[bmwcyle]

Nice Pictures

[skr]

bfl

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.

The Battle of Britian was a major setback for Germany and the Luftwaffe. The Luftwaffe was doing a good job of rolling up the RAF in the south of England, prepatory to a channel crossing. Hitler was outraged by a few pinprick raids by the RAF against German cities and demanded that the Luftwaffe switch targets to British cities. This was the decision that cost the battle. An ME-109 operating out of France only had enough fuel to fly to London and operate for five minutes. Many Luftwaffe fighter pilots were lost because they ditched in the channel on the way home. The Luftwaffe never recovered. Towards the end of the war, many German fighter pilots were flying into combat with too few hours to be allowed to solo in the U.S. Army Air Force.

BTW, German radar was (far) technically superior to the Chain Home system, contrary to popular belief. Where the British had an advantage was in better incorporating radar data into an overall real time picture of the battle, giving their commanders better situational awareness.

[caver]

Great. All I see are little red x’s.

[School of Rational Thought]

The plane going of Lord Nelson statue in Trafalgar Square demonstrates the stark closeness of the battle over London.

I attended an air show near Oxford at the American Air Museum nearby complete with mock dogfight.

Area looks very much like it did during the war. It was very eerie.

[Berlin_Freeper]

Battle of Britain pilot: 'You were thankful to be alive'

[ClearCase_guy]

Men like this are hard to find in England today. The place has largely surrendered to the Muslims.

[Calusa]

*

[Berlin_Freeper]

The Battle of Britain: a chronology in pictures

[Berlin_Freeper]

If before Sunday's match parts of the media represented it as a re-run of the Battle of Britain, it is hardly surprising that some people should have responded as though our country had lost a major battle, when, in fact, England has simply been beaten by Germany in a football game.

[Tainan]

Battle of Britain photos you might enjoy ping.

[RayChuang88]

I think the British were very lucky they had enough quantities of the Supermarine Spitfire to defend their country during the Battle of Britain. If the Brits were only dependent on the Hurricane they would have been slaughtered, since the Hurricane--while an excellent gun platform that proved viable against bombers--was eventually no match against the 30-40 mph faster Bf-109E's that opposed them

[Non-Sequitur]

Anyone who wants a perspective on what the air campaign cost Great Britain need only look at the photo below. It's a picture of Wing Commander Guy Gibson and his crew just before his 'dambuster' raid in 1943. They were a picked crew and were broken up shortly after the mission and sent to other squadrons. Every single one of them was killed in action.

[Harold Shea]

There was a German pilot that got a bit confused on directions and landed on a British air-strip

Wonder if was that one lined up with those Spitfires in those pics

Pretty good gift

[Doogle]

I just went searching for one of the opening scenes from the movie.....spitfire low level pass.....*smiles*...thought for sure I could find it...

[calex59]

Great Pictures...Thanks.

[mware]

Best series I ever saw to portray The Battle of Britain, A Piece of Cake.

Their musical score should have won awards.

Check out one minute into video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QVZ4W_2Iec&feature=related

[Old Teufel Hunden]

thanks for the pics. I shudder to think how Britian might react today to annihlation. Are there enough patriotic men and women to stand up to tyranny today or would they meekly go quietly into servitude? I can’t answer that question myself but I shudder to think what the answer is...

[PGalt]

Great pictures. Thanks for posting. Thanks to all posters on this educational thread.

[OrioleFan]

bump for later