How did Britain win the battle of Britain in the second world war?

Answer 1

http://www.war-experience.org/history/keyaspects/battle-britain/default.asp

Answer 2

on the initiating of the 2nd international war Britain had the only authentic protecting air tension interior the international.All others have been aimed in direction of helping floor assaults subsequently the U. S. had the U. S. military Air tension.the main purpose of fighter command became to shoot down the enemy .Radar performed an substantial place yet became at cases bombed and out of action.What gave the British a great benefit became the Royal Oserver Corps.hundreds of volunteers with quiet primitive kit sat beside telephones watching the skys.the telephone equipment set up became the eqivilent of the well known-day internet.on the time no the place in the international had an identical equipment feeding information. on on numbers,top,velocity and direction of incoming assaults.This meant that the RAF didnt might desire to fly patrols they might only direct planes the place they have been mandatory.The Germans first objectives have been RAF airfields and the RAF devised a sparkling approach of parking planes on the floor in 'E' fashioned bays which meant if one section became hit the different a million/2 and its planes have been un broken.one and all of those issues might look primitive on the instant yet on the time have been revoluntionary and blended with the braveness and decision of each and every of the pilots worried thoroughly wiped out the enemys benefit in numbers.pc projections have shown if Hitler had no longer grew to become his interest to bombing London the consequence might have been the comparable.on the top of the conflict of england the RAF had two times has many planes as on the initiating production approaches had stronger lots the German Luftwaffe have been decimated.

Answer 3

As the long, hot summer ran into October, the German daylight bomber losses became too heavy. Their bomber force started to operate only at night, and the damage they caused to Britain's cities was enormous. Many civilian organisations were set up to help deal with the wounded people and damaged buildings.

The German raids continued, but the RAF had started to develop night fighters equipped with radar which could tackle the problem. The first AI (Airborne Intercept) radar sets were being fitted to Blenheim, Defiant and Beaufighter aircraft, and proved increasingly effective as the equipment developed and operational experience increased.

During the day, German fighters, mostly Me 109s but occasionally Me 110s, were sent over carrying bombs in small and large scale Jagd-bomber or "Jabo" raids. Largely these nuisance raiders were aimed at engaging the RAF fighters and disrupting defensive operations over the South-East. Defenders, tired from the night attacks, were stretched still further by these raids. They flew fast and high and were difficult to intercept. The radar warning was not long enough to allow a Spitfire to climb to this height from the ground, so the RAF had regular patrols between 15,000 and 20,000 feet. This was a costly and inefficient use of the aircraft and pilots, exactly the situation the control system had helped to avoid during the earlier phases of the Battle, but German losses began to increase. The weather also began to worsen and the raids stopped in late October.

The Germans then realised that the RAF could not be defeated in 1940. Germany was also preparing to attack Russia, so Operation Sea-Lion was cancelled indeffinitely and eventually abandoned altogether. The Battle of Britain was over. Strangely, for such a ground breaking Battle, the first to be decided purely in the air and the first real test of air power as a defensive and offensive weapon, it did not really end, so much as petered out

Answer 4

October 31st 1940 now goes down as the official date as the end of the Battle of Britain, even though Germany add the additional phases that include the bombing of London.

As far as combat action was concerned, the latter part of September and on into October 1940, were far less intense than the days leading up to September 15th. The combined efforts of Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding, Air Vice Marshal Keith Park, Air Vice Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory, the Air Ministry, the 2,935 pilots that took part as well as the thousands of personnel that manned the radar stations, filter rooms and the operation rooms. The refuellers and armourers and fitters that kept the fighteraircraft in the air. All the combined efforts of these people proved that by working as a team, they could attain victory over an enemy that was fighting for all the wrong reasons.

My own opinion is that it was teamwork, teamwork of all those who had even the slightest portion of responsibility. Fighter Command themselves, in particular Dowding and Park, but let us not forget the other Group leaders, Leigh-Mallory, Brand and Saul. The whole responsibility of Fighter Command lay on the shoulders of Sir Hugh Dowding. We must admire him even those who would not agree with many of his decisions. His task was not an easy one, taking on the might of the German Luftwaffe when it was at its peak, with an air force that that had had no experience in combat, pilots that had had too little training and with not enough planes. With Keith Park in charge of 11 Group, they together weathered the storm, between them they had done their best with what little they had. But their ideas, tactics and decisions would not have borne fruit if it were not for the pilots who were there to carry them out.

Do not forget others who made this victory possible. The radar plotters at the Chain Home and Chain Low radar stations, the WAAF who worked tirelessly at operations HQ, the telephonists, the armourers, the refuelers, the army who had to repair signaling equipment and the damaged airfields, right down to the batmen, the fitters, the mechanics and the cooks. The Battle of Britain was an epic that had no planned script, yet it had a cast of thousands, and each person that took part must be given credit for its success.

Answer 5

lots of good points made here ,but one or 2 others to add.
First .The Germans planners (Goering) underestimated the task ahead.The fact that they used Stukkas in early raids ,that were slow and cumbersome and easily picked off by RAF fighters.
Second .They underestimated the British use of radar.
Third .For the first time they were engaging an enemy that was not only defensive but also offensive.Something they did not expect.
fourth :The Germans assumed the RAF would run out of pilots ,and never took into account the use of overseas fighter pilots.

Finally you only have to look at the huge operation involved in the D Day landings to see how underprepared and badly thought out the Battle of Britian was from a German point of view .The invasion of Britian should have been Hitlers number one priorty once he started his assault on Britian.As it was the Germans ended up fighting The British in N Africa,The Soviets in the East and Germany was subjected to a constant bombing campaign from Britian .Once the US became involved Hitler found himself fighting 3 major powers There was only ever going to be one outcome and Eastern Europe payed a price of 40 odd years of Communism .

Answer 6

1. We had invented and constructed our RDF system. (sadly we now use the American acronym Radar).
2. We had organisation, this effectively used the vital RDF information to be able to use the RAF Fighter Squadrons effectively.
3. We had great planes, the rugged Hurricane made up the majority of our fighters but we also had the superb Spitfire in enough numbers.
4. We had a remarkable force of dedicated, skillful and brave pilots to fly those wonderful planes.
5. We were British.

Answer 7

It amazes me that people focus so completely on the air battles over Britain in WWII, to the complete exclusion of anything else. The Battle of Britain was not won by a few brave men in fighter planes, it was won by millions of brave and defiant people putting up with privations and difficulties caused by the bombing, by thousands of merchant seamen braving the rough seas to bring vital supplies to those millions, and by thousands of Royal Navy seamen defending them and patrolling the North Sea and Channel to ensure that at no time did the might of the German Army have an opportunity to get across it and launch an invasion.
Doubtless RAF pilots were incredibly brave and resilient, but to portray them as the only ones who stopped the Nazi's ending the war in Europe by conquering the United Kingdom, is to forget the contribution of everyone else, perhaps not so heroically portrayed, certainly not so historically recognised but invaluable nonetheless..

Answer 8

By the time the Germans were over Britain, they could stay 10 minutes and had to return.
The British had some very courageous pilots.

Answer 9

The RAF proved to difficult for the Germans to eliminate and the Germans made a tactical error by switching from bombing airfields to bombing cities which allowed the RAF to get more aircraft into the air to meet the enemy. Also there was a good warning system with radar and observers.

Answer 10

Well radar and the British intelligence system helped. The Royal Navy prevented a quick amphibious attack by the more powerful German army at the time. Weather moves from west to east usually so Brits had a better grasp of the days weather (essential if you're a pilot). Brit fighters had longer loiter time than German who would arrive low on fuel. Brit pilots could ditch and reasonably expect to survive, downed Germans usually were on way to POW camp. Dowding (British) better commander than Goering (Germany). Despite all this the margin of error was quite slim, Brit guts and grit certainly played its part.

Answer 11

By Gorings supidity. He thought that
1) The Radar Stations where quickly repairable so shifting the attacks from them in the early stages, when they where very vunerable to Stuka attack
2) By misreading the intelligence and the over exageratted claims of how many fighters where being destroyed
3) By misunderstanding the ability of Hawker and Vickers being able to produce fighters to replace losses so quickly
4) Switching attacks from bombed bases and not returning quick enough to keep them knocked out
5) By not identifing the key 'Sector' stations in the RAF chain and concentrating attacks on them so knocking out the communications that controlled the fighters
6) By switching attacks from the RAF stations in September to City attacks, especially London
7) By not allowing the fighters freedom to open roam the skies and tieing them to the bomber streams and giving them poor opportunity to use their ability properly
8) Keeping older tactics which the RAF had come across in the 12 months prior to the attack and had an effective combat scenario to counter the Luftwaffe tactics
9) Persisting on using a TACTICAL airforce instead of developing a STRATEGIC airforce for the use against cities
Finally
10) Using quickly constructed airstrips in France, Belgium and Holland which where unsuitable for the aircraft at the time and had poor facilities for repair of aircraft