Goring had gathered more than 750 fighters, including the nimble but short range Messerschmitt Me-109 and the twin engine Me-110, to escort more than 1300 Heinkel He-111 and Dornier Do-17 bombers along with 300 of the infamous Junkers Ju-87 Stuka dive bombers which had sown destruction in Poland and France. Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding, chief of Royal Air Force Fighter Command in comparison could only muster around 700 Supermarine Spitfires, Hawker Hurricanes fighters and other obsolescent types in defence. During the ensuing four weeks, dogfights raged daily, a number of merchant ships were sunk by the marauding Germans and the Royal Navy relocated most of its ships and personnel to Portsmouth from Dover. The Luftwaffe failed, however, to sufficiently erode the strength of the Royal Air Force.
Early in the battle the British came fully to appreciate the value of accurate intelligence and a new early warning device called radar, both of which provided advance notice to them of incoming German air raids. It was also quickly determined that the lumbering Stukas were unfit for air to air combat, proving to be easy prey for RAF fighters. Although they had lost 300 planes, while half that number of British aircraft had fallen, the Germans considered their initial operations sufficiently effective to begin round two of the aerial preparations for invasion.
Der Adlertag
Still confident of victory, German airmen often sang a jaunty tune with the lyric, ‘Wir fliefen gegen England’(‘we are flying against England’). Goring scheduled Adlertag, or Eagle Day, for the 13th August 1940. The second phase of the Battle of Britain was intended to bring the RAF to its knees, through the systematic bombing of its airfields in southern and central England, the destruction of the 300 foot towers and installations which comprised the early warning radar stations strung along the English coastline; and, finally, the elimination of the planes and pilots of Fighter Command.
On Eagle Day itself, the Germans lost 46 planes, and the RAF 13. However, a week of nearly continuous daylight aerial combat followed. Citizens below could see the swirling vapour trails of the dogfighting planes. Occasionally they saw the puff of an exploding aircraft or the long, black trail of a burning machine as it hurtled towards the ground. At times, it actually seemed to be raining spent cartridges from machine guns and cannons of both sides. Though its actual losses may have been fewer than those of the Luftwaffe, Fighter Command was being stretched to breaking point. Young pilots were often thrown into combat with only a few hours of flying time, facilities had been bombed and strafed, and the rigours of combat had taken their toll on the remaining airworthy planes.
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