Aircrew, Royal Air Force

Aircrew from Commonwealth

Squadron Leader 26934 George "Hawk" Hawkins - Fighter Command: Pilot from Gibraltar

Wing Commander 32801 Gideon Carnie - 2nd Tactical Air Force: Pilot from Gibraltar

Flight Lieutenant 36948 Marmaduke "Duke" Oppermann - Bomber Command: Air Observer (Navigator) from South Africa

The Beginnings

Formation

While the British were not the first to make use of heavier-than-air military aircraft, the RAF is the world's oldest independent air force: that is, the first air force to become independent of army or navy control. The RAF was founded on 1st April 1918 by the amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps (formed 13th April 1912) and the Royal Naval Air Service (formed 1st July 1914) and was controlled by the Air Ministry which had been established three months earlier. The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) had been born out of the Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers and was under the control of the British Army. The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was its naval equivalent and was controlled by the Admiralty. The decision to merge the two services and create an independent air force was a response to the events of World War I, the first war in which air power made a significant impact. The creation of the new force was based on the Smuts Report prepared by Field Marshal Jan Smuts for the Imperial War Cabinet on which he served.

To emphasise the merger of both military and naval aviation in the new service, many of the titles of officers were deliberately chosen to be of a naval character, such as flight lieutenant, wing commander, group captain, and air commodore. The newly created RAF was the most powerful air force in the world on its creation, with over 20,000 aircraft and over 300,000 personnel (including the Women's Royal Air Force). The squadrons of the RFC kept their numerals while those of the RNAS were renumbered from 201 onwards. At the time of the merger, the Navy's air service had 55,066 officers and men, 2,949 aircraft, 103 airships and 126 coastal stations. The remaining personnel and aircraft came from the RFC. A memorial to the RAF was commissioned after the war in central London. The RAF's last known surviving founder member was the World War I veteran Henry Allingham who died in 2009 aged 113.

Following the end of World War I and the accompanying British defence cuts, the newly independent (and still temporary) RAF waited nine months to see if it would be retained by the Cabinet. 6,500 officers, all holding temporary commissions or seconded from the Army and Navy, applied for permanent commissions. The Cabinet sanctioned a maximum of 1,500 and the Air Ministry offered 1,065 to the applicants, publishing the first list on 1 August 1919, 75% of them short-term (two to five years). The service as a whole had been reduced in strength to 35,500.

Policing the Empire

The RAF took up the task of policing the British Empire from the air. It was argued that the use of air power would prove to be a more cost-effective way of controlling large areas than by using conventional land forces. Sir Hugh Trenchard, the Chief of the Air Staff, had formulated ideas about the use of aircraft in colonial policing and these were first put into practice in 1920 when the RAF and imperial ground units defeated rebel Somaliland dervishes. The following year, in 1921, the RAF was given responsibility for all British forces in Iraq with the task of 'policing' the tribal unrest. The RAF also saw service in Afghanistan in 1925, where they were employed independently for the first time in their history, then again in 1928, when following the outbreak of civil war, the British Legation and some European diplomatic staff based in Kabul were cut off.

Activities in Great Britain

It was during the inter-war years that the RAF had to fight for its survival – some questioned the need for a separate air force, especially in peacetime. To prevent itself being disbanded and its duties returned to the Army and the Navy, the RAF spent considerable energies keeping itself in the public eye by such things as the annual Hendon Air Show, supporting a team for the Schneider Trophy air racing competition, and by producing documentary films. In 1936, a reorganisation of RAF command saw the creation of a basic structure of the Royal Air Force. These were (with portraits):

Fighter Command (under the command of Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding)

Bomber Command (under the command of Air Chief Marshal Sir John Steele)

Coastal Command (under the command of Air Marshal Sir Arthur Longmore)

Training Command (under the command of Air Marshal Sir Charles Burnett)

Each of these were themselves spilt into five or six areas of the country known as Groups, which were usually commanded by an Air Vice Marshal. However, during the Second World War, this number could, and often did, rise to give greater fluidity of command of the ever increasing numbers of service personnel in the RAF.

Naval Aviation

The creation of the RAF removed all aircraft and flying personnel from the Navy, although the Admiralty remained in control of aircraft carriers. On 1st April 1924, the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Air Force was formed under Air Ministry control. It consisted of those RAF units that were normally embarked on aircraft carriers and fighting ships. The Chief of the Air Staff, Lord Trenchard, his air staff and his successors argued that "air is one and indivisible" and hence that naval aviation was properly the responsibility of the RAF. The Admiralty took the opposite view and, during the first half of the 1920s, pressed hard for the return of naval aviation to their control. It has been argued that the British defence arrangements in the inter-war years had a serious impact upon the doctrinal development of British naval air power as the Navy lacked experienced naval aviators.

During the 1920s and first half of the 1930s, Government spending on the RAF was limited and the air staff put a higher priority on strategic bombing than on naval aviation. The result of this was that by the late 1930s the Fleet Air Arm was equipped with outdated aircraft – like the Fairey Swordfish three-man biplane torpedo bomber, among others – in limited numbers, as the rival Imperial Japanese Naval Air Service began using the Nakajima B5N all-metal low-winged monoplane torpedo bomber from the IJN's aircraft carriers by 1938 as one example of how the Fleet Air Arm's aviation technology was literally "being left behind" by one of its future foes. By 1936, the Admiralty were once aging campaigning for the return of naval aviation to their control. After a year of "diplomatic manoeuvring and persuasion", they were successful and on 30th July 1937, the Admiralty took over responsibility for the administration of the Fleet Air Arm. Under two years later, on 24th May 1939, the Fleet Air Arm was returned to full Admiralty control under the Inskip Award and renamed the Air Branch of the Royal Navy, but reverted to the title of Fleet Air Arm on 1st September 1939 - which is still the name used to this day.

Improvements in Aircraft

It was during a period of five years in the 1930's that would see the greatest change in the Royal Air Force. In the early 1930's most of the aircraft in service were open cockpit biplanes, with the best fighter then in service, the Hawker Fury, was capable of a top speed of only 223mph with a service ceiling of 29,500 feet. Even by 1935, when the Gloster Gauntlet came into service, the performance had not changed by any noticeable amount. It was only in February - March 1937, with the entry into service of the Gloster Gladiator, that things started to take a turn for the better - for it was the Gladiator that brought in two advances that were seen as "cutting edge", but are now taken for granted; a canopy fully enclosing the cockpit, and brakes fitted to the front undercarriage. This would be a case of first and last, and the Gladiator can be seen as the aircraft in which there was a Changing of the Guard; because it was the last biplane fighter to enter service with the Royal Air Force, but it was the first to be fitted with brakes and a fully-enclosed cockpit. Later on in 1937, the first monoplane fighter entered service - the Hawker Hurricane. The Hurricane brought several new technologies into being for fighters in the RAF: retractable undercarriages, guns carried in wings, fittings for oxygen masks to be connected to the aircraft to enable true high-altitude flying, a top speed of over 300mph, and the mounting of an engine producing more than 1000 horsepower. It would be in 1938, that the most iconic fighter aircraft to have ever served with the Royal Air Force entered service - the Supermarine Spitfire. Again, the Spitfire would bring in new technology, only this time in two areas that would secure it's place in history; it's method of construction, and the design of it's canopy. The Spitfire would be the first RAF aircraft built with metal ribs covered with a stressed metal skin - an ingenious idea that would initially be a nightmare to mass-produce; and it would be the first aircraft to be fitted with a bubble canopy, enabling the pilot to look at what was behind him without having to use a mirror (which were not fitted as a standard feature, but were fitted by more astute pilots). By the outbreak of hostilities on 1st September 1939, there were more than 600 Hurricanes in service with RAF Fighter Command, but only 300 Spitfires.

Second World War

The RAF underwent rapid expansion following Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s declaration of war against Germany on 3rd September 1939, in spite of having already gone through an expansion some six months previous following the Sudatenland Crisis of 1938. This included the training of British aircrews in British Commonwealth countries under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, and the secondment of many whole squadrons, and tens of thousands of individual personnel, from Commonwealth air forces. For example, by the end of the war, Royal Canadian Air Force personnel had contributed more than 30 squadrons to service with RAF formations; almost a quarter of Bomber Command's personnel were Canadian. Similarly, about nine percent of the personnel who served with the RAF in Europe and the Mediterranean were seconded from the Royal Australian Air Force. To these and other British Commonwealth personnel were later added thousands of men from other countries, including many who had fled from German-occupied Europe, most notably from Poland. At it's peak in 1944, 1 million men were serving in the RAF.

A rapid recruitment drive for the RAF took place following the disastrous French campaign of 1940, which were very much one-sided in favour of the Germans. The RAF had lost 950 aircraft, roughly half of it's frontline strength. Fighter Command alone has lost over 200, and the equivalent of four complete Air Stores worth of spare parts. Bomber Command had been even more severely decimated. Paul Richie, a pilot in No1 (Fighter) Squadron, RAF wrote of a bomber squadron which had lost 26 complete aircrews and was left with just 6 of it's original pilots - "We, fighter chaps, had a deadly aeroplane in our hands, and the consolation of hitting back and chalking up a score. But the bombers had none of the thrill, none of the fast acrobatics, and twice the dangers. They know that every time they take off, they didn't stand much chance of coming back. But they never shirked a job, and never hesitated. We all admired and respected them." If the aircrew of Bomber Command were "of the highest order", the same could not be said of the aircraft in which they fought. Virtually all the aircraft then in use were obsolete with the outbreak of war, and none of them were able to compete with German fighters. When war was declared, the RAF had four twin-engined bombers in service: the Hampden, Blenheim, Whitley and Wellington - known as the "New Age" Bombers. Of these, the only aircraft that could provide a measure of safety for it's crew was the Wellington - partially the brain-child of Barnes Wallis. The four "New Age" bombers were supplemented in December 1939 with the arrival of the Avro Manchester, which was the fore-runner to the famous Lancaster. Although a sound design, the Manchester was let down by the Rolls-Royce Goshawk engines that powered it. The Fairey Battle, which entered service in May 1937, was very quickly found to be a death-trap, and most of the squadrons equipped with Battles were completely destroyed during the Battle of France - where being part of the crew on the Fairey Battle was seen as a very quick way to get killed, and as such, the crews on Fairey Battle squadrons were treated better than most, and those lucky enough to survive the Battle of France were immediately promoted or commissioned and granted a weeks leave.

In the interim period between the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain, the British Aircraft Industry struggled to churn out the necessary aircraft required to bolster the nation's air defences, and repulse the German attacks, which were by now inevitable. By early July 1940, RAF Fighter Command had risen to the strength of 52 Squadrons, just one short of an agreed requirement for a minimum Home Defence. Following the British withdrawing from France and the French surrender, Hitler expected Britain to sue for peace. This didn't happen, and as a result, he issued Fuehrerbefehl No16 (Leader Directive No16), which stated, "As England, in spite the hopelessness of her situation that she finds herself in, has failed to come to a compromise, I have therefore decided to prepare for, and if necessary carry out an invasion of England." This was to be code-named Operation Seelowe (Sea Lion). The plan called for a landing of eleven divisions, including six armoured divisions, spearheaded by paratroops. Four divisions were to establish a beach-head at Folkstone, two divisions near Eastbourne, and a further three divisions at Brighton - with a planned 250,000 troops landing on the first day.

Battle of Britain

A defining period of the RAF's existence came during the Battle of Britain. From 10th July - 31st October 1940, the RAF held off the Luftwaffe in perhaps the most prolonged and complicated air campaign in history.

There were three stages to the Battle of Britain. They were:

Kanalkampf
Adlerangriff
Nachtbombenkampf (The Blitz)

In the beginning, it seemed an unequal battle, with the Germans almost guaranteed to win. However, those who thought that Britain and her Empire were going to surrender hadn't factored in the stubbornness of one man - the prime minister, Winston Churchill.

Yes, it is true that the RAF were at a massive disadvantage on paper, but as history has shown time and time again: what goes down on paper, doesn't always reflect the true situation.

One thing of great significance that the Germans were unaware of in the run-up to the Battle of Britain was the large contingent of experienced pilots that would come from Poland, France, Belgium, Czechoslovakia as well as the Empire and Commonwealth Nations, such as Canada, New Zealand and Australia. The Polish pilots alone would account for 7.5% of all aircraft shot down during the Battle, with 303 (Polish) Squadron (see above) being the second highest scoring squadron throughout the Battle (behind 92 (East India) Squadron). The other greatest mistake that the Germans made was underestimating the quality of the British Air Defence System. The first line of defence was a chain of radar stations looking out towards the continent, with a range of over 120 miles, and was able to pick up the German aircraft as soon as they had taken off from their bases in Occupied France. Although the radar was very rudimentary by today's standard, it was one of the best in the world at the time. With specially trained operators monitoring the readouts, the RAF could tell the approximate size of an incoming raid, the altitude of the enemy and the direction for the RAF fighters to be vectored onto. Due to the radar network being able to pick up the German aircraft as they took off, it was not uncommon for the plotters of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), having initially placed a raid size estimate of 20-30 aircraft on the plotting table, to suddenly have to change it to 250+ aircraft, resulting in a very tense situation for the duty controller, who was watching over the proceedings from a vantage point in the Operations Room.

Out of the 3,080 pilots and aircrew assigned to RAF Fighter Command for the Battle of Britain, 520 would be killed in action. This figure is broken down into 418 British, 30 Polish, 14 New Zealanders, 20 Canadians, 6 Belgians, 9 South Africans, 14 Australians, 8 Czech, and 1 American Pilot.

It is a popular myth that the Spitfire was the aircraft that won the Battle of Britain. While it would have been difficult for the Hurricane to win the Battle of Britain on it's own, the Hurricane was responsible for 2/3 of all aircraft shot down during the Battle. It is also a myth that only the Spitfire and Hurricane were used by the RAF during the Battle of Britain. This is perhaps the most unfortunate myth about the battle. There were actually six types of aircraft flown by the British during the Battle, and they were:

Hawker Hurricane
Supermarine Spitfire
Bristol Blenheim 1F (replaced toward the end with the Bristol Beaufighter, starting 8th September 1940)
Boulton-Paul Defiant (swiftly withdrawn from daylight operations and used as a night fighter)
Gloster Gladiator (only used on one operation, and worked to remarkable effect against the sole attack of the Reggio Aeronautica (Italian Air Force) during the Battle of Britain)
Fairey Fulmar (operated by the Fleet Air Arm)

The initial actions of the Battle of Britain took place in the skies over the English Channel. During this Kanalkampf (Channel Attack), the losses on either side were relatively even on both sides. But even from this early stage, things weren't going as the Germans had planned. This is because from the very start, Air Chief Marshal Dowding refused to send up British fighters in strength, only sending up enough to give a token resistance with the aim of shooting down a number of German Aircraft every time they came over. It was not uncommon for the RAF fighters to be outnumbered by as much as 10:1 on most days, but the RAF still managed to hold their own against the German attacks against the coastal shipping. It was during this time that RAF pilots re-aligned the guns on their aircraft to merge at 150 - 200 yards instead of the official 650 yards (some of the Polish pilots were known to have synchronised their guns to converge at 100 yards or less). Although this was drawing up RAF fighters, it was nowhere near enough what Hitler demanded. Part of the reason for this was the early warning that the radar stations gave to RAF Fighter Command, which eliminated the need for the RAF to fly standing patrols.

There were those who were opposed to the Dowding's tactics of using the minimal amount of fighters possible to intercept each raid. A primary exponent of hose individuals was Douglas Bader (left), who was infamous for his industrial language when talking on the radio and for flying with two artificial legs, having lost both of his legs in a pre-war flying accident. Bader proposed that a large force of RAF fighters (three to five squadrons) would be "scrambled" and sent to intercept the German aircraft every time they came over to attack - the infamous "Big Wings". Although this sounded fine on paper, what Bader hadn't accounted for was the amount of time that it would take to form the "Big Wing". According to the RAF Fighter Ace and one time subordinate of Bader, Johnnie Johnson (right), it took a squadron 17 minutes to get airborne, and a further 20 minutes to form the "Big Wing" - in comparison, it only took 15 minutes for a German aircraft to cross the English Channel. This is proof that the "Big Wing" would not work in this stage of the Battle of Britain, despite Bader's insistence after the war.

In a fit of rage, Hitler demanded that Hermann Goering, the head of the Luftwaffe and a former fighter ace in his own rite, to defeat the RAF in the shortest possible time. It was from this that Goering developed the plan known as the Adlerangriff (Assault of the Eagles or Operation Eagle). The plan was to change the targets from bombing coastal shipping, to RAF Stations and radar stations. The start of this assault was to be on 13th August, known as Eagle Day. The aim was to destroy RAF Fighter Command in four days, and in four weeks to have completely destroyed the RAF and the British Air Defence System. In order to try and reduce the amount of possible resistance from RAF Fighter Command, an attempt to "blind" the British defences was made on the 12th August. The targets of this raid were five radar stations along the coast.

Ventnor
Rye
Pevensey
Dover
Dunkirk

Through the 100 mile hole torn in the radar defences, the Stukas of Luftflotte 2 & 3 attacked forward fighter airfields without loss. RAF Mantson was fiercely attacked, as was Portsmouth Docks. Out of the radar stations attacked, only one, Ventnor, was out of action for more than a few hours. The rapid activation of back-up stations and recalibration of the system meant that the system was back on line within a matter of hours - no decisive advantage had been gained by the attacks. The German pilots had noted, much to their great annoyance, how well the towers were able to cope with being targetted and withstand blast damage. At the end of the 12th August, the RAF had lost 22 aircraft, to the Luftwaffe's 36

Eagle Day started in confusion, and courtesy of bad weather and cloud warnings, the initial attacks launched by the Luftwaffe were disjointed. This was made worse when the signal postponing the assault failed to get through to the bombers of Kanalkampffuehrer Fink, at his Headquarters in Arras, France. The message got through to the escorting fighters, which after having taken off, returned to base without having linked up with the bombers, leaving them to fly on to the British coast without escort. Although the bombers had inflicted serious damage on Sheerness and Eastchurch, RAF Fighter Command accounted for 10 aircraft from the attacking force. After a series of botched attempts to get aircraft airborne, the Germans finally managed to launch an attack when the weather improved. Swarms of ME109's swept across Kent to try and draw up RAF fighters, but to no avail. The RAF refused to give to the fighter sweeps, and focused on breaking up attacks by German bombers, particularly when the ME109's had turned back due to the lack of fuel (a common problem of the ME109 throughout it's life). On Eagle Day itself, only 700 sorties were flown by the RAF, compared to the 1485 flown by the Luftwaffe, whereas on many July days, they had flown 600 or more against far less odds. Dowding was still rightfully saving his forces, knowing that bigger attacks were still to come. RAF Fighter Command lost 13 aircraft on Eagle Day, compared to the Luftwaffe's 34. The Luftwaffe destroyed 47 British aircraft on the ground, but only one of those was a fighter.

Two days after Eagle Day saw the only attack by Luftflotte 5 in the entire Battle of Britain, and likewise saw the only large scale use of No.13 Group, RAF Fighter Command. When the German formation was picked up on radar by No13 Group, the relative inexperience of the plotters meant that there was an estimation of only 30 aircraft in the attack, and as a result only one squadron, No72 Squadron, was initially scrambled to intercept the raid. Upon sighting the formation of what was in fact 300+ aircraft, No72 Squadron's Commander, Squadron Leader E. Graham, radioed the central ops room at No13 Group. Risking everything on this being the only attack to take place in the North, No13 Group scrambled every squadron it could between Yorkshire and Edinburgh, with No12 Group throwing their weight into the mix with at least 6 Squadrons being committed to the assault on Luftflotte 5, including a squadron of Blenheim's and a squadron of Defiants. As a result, Luftflotte 5 was decimated, with a loss rate of 70-75% of the force sent to attack the North of Britain. Fierce fighting still took place in the South with losses taken by both sides, and serious damage being caused to RAF Airfields and Command Centres, hampering fighter interception. Total losses: RAF - 34, Luftwaffe - 75. Luftflotte 5 would never take part in a major action again.

On 16th August, RAF Pilots reported that there were huge numbers of fighter escorts in with huge bomber streams. This was courtesy of a directive from Goering, who had demanded that the fighters stay with the bombers, instead of chasing after British fighters, as German bomber crews were complaining about being left vulnerable. Although this was brilliant news for the RAF, it was the worst news possible for the German fighter pilots, as the order to stick to the bombers cost the fighters the advantages of height, manoeuvrability and surprise. It also gave the German fighter pilots the problem of potentially stalling as they struggled to match the much slower speed of the bombers. As a result of this, German fighter pilots started to fly a weaving course. However, the bomber crews still complained that they were being left exposed and vulnerable, so Goering ordered a halt to the fighters weaving, thus reducing their effectiveness still further.

Of the RAF fighter pilots, Prime Minister Winston Churchill famously said in the House of Commons on 20th August, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few". Although, he first spoke these words upon exiting the Battle of Britain Bunker at RAF Uxbridge on 16th August.

A key turning point in the Battle of Britain was because of a mistake. On the night of 24/25th August, a force of German Bombers got lost and overshot it's intended target (later discovered to be a series of factories in Rochester). When it started receiving anti-aircraft fire close to it, the force commander panicked, and ordered the bombs to be jettisoned to permit a hasty exit and return to France. Unknown to those bomber crews, they had just dropped bombs on Harrow, on the outskirts London - the first time in just over 20 years that bombs had been dropped on London. This was in direct contradiction to a direct order given by Hitler stating that London was not to be attacked. Winston Churchill, infuriated that London had been bombed, immediately ordered the bombing of Berlin in reprisal. This took place the following night, 25th August, when a force of Wellingtons, Hampdens and Whitleys, flew from their bases in England and carried out the first ever air raid on Berlin. Hitler's pride was damaged, and he immediately swore a thousand-fold revenge, ordering on 31st August that intensive bombing raids deliberately targeted at the British civilian population were to take place. At about 4pm on 7th September 1940, over 350 German bombers and 650 German fighter aircraft flew across the English Channel. They dropped 300 tonnes of bombs on the docks and streets of the East of London in just two hours. Big bombs exploded with a loud bang and blew buildings apart, whilst small bombs called incendiaries started fires. At 8pm, another wave of bombers then attacked the city, guided by fires started by the earlier bombs. The fire fighters struggled to tackle the blazes from the huge rum warehouses in the area as they quickly burnt out of control. More than 450 people were killed and another 1,600 were injured. This was the start of 76 consecutive nights that the Luftwaffe bombed London in a campaign that has gone down in history as the Blitz.

It was one of these raids on the 15th September 1940, that the Luftwaffe suffered it's greatest blow. Expecting there to be little in the way of resistance by the RAF, the Luftwaffe had amassed a force 500 bombers, escorted by 620 fighters for two raids against London. The first action of the day took place at 08:30 when two Hurricanes from Exeter intercepted a Hienkel 111 on a weather-reconnaissance flight, which resulted in the Hienkel being shot down into the channel, with none of the Hienkel's crew surviving. If the RAF expected the day to be a quiet one, they were to be sorely mistaken. If things were not bad enough, it was to be this day of all days, that Winston Churchill decided to visit the Central Operations Roof for No11 Group at RAF Uxbridge. Raid One was picked up by the radar station at Dover at 10:30am, with 92 Squadrons and 72 Squadrons scrambled at 11:05 from RAF Biggin Hill. Raid One crossed the English coast at 11:36, and were met by Anti-Aircraft fire. Over Canterbury, 72 and 92 Squadrons intercepted the German aircraft and started to attack the bombers, in attempt to draw the fighters, and use up precious fuel. Raid One reached London at 12:07, and a "Big Wing" from No12 Group arrived, and started to attack the German formation. On seeing this wave of 50-60 Spitfires and Hurricanes, the Germans turned around and started to try and escape back to France. On the way they jettisoned their bombs in an effort to gain some vital speed, which proved negligible. By 12:11, Raid One had been repulsed with widespread damage to London and Kent. The German formation was forced into a head-long retreat, being attacked all the way by a force of at least 90 Spitfires and Hurricanes. Total losses for Raid One: RAF - 13, Luftwaffe - 18. Raid Two was picked up on radar at 13:40, and although the actual figure is not known, it is estimated that the number of German Aircraft involved in Raid 2 was more than 450. The RAF Fighters that had taken part in the repulsing of Raid One had, by this time, returned to their bases to refuel and rearm, and thus were ready for action again, and once they were declared ready for combat again, they were ordered back into the air. At 14:05, an additional 275 fighter aircraft were scrambled to intercept Raid 2. The first clashes took place at 14:14 over Romney Marsh, as 32, 56 and 238 squadrons dived out of the sun and attacked the German aircraft. London's Anti-Aircraft guns opened up on the German formations at 14:30, and three minutes later, there was total commitment. As more and more RAF Fighter Squadrons were committed to the action, Winston Churchill asked Air Vice Marshal Sir Keith Park, the Air Officer Commanding No11 Group,

"What other reserves do you have?"

Park replied:

"Sir, there are none"

Everything had been committed to intercept Raid 2. The decisive moment had arrived. Despite the best efforts of the RAF, bombs started falling on London. By 15:13, Raid 2 had reached the Channel coast, but by this time, most of the German fighters had left, with barely enough fuel to make it back to their bases in France. It was as the Luftwaffe bombers approached London, that a Big Wing, led by Douglas Bader (consisting of 242 (Canadian), 310 (Czech), 19, 302 (Polish) and 611 (RAuxAF)) appeared - a force of 60 Hurricances and Spitfires, who after the words "It's party time" from Douglas Bader, swept in to add their contribution to the day's combat. This was the period in which the majority of German bombers were lost. Total losses for Raid 2: RAF - 29, Luftwaffe - 79. It was clear, even to Hitler, that the Luftwaffe had failed in their objective to clear the skies of the RAF, and as a result, on 17th September 1940, he gave the order that Operation Seelowe was to be postponed indefinitely, effectively cancelling all plans for invading Britain.

In recent years, some military historians have controversially suggested that the RAF's actions would not have prevented an invasion and that the key deterrent was the Royal Navy's command of the sea. However, it must be recognised that without RAF Fighter Command denying the Germans the opportunity of establishing Air Superiority of the English Channel, the Luftwaffe would have been able to attack any British shipping, be it merchant or naval, at will, and as was demonstrated at Toranto, Pearl Harbour and Singapore later on in the war, shipping without air cover was vulnerable to air attack, and shipping could easily be lost to enemy action launched from the air.

Change of Uniform

It had been recognised since the first combat operations of the war, that the Service Dress uniform worn by the RAF (left) was impractical for use as a combat uniform. So it was therefore decided that a new uniform styled on the Army's 1937 pattern battledress would be designed and adopted. This would be blue grey in colour, and unlike the Army Battledress, would not have a large pocket on the left trouser leg, nor would it have a closure tab that would flap in the wind if the blouse was issued to personnel of exceptionally slim build. The first of these Suit, Blue Grey, Aircrew sets (see right) were given to selected aircrew for trial wearing, and was welcomed by those who wore it. Perhaps the most notable of those who wore War Service Dress during this trial period was Squadron Leader Brian Lane (see centre), the CO of No. 19 (F) Squadron, based at RAF Duxford, Cambridgeshire (now the IWM Duxford), who's photograph was taken in September 1940 with him wearing a War Service Dress Blouse (which is the very photograph on the right). His face, clearly showing signs of exhaustion, became widely recognised throughout the nation.

After the glowing reports made by Battle of Britain pilots, the Suit, Blue Grey, Aircrew was issued to all aircrew as of January 1941. This was to lead to bigger things, because in October 1943, Suit, Blue Grey, Aircrew was renamed War Service Dress, and became the Standard Issue uniform for all parts of the RAF (with the exception of the RAF Regiment, who wore Army Battledress from their inception in February 1942). War Service Dress, or "Hairy Mary" as it was later affectionately known, saw a long service life, with the last sets finally being withdrawn from use in 1976, some four years after the introduction of it's successor.

"They sowed the wind, and now, they are going to reap the Whirlwind!"

The main RAF effort during the war was the strategic bombing campaign against Germany. In the early years of the war, RAF Bomber Command largely curtailed their operations to dropping propaganda leaflets on German cities, which only served to give the RAF crews essential training in navigation - and to give the German population more supplies for their ablutions! The aircraft that the RAF had in service at the beginning of the war, as they were mostly light bombers that couldn't carry much more than a 4000lb bomb load (the Blenheim could only carry 1000lbs of bombs), and with speeds barely getting above 200mph, armament consisting of only three or four machine guns, and service ceilings being inferior and dangerously low (just 17,600ft for the Whitley) compared to that of the German fighters of the time, there was little chance of survival for bomber aircrews. Perhaps the most significant operation for RAF Bomber Command of the early war years, was on the night of 25/26th August 1940, when a force of Wellingtons, Hampdens and Whitleys launched the first air raid on Berlin mounted by British Forces. This was in retaliation for the accidental bombing of Harrow, on the outskirts of London the night before. The population of Berlin was stunned, as Goering had promised them that the skies of Germany were impenetrable and famously stated "No bombs shall ever fall on Berlin. If they do, you can call me Meier". Needless to say, as the war went on, German citizens, and even members of Hitler's inner circle, started producing posters titled "Goering's Lie" featuring his famous empty-promises and a list of all the towns and cities that had been bombed.

Following the release of the D.M. Butt Report in August 1941, it was discovered that only 1 in three bombers were getting to within five miles of the target. When operations took place over the Ruhr, this figure dropped to 1 in 10, but when these operations took place in bad weather or on moonless nights, that figure fell still further to 1 in 15. One of the reactions of the Chiefs of Air Staff following the release of the Butt Report, was to go to the Prime Minister and ask for a quadrupling of their forces, so they could knock Germany out of the war. Churchill tartly suggested, that they quadruple their accuracy, and try for the same effect.

In February 1942, Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris was appointed as Air Officer Commanding RAF Bomber Command. In the first three weeks after his appoint, the bombing results actually worsened. A veteran of the Imperial Policing actions of the inter-war years, Harris was already an accomplished pilot, and had already been awarded the DFC. He decided that what was needed was a large scale attack on a target deep within enemy territory. He called for Operation Millennium, the first ever 1000 bomber raid launched by the RAF. From 31st May 1942, RAF Bomber Command was able to mount large-scale night raids, sometimes involving up to 1,000 aircraft. The target was Cologne. Harris immediately hit a snag - there wasn't 1000 aircraft on front-line squadrons in RAF Bomber Command. He took the decision that he would draw resources from Operational Training Units (OTUs), Operational Conversion Units (OCUs), and he would even use aircraft that had previously been listed as "surplus to requirements" in order for him to get his 1000 aircraft for the raid. In the event, he had managed to obtain 1,046 aircraft for the mission, and on the night of 30th-31st May 1942, Operation Millennium was launched. A force totalling 73 Lancasters, 131 Halifaxes, 88 Stirlings, 602 Wellingtons, 79 Hampdens, 46 Manchesters and 28 Whitleys took off and dropped a total of 1,455 tons of ordnance, 2/3 of which was incendiary, on Cologne, causing the first ever man-made firestorm. The raid proved to be the swansong of some types of aircraft, with the Hampden and the Manchester not being used on an operational sortie again, in addition to the Whitley being fully withdrawn from RAF Bomber Command and assigned to RAF Coastal Command or being used as a Parachute Training Aircraft.

There exists considerable historical controversy about the ethics of large-scale firebombing attacks against German cities during the last few months of the war, such as the bombing of Dresden, the bombing of Pforzheim, the bombing of Heilbronn, and other German cities. It is because of this controversy that some people and historians argue, with justification, that the Commander-in-Chief of RAF Bomber Command, Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris, was a war criminal.

RAF Coastal Command

Out of the three commands set up in 1936 that were to see service for the duration of the Second Word War, Coastal Command is the one that is most forgotten. Everyone knows of Fighter Command from the Battle of Britain, Bomber Command from the Dambusters raid, but Coastal Command has seemingly faded into obscurity. However, it can be argued that they had a role that was more vital than either of the two pre-mentioned Commands. This is because it was the role of Coastal Command to protect the shipping lanes bringing food, war material and raw material to the UK. However, when the Second World War broke out, Coastal Command were not equipped with enough aircraft for the role they were required to carry out. They were so short of aircraft that for the first two months of the war, Coastal Command was forced to use Tiger Moth training aircraft for coastal patrol duties. As the Second World War went on however, more aircraft were made available to Coastal Command, such as the Whitley, which had shown itself hopelessly defenceless over Germany as a Bomber, and was later joined by the Wellington. In September 1940, the RAF started to receive a new aircraft that would have a massive impact on Coastal Command, and would also give Fighter Command some of its first Night Fighter Aces of the Second World War - the Bristol Beaufighter. Initially equipped with just 4x 20mm cannons, the Beaufighter would go on to become known as "The Ten-Gun Terror" and "Whistling Death" armed with 4x 20mm cannons under the nose, and 6x .303 machine guns in the wings. Australian-built Beaufighters, designated Mk21 had a much bigger punch. The 4x 20mm cannons were kept, but the 6x .303 machine guns were replaced by 4x forward-facing and 1x rear-facing .50 Browning machine guns, giving the Beaufighter an even bigger punch and therefore could give, as one Australian Beaufighter Pilot said, "a severe case of lead poisoning" to anything that was lined up in it's sights.

The most notable mission conducted by a Beaufighter was Operation Squabble. Piloted by Flight Lieutenant Ken Gatward with Sergeant Gilbert Fern as his Navigator, the Beaufighter was to be flown to Paris to drop two specially-weighted Tricolour; one over the Arc de Triomphe, and the other over the Ministre de la Marine (French Naval Ministry building), which was being used as German Naval Headquarters. They were also to strafe a parade of German soldiers that was supposed to be taking place. There were four occasions where the mission was attempted but the weather worsened, leading to the abandoning of the sortie, and the operation postponed. On the fifth attempt, the weather was on their side. On 12th June 1942, Gatward and Fern took off at 11:29 hours from Thorney Island in heavy rain. Initial weather conditions of ten tenths cloud at 2,000 feet with heavy precipitation were encountered and the aircraft set course for the target at 11:31 hours. Flying at 30ft, they crossed the French coast a few miles eastward of Fécamp at 11:58 hours, the cloud cover thinned out and by the time they reached Rouen, there was bright sunshine. With excellent visibility, the aircraft passed over the suburbs of Paris at a very low altitude and some light flak was encountered for the first time. They circled the Eiffel Tower at 12:27 hours. During this low-level flying he suffered a bird strike in his starboard engine radiator but managed to fly on. At approximately 12:28 hours he banked to port and headed towards the Champs-Élysées. The intelligence information about the time of the parade was incorrect so there were no German soldiers to strafe, but Fern released the first Tricolour down the flare chute over the Arc de Triomphe. Gatward then attacked the Ministre de la Marine in the Place de la Concorde, and strafed the building with 20 mm cannon shells, scattering German sentries. Fern, then dropped the second part of the Tricolour. Gatward then turned for home at 12:30 hours and landed at RAF Northolt at 13:53 hours. Later intelligence confirmed that the parade had been assembling at the time of the attack but had to be abandoned due to the confusion following Gatward's raid. Gatward was awarded an immediate Distinguished Flying Cross, and Fern was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal and commissioned.

From 1942, Coastal Command started receiving deliveries of Mosquito FB.VI strike aircraft. With a firepower similar to that of the Beaufighter, the Mosquito FB.VI was perhaps the only aircraft used by all three Major commands of the RAF (Bomber, Fighter, Coastal). It was known as "all things to all men" and it could be argued that the Mosquito FB.VI was the worlds first Multi-Role Combat Aircraft, something that would not become commonplace until the late 1970's.

Enter the Tsetse

In late 1943, Coastal Command adopted a variant of the Mosquito that would prove to have more than the usual punch. This was the FB.XVIII or Mark 18, also known as the Tsetse, after the vicious biting fly. Unlike all other armed mosquitos, the Tsetse was armed with a Molins 57mm QF gun, which was an adaptation of the Ordnance QF 6 Pounder Anti-Tank gun that had proven so deadly in the North African Campaign some 18 months earlier. The job of the Tsetse's was to seek out U-Boats and sink them. However, this didn't stop pilots of the Tsetse trying their hand at dogfighting with German Aircraft. In one encounter with German aircraft and shipping, the CO of 618 (Special Detachment) Flight, Squadron Leader Anthony "Tony" Phillips, managed to get on the tail of a JU-88 and opened fire with the Molins gun. He fired a total of six rounds, which shot the port (left) engine clean out of it's housing and the JU-88 spun into the sea. This incident was recalled in an interview in 2016 by Flt Lt Des Curits DFC, a former Navigator of 618 (Special Detachment) Flight, who had witnessed it himself. This incident, along with other incidents of Tsetse's shooting down German aircraft (including a Tsetse pilot of 248 (Special Detachment) Flight shooting a wing clean off the ME109 that had overshot him) led to an idea of Tsetse's being used for intruder missions. This was quickly dropped, as only 17 production model Tsetse's were ever built, with 3 more having been converted from FB.VI Mosquito's.

Notable WW2 British Empire, Commonwealth and Allied Pilots:

Guy Gibson VC, DSO (bar), DFC
Percy Pickard DSO (2 bars), DFC
Adolph "Sailor" Malan DSO (bar), DFC (bar) (South Africa)
John "Kentski" Kent DFC (bar), AFC
Sir Douglas Bader CBE, DSO (bar), DFC (bar), DL, FRAeS
Robert Stanford-Tuck
Brian Lane DFC
Dave Glaser
J R "Benny" Goodman
Les Knight DFC (Australia)
George Beurling (Canada)
James Edgar "Johnnie" Johnson
John Hill CBE
George "Grumpy" Unwin
Eric Atkins
Hamish Mahaddie
Cyril "Bam" Bamberger
George Parry
Bob Doe
Ken Gatward DSO, DFC (bar), MiD
Osgood Hanbury DSO, DFC (bar)
Les Munro (New Zealand)
Pete Rowland
John "Catseyes" Cunningham
Eric "Winkle" Brown
Henry Maundsley
Peter Townsend
Aubery "Hilly" Hilliyard
James "Ginger" Lacey
Ray "Rammer" Holmes
Laurie Lawrence
David Maltby
Dave Shannon
Sir Charles Reid KBE, CB, DFC, AFC
Eric "Basher" Barnett DFM (Australia)
Tom Neil DFC
Brian Kingcome DSO, DFC (bar)
Clive Caldwell DSO, DFC (bar) (Australia)
Robert Palmer VC, DFC (bar)
Marmaduke Thomas St. John "Pat" Pattle DFC (bar) (South Africa)
Steve Steventon DSO, DFC (bar)
John Wooldridge DSO, DFC (bar), DFM

Roland Beamont CBE, DSO (bar), DFC (bar), DFC (bar) (USA), CdG
Leonard Cheshire VC
Donald Finlay
Witold "Cobra" Urbanowicz (Poland)
Ronald Kellet
Irving "Black" Smith (New Zealand)
Josef Frantiszek (Czechoslovakia)
Robert Shaw (Fleet Air Arm)
Laurence Olivier (Fleet Air Arm)
Bob Iredale
Alex Henshaw
Joseph "Mutt" Summers CBE
Geoffrey "Boy" Wellum DFC
Danny Dale
Maxwell Sparks AFC (Australia)
William "Bill" Reid VC
Bob Knight DSO, DFC
Alec Bristow
Joe McCarthy (American pilot on "Dambusters" mission)
Charles Patterson
George Goodman (British Mandate of Palastine)
Gordon Carter
Edward Thorn DFC (bar), DFM (bar)
"Mickey" Martin DFC (Australia)
John Whitworth CB, DSO, DFC (bar)
Mervyn Shipard DFC (bar) (Australia)
Bill Garing (Australia)
Brian"Blackjack" Walker DSO (Australia)
Blue Truscott DFC (bar) (Australia)
Bob Crawford DFC (Australia)
Fred Cassidy (Australia)
Richard Hillary
Arthur Aaron VC, DFM
Rawdon Middleton VC (Australia)
John Cruikshank VC
John Dering Nettleton VC (South Africa)
Bransome Burbridge DSO (bar), DFC (bar)

Notable other Aircrew of WW2:

C F "Jimmy" Rawnsley DSO, DFC, DFM
Edwin Goudie
John Spires
John Baker DFC (bar)
Bill Skelton DSO (bar), DFC (bar)
Robert Bruce DFC (bar)
John Broadley
Des Curtis DFC

As has been mentioned, people came from all over the world, including from countries that had been over-run by Germany and her allies, such as Poland, Czechoslovakia, Belgium and Holland (now The Netherlands). There were, of course, those who volunteered from countries in the British Empire and Commonwealth, such Canada, India, New Zealand, Egypt, Jordan, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), South Africa and Australia. There were also those who came from Protectorates and Dependencies, such as Gibraltar, Mandate of Palestine (now Israel and Gaza), Kuwait, Mesopotamia (now Iraq), Trinidad and Tobago. Volunteers even came from the United States until December 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, bringing the United States into the Second World War.

As seen on Channel 5's "Secrets of the Imperial War Museum"