"Should, God forbid, France fall, we will need every available aircraft and every trained pilot to defend the shores of Britain from the invasion force, which most surely will come". These words, written by Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding to Prime Minister Winston Churchill in May 1940, could not have been more true. There remained twenty miles or so of water between Hitler and Great Britain. If Hitler's Luftwaffe gained control of the skies between France and England, any attempt to send an invasion force across that narrow strip of water would be disastrous. The stage was therefore set for an epic battle to control the skies over the English Channel and Southern England. Although aircraft production had been sufficiently increased, fighter pilots took up to eighteen months to train and it was here the RAF were in desperate need. Unless Britain's pilots could shoot down Luftwaffe aircraft at a rate of nearly four to one, the RAF would be shot from the skies within weeks and Europe would become a secure fortress for Hitler's Third Reich. The defense of Britain and ultimately the free world therefore lay on the shoulders of a few hundred RAF pilots whose mission was to hold out at any cost...this new video tells the story of some of those pilots.
We use cookies to help you navigate our website and to keep track of our promotional efforts. Some cookies are necessary for the site to operate normally while others are optional. To find out what cookies we are using please visit Cookies Policy.