The Battle Of Britain: How Britain Fought The Blitz Bombings | Full Series | All Out History
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ก.ย. 2024
- The Battle Of Britain was the UK's desperate fight for survival against the seemingly unstoppable Third Reich. Using never before seen footage from the 1969 film, discover what it was really like to fight in this monumental moment in the Second World War.
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Years ago, back in India, I worked as Secretary to an ex-RAF pilot. He told me, please don't ask me about the War. I lost my family in the Battle of Britain. Rest in Peace dear Sir. The world owes a deep debt of gratitude to the bravery of men like you.
.
Jesus Christ saves
He had mercy on me he can save all who all seek him today He made away through calvery repent of all sins today
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Come to Jesus Christ today
Jesus Christ is only way to heaven
Repent and follow him today seek his heart Jesus Christ can fill the emptiness he can fill the void
Heaven and hell is real cone to the loving savior today
Today is the day of salvation tomorrow might be to late come to the loving savior today
Holy Spirit can give you peace purpose and joy and his will today
John 3:16-21
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Mark 1.15
15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Hebrews 11:6
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Jesus
My Uncle was a tail-end Charlie.
When I was about 9 years old I asked him what happened, but he told me that he was ground crew, and never went in the air.
But my cousin, his daughter had told me before what he had done.
Even at that age I got the message he didn't want to talk about it.
I bet you've got some interesting tales from India Hazel...?!? 👌🙏👌
the greatest generation britains there has ever been , they stood and said no, we all know the outcome. when i spoke to family and friends many years later , these people would not be easily be beaten, i am so proud of
Rip to all those brave men and women who fought for their country were proud of each and every one of you
One of the most important battles, possibly the most important, of WWII. If Britain had sued for peace or been defeated in the air, Hitler would have almost assuredly taken control of all of Europe, including Russia. Without the Western Front to tie up German divisions, the full force of the Wehrmacht would have forced Russia back behind the Urals and most of Russia would have been subject to Nazi administration. "So much owed to so few" is one of the most earned tributes of WWII.
Great to hear that. I would opine that BoB was the most important battle of WW2. Without British victory there would have been no second front, or American involvement in Europe. Therefore there would have been no D-Day. Moreover, America would not have been able to prevent the Japanese from invading India. The world would now be a different and Nazi place.
Especially as you also had japan coming from the east and they made it as far as china maybe more
@@marklelohe3754 D-Day was to save western Europe from Stalin.
Respect to the British, Free French, Free Polish, Australian, Canadian and all other brothers in the air that died fighting the nazi’s to help save Britain 🇬🇧.
To help save Britain to use as a base to free the rest of Europe to be precise.
There is a czech movie The Dark Blue Word (Tmavomodry svet) about czech pilots in RAF. (the name Dark Blue Word is a cz blues song at 30s, its famous composer Jaroslav Jezek was almost blind, he only recognized blue color and lived in blue room) Another much older movie Riders in the Sky (Nebesti jezdci) is about czech bombarders.
New Zealanders too.
@@margaretreid2153 Indeed. I thought I'd create a simple "visual aid" in order to assist people learning about the history of the battle of Britain. There is much ongoing debate about the nationalities and proportions of RAF fighter pilots who took part in the battle, with a furtive aspect which attempts to portray the battle as a victory of "mostly Foreign pilots" (though I'm NOT accusing you of that). Below is an accurate graphical representation of the proportion of pilot nationalities serving within RAF Fighter Command during the summer of 1940. Each flag is roughly equivalent to 30 pilots. The numbers following each nation are the actual number of pilots from that country who took part in the battle, and the percentage of the overall number of RAF fighter pilots that that nationality contributed.
🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧 UK (2342) (80%)
🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱 Poland (145) (5%)
🇳🇿🇳🇿🇳🇿🇳🇿 New Zealand (127) (4%)
🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦 Canada (112) (4%)
🇨🇿🇨🇿🇨🇿 Czechoslovakia (88) (3%)
🇦🇺 Australia (32) (1%)
🇧🇪 Belgium (28) (1%)
🇿🇦 S. Africa (25) (1%) (1940 flag emoji not available)
🇺🇳 Other nations (France (13), R o Ireland (10), USA (9), Rhodesia (3), Newfoundland (1), Jamaica (1), Barbados (1)) (1%)
(And just to preempt any lefty idiot "Identity warriors" who've wandered into these comments from protesting about "The lack of credit given to the black pilots who fought in the battle of Britain"... the two pilots from the Caribbean were both of white British descent).
Thank you! as a Canadian I have always felt the role of the commonwealth has been under appreciated .
This series downplays just how knife edge the 15th of September, the day Churchill visited Park's Ops Room at Uxbridge, was. Park had just requested permission to deploy his last three reserve squadrons when Churchill asked him "How many more have you got?" "None", Park responded. Churchill only then fully appreciated the extreme gravity of the situation. Leigh-Mallory's 12 Group 'Big Wing' was a hindrance to Park throughout the campaign. It's main achievement, when it eventually got into action on the 15th, was psychological. The morale of the Luftwaffe, which was not expecting to face another 60 fighters over London, was severely damaged. Leigh-Mallory was a political animal who was aided by the active help of Air Marshal Sholto Douglas in the disgraceful treatment of Park and Dowding after the Battle had been won.
'... Leigh-Mallory's 12 Group 'Big Wing' was a hindrance to Park throughout the campaign...' You need to read modern research about the Battle. Park continually called upon 12 Group's squadron too late, and then complained. As for this: '...disgraceful treatment of Park and Dowding after the Battle had been won...' Dowding had had his retirement deferred THREE times before agreeing a retirement date of 31st October 1940 in July 1940. Park had served his time in the post and was moved to another duty - standard practise in the civil service, of which the military is but one section of the whole. Rotation of staff in all grades was and still is normal practise. Please get up to date with modern research and knowledge...
They thought alot of the planes had been destroyed to by bombing certain airfields but they had been moved by the RAF and shortly after ww2 is when more spitfires came into production after the Hurricane before it, the spitfire was way more faster and better at dogfighting and maneuverability
No mention of 303 Squadron manned by Polish pilots who were the highest scoring unit in the Battle of Britain, destroying 126 German aircraft in 46 days.
You mean the 303 squadron that was led by Ronald Kellett? Everyone remembers them, as you just did.
@@dalj4362 No Dai, he means Polish "Kościuszko" 303 Sqd who had a total CONFIRMED kill tally of 58.5 kills, and which included
Squadron commander, Sqd Ldr Ronald Gustave Kellett (British) - 5 confirmed kills
"A" Flight commander, Fl Lt John Alexander Kent (Canadian) - 6 confirmed kills
"B" Flight commander, Fl Lt Athol Stanhope Forbes (British) - 7 confirmed kills.
Sgt pilot Josef František (Czechoslovakian) - 17 confirmed Kills.
(All kill tallies are those scored during the battle of Britain)
The same pilots who have ALWAYS been creditied by the British. It's apparently only lefty dupes who because they know nothing of history mistakenly believe that everybody else also know nothing about history.
The poor, poor credulous fools.
True. Most of books and articles that I read about the battle never mentioned any of the foriegn pilots. I doubt that was deliberate. The film makers may not have had the money in their budget to travel all over France, Canada, America, and wherever the surviving Polish pilots were located. Remember that when this film was made, Poland was behind the Iron Curtain. That changed in the 70s and 80s. What I like about this video is that narrations by several British and German vets. Their stories were recorded before they died.
@@keithranker3908 Most books that I've read on the subject over the years rarely mention pilot nationality at all, only usually to specify if a pilot was "non-British", but more often than not simply using the pilot's names as related to the events they individually faced. Quite understandably nationality was not mentioned a lot of the time as 80% of Fighter Command pilots were of British birth.
If "nationality" is required from now on, to what "granularity" is it to be used?
With regard to "Polish" 303 Sqd for instance, do we also have to specify the NON Polish aircrew that were part of the Squadron establishment? Or do modern day Poles demand a "middle road" where their small minority contribution is held in the highest regard, but that of other nation's pilots who served amongst them is quietly ignored?
Why would anyone try and say that another squadron was any better than another? They were all brave men that fought for our freedom why should race suddenly matter? Only men like Hitler put race above anything else.
The British was the only country that was in the War from day 1 to the end. May God Save The King.
Bullshit! It all started with Germany and Poland! .....and ended with the US and Japan.
Actually the US had declared war on 24 March 1933.
These are absolutely the god given best documentaries. To all of you who did the work, god bless you all, Thank you!!
I loved the Movie, still do. The makers of this Video have done a terrific job, putting all the facts & the truth of the Battle of Britain in perspective & context. What is more poignant for me & I dare say a lot of others, is my Father left New Zealand, travelled to Canada & having been trained on "Modern" Aircraft, travelled to England & enlisted in the RAF. He was posted to 11 Group in March 1940, flying Hurricanes & later Spitfires. He was 1 of the Lucky ones who survived & was sent back to NZ in November 1944 & the RNZAF, to fight in the Pacific. He told us some stories of his RAF Service, but ofcourse didn't know the Big Picture, the Statistics & the Technical Advances that Britain had achieved. Like many others, their experiences in living through it was insular, their World consisted of their Squadrons, their Bases & their Mates, some of whom they saw at breakfast & were gone by lunch. I doubt many of the RAF Fighter Pilots who made up "The Few" ever realised how Special they were. Thank you to the people who put this together, you've certainly made me realise how special they truly were.
Another fact is that Hawker Aircraft Company was started by Harry Hawker. He was an Australian airman who was a test pilot for Sopworth, designer of Sopworth aeroplanes and pilot in WW1. All this and he is practically unknown in his own country. Very sad.
The best documentary I've seen about the Battle of Britain. Excellent video.
I love the way this gentleman explains the moving parts of the engine and his stories. Motivational and proud because my father was a welder for Lockheed in Los Angeles 😇 SR71 😎
I'm thankful for all the amazing comments that add context to the documentary and to the war.
Imagine the world we would be living in if it wasn't for all of these wonderful hero's of all nations who fought against this evil regime that almost got it right.
Wenn die Alliierten nicht siegen würden, müsste ich den Google-Übersetzer nicht verwenden, um das zu sagen.
If the Allies didn't win, I wouldn't need to use Google Translate to say this. 😁
@@siggyretburns7523how do you know there would be a Google?
@@TomGodson95 I dont. But I bet we'd all be speaking German if the allies lost.
My Bother's Father In Law (Woody) paid for his own Pilots License in the US, went to Canada as a Licensed Pilot, joined the RCAF, fought for the Canadians in the Air over Britian, got an Xfer to RAF fought for the English, the USA came to the ETO and he was snaped up by the US Army Air Corps! Fought a Full Six Years or more in the ETO came home after D Day! once France was secured. I Streight ASKED Him about it in about 1978 a few years before he passed, He Gladly told me of his story as he understood I KNEW my History as a Child and my WWII History Very Well. This dude had a Bucket of Medals from EVERY ALLIED Combatant NATION! we found his bucket when he passed. These MEN were my Friends, Family, and fishing Buddies!
RIP Greatest!
That’s amazing. Thank God for such men.🇺🇸🇨🇦🇬🇧
So much has been written about this piece. All I can say is this is an awesome film which seems to tell the story perfectly. Well done to all who were instrumental in producing this.
It was lumbering with the same pieces of film being shown over and over and over and over again. The reminiscences of the pilots were the jewels as always but the same pieces of CGI over and over again were boring. The formally recognised end of the Battle of Britain was 31st October, not 30th September. Where are the maps showing the position of the airfields at the relevant points. Where is Kenley, for instance ? I know .... but this little series wasn't aimed at me but should have been informative for people with far less knowledge than me. In short, it was just a time filler. The pilots have all appeared in a number of better productions than this one. Something more should have been made of the stupidity of Sholto Douglas and Trafford Leigh-Mallory, particularly the latter's and his running dog Douglas Bader's farting about with their big wing nonsense and their utter failure to support 11 group when required. The 109s had trouble with fuel tank capacity, so did planes flying from Duxford etc. Not only were they too late in arriving time after time but they squandered valuable fuel which the country could ill afford. Dutch sailors were burning to death their tankers having been attacked by U-Boats as they attempted to bring oil to Britain from Aruba and that pair of idiots were wasting it.
There is a possibility that those who advised them didn't want feathers ruffled. Infighting and jealousy within the RAF hierarchy was considerable and the vultures were gathering and bad-mouthing Hugh Dowding long before the War. If it had been left to them and their ideas, we may well have lost the Battle of Britain.
@desertmandan123 Just tell me how the rubbish round and about 1.30 is not CGI interspersed with actual film where small groups were shown. They have used the audio recording of Hitler's speech and done their own thing with the video representation. I assure you that the Nazi film of this event filmed for posterity is rather more grainy than here. and they didn't have a rolling dolly either .... or drones ! We don't need you to announce to the World that some of the footage is bits bought up cheap from the cutting room floor and bits of the film used under licence. We can all read the first line or so of that which is below the video without even bothering with "more", although how excerpts from the film are, "never before seen footage from the 1969 film", I don't know. I have seen the film and I have seen ALL of it so it has been seen by me at least.
The fact remains that this production is misleading and a time-waster . The contributors, of course, gave their interviews and had no control over what the producers would do with them. Again, some of it has been "purloined" from other far more worthwhile productions. The film, "Battle of Britain" released in 1969 is a reasonable dramatisation of the events although the Chistopher Plumber love interest is a complete load of hog's wash, has a glaring inaccuracy in that at the end among the pilots by nationality, one is listed as Israeli. A child of British nationality, born to an English father and Circassian mother who happened to have been born in Haifa where his British civil servant father happened to be stationed at the time, and who left Palestine aged 5 (1925) never to return and was killed in Libya in 1941 was NOT an Israeli. Whilst George was educated at the very Christian Highgate school, his Dad continued with his job in Palestine till 1939 after which he and his wife moved to Lagos in Nigeria where he was engaged in the administration of Nigeria's railways (such as they were).
@@terryhoath1983 Saying that
"all that CGI was boring"
is an insult to the producers of the film, because they went to large expenses and extraordinary efforts to film real airplanes, with just a few scenes being filmed with large Scale Radio controlled Models, and that was because it was practically impossible to find flyable examples of some planes, like the Junkers Ju- 87 Stuka.
@@terryhoath1983 CGI...LOL!
@@alfredomarquez9777 I did NOT insult them. If they are at all interested .... I doubt they are .... then they may take my remarks as a chastisement. There is plenty of film of dive-bombers without a bunch of liars trying to make up fairy tales for which gullible people may fall. The truth is the truth. Let's have it.
my gandfather worked with poles in battle of britan. he always like them a lot and even met with them in krakow in poland after 2 ww
Mixing in the interviews of the actual participants here is brilliant.
Interesting point. When the combined air fleet was assembled to film the film "The Battle of Britain", it was, according to the brochure that came with the ticket, to watch the film in the first week of release, the THIRD-LARGEST AIR FORCE IN THE WORLD.
3rd? Wouldn’t it be first?
@@harryparsons2750 It out-numbered all INDIVIDUAL air forces in the world, except for the US and the RUSS! Why do you think it would be first?
You can thank Cubby Broccoli for at least 90% of the film footage used in this documentary which came from the movie "Battle of Britain" which was produced by Broccoli who also produced the James Bond films.
I understand what you meant, old chap, but Albert "Cubby" Broccoli had nothing to do with it, it was the other guy Harry "Tubby" Saltzman
@@CaesarCassius right you are. Us 70 year olds are easily confused.
@@pmapilotmooney Roger that, old boy, it's the fun in the sun that will get you!
Never knew that for the first part of the battle, the German fighters had to stooge around til the bombers got up and sorted out. Makes you wonder who came up with that brilliant idea. Excellent documentary. day by day, gotta love it.
If it wa4s wrong with the Luftwaffe -- usually Goering. His brain was stuck in the Great War.
What an amazing documentary, I love listening to the accounts of the pilots of the few. So much heart and determination. We all owe you such a debt, a debt that a lot of people in this country have unfortunately forgotten. Much love and peace to you all including the ground crews and all involved in destroying the Germans attempt to overthrow this country. So much by so many to so few.
It's not so much its "been forgotten" as no one can expect a youngster to know all of his country's history, but it IS an insult by the increasingly lefty "ejukashun" establishment to not teach these things as part of the national curriculum to our younger generations, they could easily make space by dropping all the "gender identity" nonsense, and transgender propaganda thats been put in over the last 5 years.
Still there are still a smal proportion of youngsters who seek out videos such as these of their own initiative. It's not ALL bad.
My grandfather was also in the R.A.F. He never spoke much about the war, but my grandmother told me he was in North Africa against Rommel & at Bergin Belsin concentration camp. You see, he was an ambulance driver in the R.A.F.. Like most young lads made model planes & do remember asking him what he thought of the Spitefire & too my amazement he said he preferred the Hurricanes it didn't dawn on me at that age why. He would have pulled a lot of young airmen out of the Spitefires. Funny thing that, but true. When he died, my grandmother gave me his RAF drivers license & I still treasure it to this day. He was my hero & Irish. Slainte 👍
@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684 qq0à😂😂
@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684 Dump supporter by any chance?
@@francodimitsy989 NO Franco... I'm a TRUTH supporter with an independent critical mind who lives in the UK (I thought that would have been obvious after my post in the "Polish" thread you responded to, then again you do appear to be a clueless "democrat drone"), why would I support ANY US corporate funded politician?
At least in Trump's case he's his OWN man, and not a puppet of the same lefty globalists I imagine you're enthralled by.
Now toddle off and go decide what gender you "identify as" today. You're free to pretend whatever you like, I'm also free to choose not to pretend along with you.
There were pilots from many different nations in the battle god bless all of them
Yes, big thanks to the.
126 New Zealanders
98 Canadians
33 Australians
25 South Africans
145 Polish
88 Czechs
10 Irish
11 Americans (US)
2,345 British
We thank them all.
I thought I'd create a simple "visual aid" in order to assist people learning about the history of the battle of Britain. There is much ongoing debate about the nationalities and proportions of RAF fighter pilots who took part in the battle, with some commenters presenting a furtive aspect which attempts to portray the battle as a victory of "mostly Foreign pilots". Below is an accurate graphical representation of the proportion of pilot nationalities serving within RAF Fighter Command during the summer of 1940. Each flag is roughly equivalent to 30 pilots.
🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧 UK (2342) (80%)
🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱 Poland (145) (5%)
🇳🇿🇳🇿🇳🇿🇳🇿 New Zealand (127) (4%)
🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦 Canada (112) (4%)
🇨🇿🇨🇿🇨🇿 Czechoslovakia (88) (3%)
🇦🇺 Australia (32) (1%)
🇧🇪 Belgium (28) (1%)
🇿🇦 S. Africa (25) (1%) (1940 flag emoji not available)
🇺🇳 Other nations (France (13), R o Ireland (10), USA (9), Rhodesia (3), Newfoundland (1), Jamaica (1), Barbados (1)) (1%)
Sincerest respects to ALL who fought.
Those brave souls saved us all
@@dalj4362 There were definitely not 11 U.S. pilots.
@@dalj4362 Those figures are incorrect and stop trying to take the victory away from the British!
Excellent production. Thanks !!! Unparalleled information, history, courage, honor and humility. Salute to all those who served and to those brave people who risked their lives and to those on the ground who made it possible.
I like the radar and communications to the Operations Rooms side of it all. The thousand of kilometres of wiring needed from and to Radar post , Fighter Squadrons, Air Chief Marshall offices and in and out of the Map/direct/ dispatch Centres is a massive effort. Being a Communications technician I can picture how it is all set out , wired and delivered
And Dowding insisted prewar that the systems telephone/telegraph wires be routed underground and not via telegraph poles, which were easily blown down by blasts, which contributed to the systems resilience.
@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684 Good Point . There is a balance .It needed a direct hit to break when Underground but cutting over a damaged cable would take longer to do. I am an ex Comms Tech and the Logistics are: you have to provide a slave cable to keep it going , replace pipes and rehaul a new section and rejoin that in and remove the slave. Not insurmountable but time consuming.I would hope they would throw 20 odd men at it overnight . If it was overhead you just have to dig a new pole in and rejoin the broken section
@@Rusty_Gold85 I'm sure there was redundancy within the network, where comms lines could be rerouted via different exchanges, for example when the ops block at RAF Manston received a direct hit, and was quickly reconstructed in the local village's bakery.
Between Exchanges there is Trunk network cross connecting( allowing rerouting) , but from each Exchange Branch cables reach out to premises and Op posts . With some of that overhead . Would love to know the ducks guts of the damage to Manston
Blue, Orange, Green, Brown, Slate
Mixing in the interviews of the actual participants here is brilliant.. Mixing in the interviews of the actual participants here is brilliant..
During the Battle of Britain one fifth of Fighter Command’s aircrew came from overseas and 16 nations were represented in its squadrons. Pilots of 303 (Polish) Squadron, A total of 126. New Zealanders, 98 Canadians, 33 Australians and 25 South Africans participated. They were joined by three Rhodesians, a Jamaican, a Barbadian and a Newfoundlander
So what do want to say?
And Eagle Squadron.
@@sandbridgekid4121 Eagle squadron took NO part in the battle of Britain, the 9 individual US pilots who had broken their own country's neutrality laws to "do the right thing" had paid their own way to the UK and received NO help whatsoever from the US govt. On being inducted into RAF fighter command they were assigned individually to British RAF squadrons.
@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684 It was likely a classified program like the Ameican Volunteer Group. AVG pilot's were assured the would not lose their citizenship when "volunteering". There are hundreds, if not thousands of still classified files, programs from WW2.
@@sandbridgekid4121 The first Eagle squadron (71 Sqd) was inaugurated on 19th Sept 1940, and became operational on 5th Feb 1941 at RAF Church Fenton in North Yorkshire.
Why, when they show the pilot firing the machine guns in the fighters, did they make the control stick recoil? The stick isn't going to shake around like that!
I have watched this several times, and I have always held the English documentaries in the highest regard. While this is England's victory alone, it was nice that they acknowledged the many pilots from other countries. I think the people who always get left out, are the ground crews, mechanics, the very people that build the machines. What was awesome was that England not only built aircraft to replace those lost in battle, but built exceeded that number by a wide margin. WW2 is behind us, but it's vast scope will always amaze me, and I fear for what could come in the future, as it is clear, we are not done with wars. How can we have not learned...
"England"? "English". I think you mean British. Danke.
@@FallNorth Well... this did all take place in England... not Wales or Scotland but I get your point.
The Polish Squadron and the Hawker Hurricane.
Yes, we forget the brave Polish Pilots who had a score to settle with Germany and fought with an Anger that arose from what Germany did to Poland.
Then there were Pilots in the RAF from South Africa, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, who served as well.
bullocks the rest of the Common Wealth were in it from day 1. Canada Anzacs India Poland. from the Ghurkas to the Black Watch (CA) , the UK where never "alone"
The German Air/Sea rescue seaplanes painted white and marked with red crosses were not registered with the Red Cross in Geneva and were therefore not protected under the International charters. Furthermore, the British had good reason to believe that such aircraft were also doing recce work at the same time as rescue operations.
God bless Great Britain ❤
I'm so thankful for the sacrifices and bravery of the RAF all those years ago. I know their sacrifices saved our way of life...
And now they issue chest binders to the sick and pathetic rans boys who want to join
What way of life is that? Food banks, 15 million Brits live in poverty, homelessness for thousands, old age pensioners choosing between freezing or eating, unparalleled knife crimes on the streets and the lowest pensions of a major European country. I worked for 35 years in Germany and apart from leading a wonderful interesting life near the Bavarian alps I receive a German pension that surpasses any British tradesman's wage by far and Idon't have to pay tax on it, Brexit? you've been hoodwinked.
@@albundy9597 Britain paid for the war whilst Germany got financial help after the war. I am extremely proud of Britain. The best country in the world who, by hanging on, saved the rest of the world! Brexit is the best thing we ever did. Who wants to be dictated to by the Germans?
@@valeriedavidson2785 you got a ZOG instead lol bankrupt vassal state
yea
same
The Germans were about to blow up the radar antennas before they had ever been used to intercept their aircraft, but the engineers observing them messed up in detecting their signal, decided they didn’t do anything and decided not to. They were sooo close to compromising the RAF’s big advantage.
The Germans did, in fact, perform a number of bombing raids on the antennas, but the target was too small to be hit en masse, and the few antennas damaged during the bombings were repaired in the span of around a day.
I might be mistaken with the numbers (such as the time it took to repair), but I can guarantee that there were attempts, and they proved unsuccessful.
@@MDzmitry Didn't the Ventnor radar station on the Isle of Wight get put out of action for a while ? So the Germans were aware and tried to destroy the stations but were unsuccessful.
On Aug 23, 1940, the Germans were three weeks away from destroying the RAF, in the Air and on the Ground.
Then, on Aug 23, 1940, a German plane bombed a City by mistake and killed British Civilians.
Until then, only military targets were bombed.
Depending on the source (Book or Video) the City was either Coventry or London.
This enraged Churchill so much, he bombed Berlin for the first time.
Of course, this enraged HITLER so much, he ordered that British cities be bombed.
For some reason, the Luftwaffe, with 1,000s of planes, could NOT bomb British Civilians AND the RAF bases at the same time!
But what was bad for Civilians was a Godsend to the RAF.
The RAF was given some "breathing Room" and recovered from the Nazi onslaught.
By September 15, 1940, Hitler "Postponed" Operation Sea Lion (the Invasion of Britain), but that was another way of saying it was cancelled and Hitler then concentrated on his forthcoming invasion of the USSR.
Not even a month had passed since the Luftwaffe's Fatal Error of Aug 23, 1940.
Was it an "Error" or the Unseen Hand of God?
@@MDzmitry They found the radar masts difficult to destroy with bombs, and assumed that the control rooms would be in underground bombproof bunkers, which most actually weren't.
We as a Country owe so much to so few god bless you all, We will never forget
The movie Battle of Britain, has been on my bucket list for a while, after seeing this footage it's going to have to jump some spots up. It's clear the British use of RADAR, more importantly the Way it was used was one of the Great Military campaigns(*) of all time. Who knows what would have happened without it, I'm willing to wager it wouldn't be good(*) for lack of a better word
I first watched the film "Battle of Britain" as a kid way back in 1969 when it was first shown in the cinemas in England. I thought the authentic aircraft were brilliant, but immediately noticed that there was something different with the Me 109's shown in the film - now I know that the Messerschmitt Bf 109s shown were a Spanish license production, the Bucon (or similar).
:) I love that film. A great part about it is .. there is a brilliant famous "luftwaffe" march played that is so german nobody thinks ... it was made up for the film and it's a fabrication. The RAF band plays it, a wink in their eye :)
I know I'm a nitpicker, but the fake 109s spoilt it for me.
The "Heinkels" were also Licence built Spanish Casa 2.111s
Did you notice anything wrong with the Hurricanes in the “repeat please” scene? They were 109s, not enough airworthy Hurricanes for a flight at that time.
The Hispano Aviación HA-1109 and HA-1112 are licence-built versions of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-2. Germany could not supply the DB605A engines and Hispano-Suiza HS89-12Z ones were fitted. The aircraft were designated Bf109-J.
The star of the film was the post war HA-1112-M1L Buchón. This aircraft was fitted with the Rolls-Royce Merlin 500-45 engine and a chin intake. 'Yellow 10' was also in the film 'Dunkirk' and is currently based at Duxford. It appears regularly as the 'enemy' aircraft at flying displays across the UK. The Buchón also impersonated the Hurricane in BoB.
Radar changed air battles to a science, then the aerial skills, calmness of nerves of pilots, agility and speed of their bird and armaments added to the advantage
1:16:47 "so i had to keep the tires inside and then land on the belly. The airplane was of course hardly even damaged just the engine was broken. So we regained the airplane, put a new engine in and then things went on some time later." Guess they put the wrong clip there, however the translation in general is quite lacking leaving out most of the personal impressions and nuances of the evaluations which would have provided a lot more insight into the experience of the German pilots.
Other than that however a very interesting and engaging documentary, thank you for uploading it
Tyre, Aeroplane. Correct English.
I live in South East Kent England 🇬🇧 not that far from Manston airport we had all sorts of plains taking off, but for Hitler to think we would give in he does not know the British people we stand together my, mum and dad were in the RAF and many a night was spent listening to war time events,
My Dad used to dig up old plains for the aircraft museum in Horking but that all stopped when they asked dad to dig up a German plane but what they didn't tell dad the pilot was still in the plane when dad saw him he refused to dig it out he was so angry,with the museum,
So dad told the museum that they had their last plane he wasn't going to disturb a wartime grave, we got our local vicar to say a prayer and bless him so that pilot stayed in Britain.
There's a small villiage near to where i live called great addington in northants and a german bomber crashed landed after being hit by a hurricane, it crashed landed not far from the local infants school which for some bizarre reason the teacher took the kids to get quite near it to have a look without realising that nearly all the crew was dead in it, apart from the wireless operator who managed to parachute out and who was found not far away with many broken bones due to how low the plane was when he bailed, anyhow they was laid to rest in the local church and given full military honors bestowed upon them with the crooked cross flags on coffins and a gun salute and a bronze plaque that commemorates them to be seen to this today...
Mixing in the interviews of the actual participants here is brilliant.. Fantastic documentary a must see for all ages. Slainte .
First class video very interesting video please keep the great videos coming from Scotland 😊
At 22:54 is a brief shot from the movie of reconnaissance scouting the skies over the White Cliffs of Dover. A year ago, we hiked from town on a trail to this exact spot, where I took a photo that is now the screensaver on my phone. I vividly remember the sweeping view over the English Channel to France, in wonder about what those gallant RAF pilots and crews had done in 1940. The Germans were not far away at all.
Fantastic documentary a must see for all ages. Slainte ❤
The art of warfare was crucial in every contact, pre engagement Intel and good preparation, strategy to send few engagers to harass the enemy even when you knew they were superior so you can fight another day
Such a great history lesson! We lived in London 1951-53, and in the summer evenings, would sometimes see the RAF practicing, with contrails all over the sky.
I think the Spitfires were more complex and difficult to manufacture.
The Me109 on the other hand was designed for mass industrial production and was much simpler to produce.
Britain's finest hour certainly but few will look at the courage required of the German fliers forced to attack England day after day knowing how many of their fellows had already been shot down. Air combat still retained elements of chivalry and the plane was all they were ever after, not the men inside. The bomber crews had it the worst as they were slow and very vulnerable. Had Goering used them against airfields and radar instead of civilian centers the outcome may have been very different.
RIP
To the 1,542 Allied airmen, 23,002 British civilians, and 2,585 Nazi German and Fascist Italian airmen who were killed in the Battle of Britain
i just love history like this been to air shows just to see and hear them spitfire engines, new aircraft does nothing for me
Excellent watch.
One big advantage the British had was, if a British pilot was shot down and survived, 90 percent of the time they parachuted onto land. Same with the Germans, but they were taken prisoner. The floating pilot rescue stations out in the channel for both sides were brilliant. They had food, water, clothes, smokes, magazines, books…
Ive seen those in pictures there cool bits of kit, germans called theirs bouys, and brits called theirs barges?,ive heard somewhere there'd actually use each others if fate or luck however you could call it, put you near your enemies one at the time of ditching, but atleast youd be rescued alive whether being a prisoner or back up flying the day after..
The problem with the ME 109 was that it was to a very large degree it was hand made. That meant that replacement 109's took longer to reach the airfields than did the spitfires.
Spitfires took more man hours to produce than the ME109.
I thought the weakness was the relative smallish fuel tank
The main weakness of the ME 109 was that it was not a Spitfire.
it must be remembered that 'The Battle of Britain' means Britain not just London. first bombs fell on Scotland apparently and Liverpool/Birkenhead 2,500 killed. Coventry nearly wiped off the map and sheffield, manchester, plymouth, cardiff even Northern Ireland were affected. people think it was just a Southern England thing. It wasn't.
Brilliant film documentary I will now go and watch the bombing of Dresden ( revenge is sweet )
Great Deocumentary, unfortunately there was no mention at the end, of India's contribution. Although technically an Empire Colony until 1940, suitable candidates were selected to attend the Empire Flying School in India and were commissioned into the RAF. From my research I believe there were between 8 and 24 pilots of Indian origin who flew sorties against the German Luftwaffe from different locations during the battle. Also there is a statue of Squadron Leader Mohinder Singh Pujji, a highly decorated Hurricane and Spitfire pilot in Gravesend. A true war hero who worked tirelessly to get the recognition for all the Commonwealth pilots who fought and died defending the UK. I just felt I needed to raise awareness of these facts. It's my way of saying thank you to all the brave men and women who fought for us.
So whats wrong with the indian goverment pulling their fingers out their arses and making one themselves aye?, or if they want pay a couple hundred grand and the brits will make one for them instead of ridung the coat tails? Or they incapable or two busy being corrupt, still they cant feed themselves at the moment so the only thing to do is piss and moan and virtue signal, and i cant think of one Indian pilot in the BOB can anybody else, if it was in south east asia saving their own skins and country from the japs then maybe, but certainly aint none in BOB..
There were no Indian pilots in the Battle of Britain...
@@Pokafalva god damn feckin right anall, these worms wasnt prepared or wanting to fight for their own existence?? , let alone another nations??..kohima and imphal we shall remember???? And lest no brit forget???
@@wor53lg50 The simple point I made was that no Indian pilots fought in the Battle of Britain in 1940. Prove me wrong. You can't. It is not in dispute that Indian troops and Indian flyers distinguished themselves in later conflicts, but none flew in the Battle of Britain.
@@Pokafalva believe no gupta gave a shit about britain or gave their service's to protect it... They had to be bribed and paid to fight for their own nation and existence or thered be speaking japanese NOW??..... Indian Frei korps??? Who tha fuk are they???? +?
Tis is myth that Britain was about to fall. Not even close.
Outnumbered ten to one they attack! Effing epic!
I’m sure someone has done it already, but I am waiting to see someone modify one of the cars and have a miniature casket placed in it. I grew up in college station (where the Bush library is and where the Bush’s are buried. The train went straight thru my current city on its way to college station and it was an amazing site to see. Very impressive!
I was surprised to hear that a German Pilot said that the ME-109 only had fuel for 70 minutes of combat over Britain. SEVENTY whole minutes?
All the Sources I have read (i.e. the Book "Why the Allies Won", by British Historian Sir Richard Overy) say it was more like TEN minutes, or at most, TWENTY minutes.
But then, at the 1:06:35 mark, a British Pilot says the British planes only had FIFTEEN SECONDS of ammunition! THAT'S ALL???
That's NOT a lot of Ammo, when the Luftwaffe throws 2,700 planes at you!
My God, how did Britain ever win?
Thank God they did!
This bears repeating:
>The Battle of Britain was the FIRST Battle in World History which was fought entirely in the AIR.
>It was also the FIRST Battle of WW II that Nazi Germany LOST.
"Never in the realm of Human conflict, has so much been owed by so many to so few".
The fighter pilots of those days were amazing individuals. No radar installed in their planes.
Not to diminish the brave men and women who won the BoB… but if the Germans only lost one plane during the battle and shot down hundreds of RAF planes, the invasion still would’ve been a disaster.
Only British flyers, what a slap in the face for every foreign flyer who took part in that battle
Does it say "only British flyers" in the video?
These three young graduates of mathematics from Poznań - Jerzy Różycki, Henryk Zygalski and Marian Rejewski - made history in Polish radio intelligence. The latter joined the Poznań branch in 1930, after interrupting his studies in Göttingen. The fourth Enigma slayer turned out to be an experienced Polish radio intelligence employee, 2nd Lt. Antoni Palluth.
They never mention all the foreign volunteers.That flew for the RAF.
Fantastic history.......extremely educational and the reality of such courage and determination of a once, united and strong Britain.........with the RAF pilots who fought and lost lives to defend its mother land. Thank you RAF and thank you to all the men and women during the War, who have given us our freedom today. RIP to all those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.
I WILL SAVE THIS::HISTORY OF THE FINEST DOCUMENTARY I'VE EVER SEEN & SEEN AGAIN & AGAIN! V 4 VICTORY!🫡🇬🇧 !🙏😇
Absolutely great documentary except for they missed the 303 Squadron of Polish Pilots which had a high kill rate against the Germans
Yeah something a bit weird there?, i thought 303 squadron was a polish squadron made up from polish volunteers, so i googled it, and there is not one polish person in the top 5 scorers of that squadron?, so why am i lead to believe, certainly through comments and other threads on social media that 303 squadron was made up purely of polish pilots, when evidently this is not true as the 58 kill ratio was acheived by mainly british, canadian and Czech pilots?..am i reading it wrong or is it another case of does google iie?..
While celebrating the bravery, skill and success of Polish "Kościuszko" 303 sqd, the top scoring RAF squadron of the battle of Britain, also remember the other nationalities who flew as part of the squadron during the battle and who contributed SO much to its success.
Polish "Kościuszko" 303 Sqd total kill tally - 58.5 confirmed kills
Squadron commander, Sqd Ldr Ronald Gustave Kellett (British) - 5 confirmed kills
"A" Flight commander, Fl Lt John Alexander Kent (Canadian) - 6 confirmed kills
"B" Flight commander, Fl Lt Athol Stanhope Forbes (British) - 7 confirmed kills.
Sgt pilot Josef František (Czechoslovakian) - 17 confirmed Kills.
We in the UK remember ALL the pilots (and NOT just the Polish ones).
@@wor53lg50 The Poles were NOT "volunteers" they were refugees fighting to protect the sanctuary they had kindly been given from the soviet evil that had murdered 22000 Polish officers in April 1940 and the nazi death camps that were then being planned for their homelands.
I am a great admirer of Churchill but think he treated Dowding and Park shabbily after the Battle Of Britain. I don't know why he did this. I hope it was not because Dowding intervened in sending the fighter squadrons he had promised the French.
Churchill didn’t treat Dowding “shabbily” as you surmise. Dowding was due to retire in 1939, but war in Europe had him staying on for one more year. It was Leigh-Mallory and Bader that stabbed Dowding in the back, were insubordinate and maneuvered behind Dowding’s back to have him dismissed. The RAF and the Air Minister are the ones who should be publicly shamed for how Dowding was treated immediately after the battle ended.
@@vstar7196 All of what you say is true, but in the end, they had to get Churchiil's approval.
True. But it was to have unintended - positive - consequences later in the war when Keith Park was assigned to Malta, again at the darkest and most dangerous hour, to again win an air battle using limited resources against overwhelming odds. The Allies were very fortunate indeed to have that man command their side at two of the most critical air battles during WW2.
@@ogukuo97 Good point. Park and Dowding were treated shabbily after the Battle of Britain.
The three main authors of Dowding and Park's downfall were in order of seniority Sir Charles Portal (Chief of the Air staff) his deputy, William Sholto-Douglas (Deputy Chief of the air staff) and finally Trafford Leigh-Mallory (O/C 12 group Fighter Command). All of whom were ambitious and conniving political animals, eager to depose the true heroes of Fighter Command during the battle, and indeed it was Sholto-Douglas who took over the reins of Fighter Command after Dowding's thankless dismissal from the post on 24th November 1940.
As an interesting aside, Leigh-Mallory was awarded his own personal pair of "big wings" when he was killed in Aug 1944 in a plane crash in the Alps whilst travelling to take over his new promotion as OC South East Asia Air Command (unfortunately the rest of the crew of the Avro York transport aircraft were also killed).
Guess who was appointed as his replacement at SEAC? None other than Air Chief Marshall Sir Keith Park. Though it would be hard to imagine that the decent and honourable kiwi felt ANY sense of revenge or satisfaction.... maybe.
I want to believe that Churchill was misinformed by the members of the Air staff and simply "rubber stamped" their recommendations for Dowding and Park, but its hard to accept that as the truth when you consider that in Winston Churchill's post war "History of the second world war" during his account of the Battle of Britain he didn't even mention Hugh Dowding by name !!!
I was sweating during that one! Good fight!
"Outnumbered 10 to 1"
That is what I call a target-rich environment.
holy crap this is the first documentary that dosent get down and blow the spitfire. the hurricane did most of the heavy lifting and it keeps getting dumped on in the history books above britian.
Pretty laidback video, very enjoyable, best wishes from Westernport Victoria, autumn nearly over , then Winter ❄️😢 yuk
Brilliant 🎉, thx men . ❤❤❤
War is no fun or game, it’s a life and death situation, parents take a lot of responsibility and years to raise children and to see them grow up and go from this world like that, because of some blasted war, this is outrageously redidiculus.
U got a stammer?🤣🤣🤣
I have no idea what I would do with my life if the second world war never happened and these beautiful machines were never created...😂
尊重及引以為榮在二戰中每一位保護自己國家的戰士或人民，亦為現今正在奮力抵抗俄羅斯入侵的烏克蘭戰士或人民打氣。Never give up , Yrs never walk alone....
Sad that somebody got their fight against FASCISM in 1940 confused with the latest FASCIST led attempt to attack the brave Russian people since the 2014 American backed Ukrainian Fascist coup-de'tat in Kiyev.
It makes me happy to see the British women doing radar work, and the steel determination of her people and the tireless efforts of the RAF.
The Germans lost the Battle of Britain early on during their attack
on Rotterdam.. they lost a lot of airplanes and struggled to rebuild them,
meanwhile losing the moment to surprise the British.
1 thing decided the whole war. The legendary Rolls Royce Merlin engine. The Spit and the P51.
That poor hanger at 12 group, must have gotten blow up 35 times
I like Cyril Bamberger. He’s my favourite pilot.🇬🇧👍🏻
Well done Polish pilots and all the brave men who sacrificed there lives for sanity
Yes I only found out recently how brave the Polish airmen were in the sky's over a land not even their o
Their own country
YES England
SIR WINSTONE Churchill must have congratulated POLAND him being such a fair soldier somewhere out there .
Just never not
Ever documented. In the anale s of Hietory .History was unwinding at an alarming pace .I do not imagine he made a point a pre meditated plan to snub those brilliant brave men fighting again helping their neighbors yet again
Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was there in past Life,, Hurricane pilot.
THIS LIFE, HAD BAD EYE'S.
SERVED 13 YEAR'S IN RCAF AS RADAR TECHNICIAN SERGEANT, NORAD COMMAND FIGHTING COLD WAR AGAINST SOVIET UNION..
I YOUNGER,, I'D BE IN UKRAINE FIGHTING AGAIN.
STARTED MILITARY SERVICE AS TROOPER IN CANADIAN MILITIA WHEN 15 YEAR'S OLD.
WAS IN AIR FORCE AT 17 YEAR'S OLD..
BEST YEAR'S OF MY LIFE..
NOW HAVE COMMISSION IN CANADIAN MERCANTILE MARINE ( MERCHANT NAVY))
ENGINEERING OFFICER.
Again, you have forgotten the very crucial part taken by the Polish seasoned fighters. Very misleading. You can do better than this.
Poland had 100s of aircraft destroyed on the ground, making Polish pilots a valuable resource.
'Repeat, please.' 😂😂😂
44:50 “Despite poor weather, the radar stations were quickly back in service.” Those were big towers. How did they do it?
The towers being of wooden lattice work were pretty resistant to blast waves, and would have needed a very near miss to be damaged, and any that were damaged would have been quickly repaired by RAF riggers.
The really fragile part of the stations were the huts that housed all the electronic equipment and operators. At this point in the war few of the buildings were underground or otherwise protected from blast, such had been the rush to completel the RDF network in the 2 years prior to WW2.
The worst hit RDF station was RAF Ventnor on the Isle of Wight. On 12th August 1940 Ventnor was one of 4 stations hit by the luftwaffe that day, and although the towers remained standing, most of the associated buildings were destroyed and the station was "off the air" until November 1940. The air ministry "plugged the hole" in out radar network by siting a rudimentary mobile radar set (Actually a British Army Mk1 Gun laying radar set) which while nowhere near as useful as the Chain Home equipment normally used at Ventnor did provide some cover and also somewhat masked from the German B-dienst signals intelligence service the full extent of the damage done to the Chain home system in the area.
By the time the Blitz began the RAF had already bombed cities and towns in Germany for four months, as Spaight confirmed in his 1944 book "Bombing Vindicated".
Same old BS Mark.
First German bombs on the UK - 16th October 1939
First British bombs on Germany - 19th March 1940
First German/British civilian killed by enemy bombs? James Isbister British citizen killed by German bombs 16th March 1940.
Your "Spaight" comment is COMPLETELY fictitious, but of course, you KNOW that already.
@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684 The RAF bombed Wilhelmshaven on 4 September 1939.
Spaight described the RAF bombing German cities and towns from 11 May 1940 as "our splendid decision", even though it led directly to the Blitz.
@@MarkHarrison733 No Mark/Jeremy/James the RAF did NOT "bomb Wilhelmshaven" they bombed Kriegsmarine naval units in the "Jade bight" as well as the Schillig roads off the coast of northern Saxony solely to avoid unecessary civilian deaths at that stage of the war. It was the nazis who indescriminately bombed the RN anchorage at Scapa Flow and murdered the first innocent British civilian on 16th March 1940, nearly two months before the very first RAF bombs were dropped on the German mainland on 11th May 1940.
The first RAF bombing of Wilhelmshaven actually took place on 8th July 1941. TEN MONTHS after the luftwaffe had begun their murdering of over 40,000 innocent British civilians.
@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684 Scapa Flow was a naval base.
The RAF began bombing Germany on 19 March 1940.
The Blitz was in response to the RAF bombing cities and towns in Germany from 11 May 1940 onwards, as Spaight and Taylor confirmed.
Watching this makes me realize just at what disadvantage the German pilots were fighting in the Battle of Britain. The radar, fighting over home turf vs the Germans fighting at their maximum range plus all the non-British pilots who contributed greatly too. And despite all this the Germans still came close to breaking the RAF down.
They tried to bully and bluff the British into surrender and were told to "fuck off" in NO uncertain terms.
Actually the Germans never even came close to breaking the RAF. The Luftwaffe simply could not shoot them down fast enough or put another way Britain could repair and build replacement fighters faster than Germany could shoot them down. In order to win Germany needed to continually keep its foot on Britains neck...... every Luftwaffe fighting day lost due to the weather was a free full days fighter production + pilot training day for the RAF. I do not doubt that Dowding was genuinely worried at times but who wouldn't be in his shoes ? The simple truth remains however that the RAF was stronger at the end of the BoB than it had been at the start ! It was the Germans who could not sustain their bomber losses and indeed Luftwaffe Bomber Crews resorted to jettisoning their bomb loads rather than continuing on to their targets.... "Game Over"
Bless all the pilots weather German or British etc. Germany did pretty good seeing half the world was behind Britain. May all those pilots that died so tragically. RIP. You will always be remembered no matter whose side you were on. You were fighting for your country. Salute and Respect
Brave men pushed into a huge corner I salute every brave German Airman , flying in white out conditions a great deal very challenging
Most people would not share your view. The British were not the aggressors and half the world were not fighting with Britain at this time. There were some European pilots helping Britain but in 1940 they were basically on their own.
Those German pilots were there to conquer Britain they do not have the kudos of the RAF pilots. Germany was a murderous state. Never forget it.
While the individual deaths are indeed most often tragedies, the cause for which those lives were given has some bearing on whther we should have sympathy for their loss.
"Half the world behind them" by that I guess you mean Britain's imperial supply network, very similar to that of nazi Germany, who as well as possessing the LARGEST national GDP in Europe, also had just conquered some of the most heavily industrialised nations in the world, on top of which she had very healthy supply contracts with Sweden, Finland, Italy, Spain and most of the countries of the Balkans (ESPECIALLY Romania) as well as being supplied with MILLIONS of tons of food, fuel and strategic raw materials by their great friend and ally the USSR. Even the USA was greedily conducting "business as usual" with nazi Germany as it set about the United Kingdom, such was the American desire to put profit ahead of any moral concerns.
I understand your point of respect to the individual, but I just wanted to give a more balanced portrayal of the strategic situation facing Great Britain at that time.
These german pilots that you praise so highly were an important part of a regime that would have murdered more than half the world's population. For you to praise them in the same breath as the allied pilots who saved the world from that nightmare is disgusting. You betray those who saved your way of llfe.
The landings on England would have been suicide according to contemporary war games. Even without air superiority. It was always nonsense, and recognized as such by the German navy and army.
Greatest Generation on both sides of the "Big Pond" 👍
But at this point of the war it was only one side of "the pond" doing the fighting and dying.
For those who may be interested to know- Cream's legendary drummer "Ginger" Baker , was a one year old toddler during the Battle of Britain.
Why would you tell us that? There would have been about 1 million 2 year olds in Britain at the time.
Pretty good job. Maybe crash dive when u saw copter. Keep it up brah!!
The Stuka pilots hated the screamer on the plane. Im not sure but the diving noise didnt last long as a feature
"Never in the field of human conflict was so much been owed by so many to so few'" - Winston Churchill
British resolve and resistance was really good in ww2 and battle of Britain tbh compared to like France.
Sorry, but It is hard for me to avoid my inherent purism. These scenes show many Spitfires Mk. 9 and very few -if any, Mk 1, 1a and 2, which precisely were the ones that fought the Battle of Britain. They were easily recognizable by the old first iteration Merlins that carried only 3 exhaust per side, short prop hubs and three-bladed-variable-pitch propellers (earlier models used two blades, fixed wooden propellers) , it also carried type "a" wings, with a quartet of Browning machine guns each. In this film, most Spits carry six exhausts per side. The most built variant of the Spitfire was the Mk.9, which used second-iteration Merlins that had this feature, longer noses and used mostly four-bladed-variable-pitch prolellers. It was also the most common surviving variant, so it is not unexpectable that most of Spits used in this film have been Mk 9s, which saw combat much later in the War. Even though an effort was made to simulate "a" wings by eliminating the Hispano Cannons of the "c" wings, mostly used in the Mk. 9 Spit.
Bf 109Es were actually Hispano-Suiza Ha 1112 Buchones, a derivative of the Bf 109 built under license in Spain after the Civil War. Curiously, the model depicted in the film was a post-War iteration that used Merlin engines!
Pretty much the same happens with those Heinkels 111 in the film: they were really C.A.S.A. 2111B, another license-built Spanish variant of the He 111, that curiously, also added Merlin engines instead the original German Jumos.
All these are acceptable licenses for a time where no digital scenes were available. And the realization of this film demanded the set up of dozens of different types of aircraft on flight with stunt pilots, all simulating combat maneouvers which added an important risk of accident.
Therefore, the action scenes have been recognized as one of the best achieved air war films ever.
Some more facts for your purist exposition. Early Mk I Hurricanes (and very early Spitfires) were fitted with a wooden 2 bladed fixed pitch Watts propeller (effectively a laminated & carved solid wooden propeller). These were replaced squadron by squadron through 1939/early 1940 by the De Havilland variable pitch three blade propeller with cast metal blades, these variable pitch propellers had only two settings "fine" and "coarse" which were set manually by the pilot. Eventually from August 1940 onwards they were phased out and replaced by "Rotol" Constant Speed propellers where the propeller blades (made of a composite wood/metal constuction called "Jablo") were infinitely variable and controlled automatically.
The propellers can be thought of in a similar way to transmission gears. The 2 bladed wooden fixed pitch was rather like an old bike with a single inflexible gear set to give the "worst of both worlds" for both top speed and acceleration. The 2 pitch De Havilland was like a car with 2 manual gears, low and high. The Rotol constant speed was like a fully automatic "CVT" gearbox.
The Rotol constant speed propeller was a MAJOR improvement that turned excellent fighter aircraft into world class fighter aircraft.
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