britain was probably the superior technological power. The Germans had some good kit, but the British had far better air-sea systems. This is the kind of thing @DEHEdgerton has written about for years (see Radar)
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Also, the "Few" was down to an intelligence mistake. Churchill thought the Luftwaffe was twice as strong as it really was. (see next tweet)
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UK: Government Assumptions and the Reality of Luftwaffe Strength, 1940
Air ministry assumptions (12/7)Luftwaffe Reality 13/8
Bombers2550988
Dive Bombers500311
Fighters 15501171
Coastal400108
Other400131
Total54002709
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Air ministry assumptions (12/7)Luftwaffe Reality 13/8
Bombers2550988
Dive Bombers500311
Fighters 15501171
Coastal400108
Other400131
Total54002709
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Moreover the British thought the Germans were building more than three times more aircraft per month than they actually were (1301 as compared to around 400 in reality)
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Actually the British were the superior productive power, and produced many more aircraft than the Germans during the second half of 1940. Between July 1 and December 31 1940 Great Britain constructed 2779 fighters while the Germans built 3106 during the entire year!
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Not only was Britain the superior economic and technological power it was fighting with enormous combat multipliers during the battle, which put the Germans in great disadvantage.
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These were:
1) radar--the British had the best radar system in the world and could tell when the Germans were coming from almost the moment the Luftwaffe took off. The Germans had no element of surprise but did not know who was coming against them.
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1) radar--the British had the best radar system in the world and could tell when the Germans were coming from almost the moment the Luftwaffe took off. The Germans had no element of surprise but did not know who was coming against them.
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2) Pilot recovery. Most pilots shot down came down in Southern England or perhaps the Channel (which the British controlled more often than not). Thus the RAF were able to get many more pilots back into action, while if the German was shot down and not killed, he was a POW
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3) There is what I called in the @WeHaveWaysPod the flying time multiplier. Air combat took place much closer to RAF bases, so the RAF could spend far more time in the air actually fighting. The ME-109s on the other hand could fight for a few minutes than had to turn back.
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If the Germans did have a few more aircraft, these multipliers cancelled out that small numerical advantage and made the British considerably more powerful.
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The Battle lacked all drama--in that the Germans could never have won. They lacked the aircraft to do the job, both fighters and bombers, and did almost no damage to the fundamentals of the UK war economy during the entire battle.
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During the three most intense months of the battle, the Luftwaffe's some total of attacks that did "severe" damage to vital British industry was only 17! Miniscule.
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Here is the British government's own summation of the damage the Germans did to UK air production...
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"There have been no cases of damage which are catastrophic to the industry; but there have been a few cases where certain factories have been severely damaged and their production has experienced a serious but nevertheless temporary setback. In the majority of cases...
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however it will be seen that the damage has been negligible and slight"
In other words--relax, it was not a big deal
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In other words--relax, it was not a big deal
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Ive written about all of this in more detail in How the War was Won
https://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/history/military-history/how-war-was-won-air-sea-power-and-allied-victory-world-war-ii?format=PB
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https://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/history/military-history/how-war-was-won-air-sea-power-and-allied-victory-world-war-ii?format=PB
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So please stop fantasizing about the valiant "few" that wont the Battle of Britain. The Battle was won by the stronger side with superior systems, it was won easily and was never going to be lost.
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