in the summer of 1940 the skies above
southern england became
a battlefield the battle of britain is
on
girding is pouring his air force across
in waves to try and break our spirit
for three long months the luftwaffe and
the raf went
toe to toe in a battle for air supremacy
with britain's survival
the last hope for occupied europe
pilots sat at the control of aircraft
that would become
legends of aviation history on both
sides
so today we're gonna take a look at
eight iconic aircraft
of the battle of britain we're not gonna
rank them but you can
in the comments below let's start with
something obvious
the spitfire the brainchild of reginald
mitchell
the spitfire entered service in august
1938 but it became
an icon the first spitfires were
delivered to number 19 squadron at what
is now an iwm site
at raf duxford an all-metal airframe
made the spitfire light
and strong it was fast too and
responsive crucially though
it was a good match for the luftwaffe's
messerschmitt bf109
which we'll come to a bit later on by
september 1940
spitfires were in service with 18 raf
squadrons and over the course of the
battle of britain
they shot down a total of 529 enemy
aircraft
for the loss of just 230 of their own
but despite the spitfire's reputation
that doesn't make it
the most successful raf fighter in the
battle of britain
that crown belongs to the hurricane
where the spitfire was pace
and elegance the hurricane was rugged
tough and steady
its design a wood and metal framework
with the back covered in fabric
was actually a relic of previous
biplanes and was pretty out of date when
the battle started
but its old-fashioned design made it far
easier to maintain
and repair than the spitfire where
possible hurricanes were directed
against german bombers
leaving the spitfires to deal with the
fighter escorts
by september 1940 33 squadrons were
equipped with hurricanes
making it the most numerous aircraft in
raf fighter command
the hurricane accounted for 656 german
aircraft during the battle of britain
making it by far the raf's most
successful fighter
together the hurricane and the spitfire
were the twin bastions of raf fighter
command's defense in 1940.
jeffrey payne was one of the few pilots
to fly both
aircraft so who better to sum up the
difference between them
i tend to give an example of the bulldog
and the greyhound
the hurricane being the bulldog and the
greyhound being the spitfire
wonderful tough working
animal and the other one's a sleek fast
dog but i think their characteristics
were comparable to the dog world
at the opposite end of the spectrum was
the bolton paul defiance a two-seat
fighter
with a four gun power operated turret
sluggish
outmoded and with no forward firing
armament
the defiant proved highly vulnerable to
enemy fighters during battles over
dunkirk in france
in july and august 1940 fighter command
rashly sent two defiant squadrons
into action the result was catastrophic
an aerial massacre
and guaranteed that the defiant would
play no further role as a day
fighter in the battle of britain but
what about the opposing side
in 1940 the messerschmitt bf-109 was
arguably
the best fighter in the world designed
as an ambush predator to attack from
height
the bf-109 had even the spitfire for
diving
and altitude but its range was limited
it couldn't get much further than london
and it had only about seven
seconds worth of cannon ammunition at
the start of the battle of britain the
luftwaffe had 1100 109s
by the end some 650 had been lost
the messerschmitt bf-110 was a
two-seater
long-range heavy escort fighter or
zestura
destroyer they were fast and well armed
but they lacked maneuverability
a key weakness against those nimble
fighters of raf fighter command
the bf-110 turned out to be more
effective flying low-level attacks
against factories
and airfields but the germans failed to
see this potential and only ever trained
one luftwaffe unit
in this dual fighter bomber role
speaking of bombers
the skies weren't the only hunting
grounds for the luftwaffe during the
battle
of britain they also needed to destroy
fighter command's operations
on the ground and for that they needed
to send
bombers but the luftwaffe's bomber force
in 1940
was a bit of a mixed bag first up the
heinkel he-111
it was designed in the mid-1930s but it
was obsolescent by the time of the
battle of britain
it was slow poorly armed and its bomb
mode was insufficient for a strategic
bombing campaign
it was acutely vulnerable then to raf
fighters
but structurally it was seriously tough
the heinkel could soak up
huge amounts of punishment dissed out by
raf fighters
and would often return to base riddled
with hundreds of bullet holes
next up the juncker's ju-88 which was
probably germany's
most modern bomber in 1940 originally
designed as a fast
medium bomber its design suffered from
interference from above
ernst udette deputy to the luftwaffe
head hermann goring
demanded that the ju-88 be capable of
dive bombing
but this extra weight reduced the
aircraft's performance
it was vulnerable then to raf fighters
during the battle of britain
but matured over the course of the war
into one of the luftwaffe's most
versatile aircraft and finally the
junkers ju-87
the stuka designed to deliver pinpoint
bombing attacks
in a near vertical dive the stuka
achieved much notoriety
during the blitzkrieg victories of 1939
and 1940
but while in poland and france the
luftwaffe had had air superiority
the skies over britain were a different
story
after a few initial successes the stuka
suffered heavily against raf fighters
on their worst day the 18th of august
1940
12 ju-87s were shot down and many more
were damaged or written off
such heavy losses then meant the stuka
was gradually withdrawn
over the course of the battle so there
you have it
that's eight iconic aircraft from the
battle of britain
let us know your ranking or if we missed
any aircraft that you love in the
comments
below make sure you like and subscribe
to the imperial war museum's youtube
channel
and we'll see you for the next one