One day?
Well, Eagle Day was one day of some seven months of ever-changing air raids and air assaults towards England. Yes, it was an important day - perhaps easiest one to remember.
But the most important “day” in the Battle of Britain happened when Hitler-Goering got “mad” at Churchill’s RAF raid on Berlin (ordered only AFTER a German raid on military targets “missed” and bombed London itself). THAT decision stopped the very successful German raids on the RAF bases and radar sites!
And THAT decision (to stop hitting the very vulnerable RAF bases) saved England.
I remember in Churchill’s “Memoirs of the Second World War” he said that one day they sent up every plane they had, nothing in reserve. I wonder if that was this day.
WWII tweets from 1940:
https://twitter.com/RealTimeWWII
“For weeks, UK Fighter Command has carefully limited number of planes it risks in air combat- Germans now believe RAF has less than 100 fighter planes left. Real figure: 802.”
In 1994 I was in pub near the town of Boston, Lincolnshire.
I asked a gentlemen seated next to me if he saw the air war.
He told me he was a lad of 10yo and stated that it was unbelievable. Dog fights right over head! Shot down flaming planes! He and his friends were afraid of stray bullets hitting them. Quite a narrative.
Prince Harry made a formal visit to military troops the other day. Not sure if it was related.
Locking up critics of Islam appears to be how today’s Britain celebrates most things.
Read British pilot Johnny Johnson’s book “Wing Commander” about the RAF in WW2. Well worth it.
Excellent movie....