Military history contains numerous watershed moments. There was the Battle of Cannae in 221 B.C., the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, the Battle of Yorktown in 1781, the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836, the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, and the Battle of Verdun in 1916, just to name a few. During the late summer and early fall of 1940, a raging battle erupted high up in the skies over England. It became known to history as, The Battle of Britain, and it was one of the most prodigious fights in all of recorded history.

After the Fall of France on June 22 1940, Great Britain stood alone against the seemingly invincible Nazi German military juggernaut. Germany’s dictator, Adolf Hitler, had expected the British to sue for peace and give him a free hand in Europe to rule as he pleased. Instead, ther British told the little Austrian paper hanger to “Stick it where the sun don’t shine.” They were bound and determined to fight Germany until the bitter end. Fuming with resentment, Hitler then ordered his generals to prepare invasion plans for that defiant island nation. They did. Those plans called for a series of barges and steamers to ferry 110,000 troops across the English Channel and occupy Southern England. They would then capture airfields and landing grounds where reinforcements of food, fuel, ammunition, and fighting vehicles could be flown in to augment the first wave of assault troops. In order to keep the powerful Roval Navy from disrupting the invasion force, German submarines would lay thousands of mines on both the eastern and western ends of the English Channel. This invasion was code-named: Operation Sealion. However, before this could be accomplished, the Royal Air Force, would have to be obliterated by the German Luftwaffe. This was the only way to ensure that the German invasion troops would have constant air cover as they advanced deeper and deeper into England.

So, the Battle of Britain pitted the German Luftwaffe in a head to head confrontation with the British Royal Air Force for control of the air over England. At stake, was no less then the very survival of Western Civilization itself. For ten solid weeks, the entire world held its collective breath to see who would emerge victorious. 

As the two respective forces lined up to duke it out, the German Lutwaffe appeared to have an overwhelming edge; at least on paper. At the time, it was the largest and most powerful airforce in the entire world. By July of 1940, it was comprised of the following: 1107 single-seat fighters, 357 two-seat fighters, 1380 twin-engine bombers, 428 dive-bombers, 569 reconnaissance planes, and 233 coastal planes, for a whopping total of 4,074 front line aircraft.