"The Battle of Britain is about to begin"

The Battle of Britain is unusual in that it was named before it was fought. Its name came from Prime Minister Winston Churchill in his famous speech of 18 June 1940:

What General Weygand has called The Battle of France is over. 

The battle of Britain is about to begin. 

Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilisation. 

Upon it depends our own British life and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. 

The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. 

Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. 

If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. 

But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of a perverted science. 

Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, "This was their finest hour".

The Battle of Britain was the first major campaign fought entirely by air forces. British historians have defined the duration as from 10 July 1940 to 31 October 1940.

The primary objective of Nazi Germany was to achieve a negotiated peace settlement with Britain.

In July 1940, an air and sea blockade began with the Luftwaffe mainly targeting  coastal shipping convoys, ports and shipping centres.

On 1 August 1940, the Luftwaffe was directed to achieve air superiority over the RAF with the aim of incapacitating RAF Fighter Command.

Twelve days later the Luftwaffe shifted its attacks to RAF airfields and infrastructure. 

As the Battle progressed, the Luftwaffe also targeted factories involved in the aircraft production and strategic infrastructure. 

Eventually, it employed terror bombing on areas of political significance and civilians.

By denying the Luftwaffe air superiority over England, the British forced Hitler to postpone and eventually cancel an amphibious and airborne invasion of Britain, Operation Sea Lion.

by Steve Dunster

Why did the Ju 88 Germany's newest bomber suffer so many losses?

During the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe employed three types of level bombers and one type of dive bomber.

The dive bomber was the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka. It was primarily designed for troops support and it was devastatingly successful in this role during the Battle of France. But during the Battle of Britain, the Stuka suffered heavy losses due to its slow speed and it being vulnerable to fighter interception after diving on its target. The Stuka had limited payload and range and when its losses increased they were removed from operations over England.

The Luftwaffe had three bomber types it used for medium and high altitude level bombing, they were the Heinkel He 111, the Dornier Do 17 and the Junkers Ju 88.

Of these the He 111 was used in the greatest numbers and was the slowest. The Ju 88 was the newest and the fastest once it had dropped its mainly external bomb load. The Do 17 had the smallest bomb load.

All three level bomber types suffered heavy losses from British fighters but the Ju 88 disproportionately so.

Germany's newest bomber

The Junkers Ju 88 was developed in the late 1930s as a "fast-bomber" - a concept based on the fact that the Ju 88 would be supposedly so fast that fighters couldn't intercept it.

When the prototype Ju 88 V1 first flew, it achieved 360 mph. Georing (head of the Luftwaffe) was very impressed. Its streamlined fuselage was modelled on the Do 17 but with fewer defensive guns because of the belief that it could out-run late 1930s fighters.

Sadly by the time Luftwaffe planners like Ernst Udet had "improved" it with features added (including modifying it for heavy dive-bombing), the Ju 88's top speed had dropped to 280 mph.

The A-1 series prototypes were given Jumo 211B-1 or G powerplants and was the favoured variant by Georing for mass production. He was promised 300 Ju 88s a month.

Production was delayed terribly by developmental problems, causing service introduction to be over a year late. Only 12 Ju 88s were in service by the time Germany invaded Poland.

Even then, production was dreadfully slow with only one Ju 88 manufactured a week as problems continued.

How bad were the Ju 88 losses over Britain?

By August 1940 Ju 88 A-1s and A-5s were reaching operational units just as the Battle of Britain was intensifying.

Sadly for the Luftwaffe, the Ju 88s higher speed did not prevent its losses exceeding those of the Do 17 and the He 111.

Ju 88 losses over Britain between July and October 1940 amounted to 303 aircraft.
Do 17 losses over Britain between July and October 1940 amounted to 132 aircraft.
He 111 losses over Britain between July and October 1940 amounted to 252 aircraft.

Why did the Junkers Ju 88 suffer so many losses?

A considerable number of the Ju 88 losses were down to the aircraft's difficult behaviour compared with the proven He 111, and the crews' lack of experience on the type. Many crews had only converted to the Ju 88 only shortly before.

Of the 39 losses recorded for July 1940, only 20 were due to enemy action. The others were due to training accidents, crashes or malfunctions over mainland Europe.

A series of field modifications were implemented to make the Ju 88 less vulnerable, including replacing the single MG 15 rear machine gun with a twin-barrelled MG 81Z machine gun and fitting additional cockpit armour.

Arrival of the Flagship Ju 88 A-4

The Ju 88 A-4 went into service only during the closing days of the Battle of Britain. Although the A-4 was even slower than the A-1, it had ironed out nearly all of the problems of the A-1. The A-4 brought in additional improvements including more powerful engines.

It was the arrival of the A-4 that signalled the maturing of the Ju 88 into one of the most versatile combat aircraft of the Second World War. It was eventually used successfully as a bomber, dive bomber, night fighter, torpedo bomber, reconnaissance aircraft, heavy fighter and even as a flying bomb in the closing stages of the War.

by Steve Dunster