What was the secret to winning the battle of Britain?

Answer 1

Basically there was an argument over this between Keith Park & Trafford Leigh-Mallory. By and large the Spitfire squadrons defended against the escorting Messerschitt 109s while the Hurricanes were used to attack the bomber streams, and they, the Hurricanes, were a very good gun platform. The 109s had limited time in the air over Britain, but generally they could outclimb anything, the Spitfires had a better turn, which was important in the dogfight. As for the strategy, did the fighters attack over the coast or over the target areas ? If thay were scrambled too early would they have time over the target to defend it best, or do you wait for them to arrive before committing the defenders ? This was eventually resolved by what was called the Big Wing, groups of Squadrons operating together & intercepting en masse. By this time Dowding had been discarded by the RAF, but he was instrumental in preparing for the defence of Britain. The turret mounted Boulton-Paul defiant was not successful in its role of attacking the German bombers. As a by word Douglas Bader preferred the Spitfire Va to the Vb because it was armed with machine guns rather than cannon, it appears from recent research that he was finally shot down over France by friendly fire ! And if I remember rightly it was Leigh-Mallory who favoured the Big Wing, something that Bader advocated in support of. The fact remains that had the Germans not diverted their attentions from the sector airfields in the South of England and attacked the cities by night, the Blitz, they were really winning the battle in the air, but the attrition was too great to be maintained.

The key strategy for the Germans was to gain air superiority over the English Channel, so that when the Royal Navy tried to prevent an seaborne invaison the Luftwaffe would be able to attack the British home fleet. Initially the germans tried to draw the RAF out into the channel by raiding the costal ports

Then attacking the British airfields with bombers the Luftwaffe were able to drag the RAF into a battle of attrition as they could not afford to lose their fighter bases and their workshops.

When Hitler ordered the atttacks on London it is now bwlieved that he thought that Fighter Command were no longer an effective fighting force owing to the large number of reported kills by the Luftwaffe.

By switching his attacks to London he was initiating his invasion plan. 2 weeks of ariel bombardment to reduce the British Morale before the tide was right to send in his troops. However when it bcame clear that the RAF was nothing like a spent force he was forced to abandon his land attack and continue the Blitz indefinately as a face saving exercise.

Answer 2

The Battle of Britain was fought and won by the RAF over the skies of south-west Britain due to a dogged perseverance from the few against the many. The change from attacking airfields and to bombing London, gave the RAF a breathing space and allowed them to reorganise their forces. To bomb London, instead of keeping on bombing the airfields, was a German mistake that helped Britain (even at a terrible cost in civilian life). Eventually, Hitler turned away from invading Britain, and towards attacking Russia instead.