Ah,the yanks save the Limeys again!It's top gun 1940!- Mavericks' gonna take on the entire luftwaffe an' save merry old England.
And now the reality portion of our show......
When Churchill said the "few" he was referring to RAF fighter command,not a handful of American volunteers.The battle of Britain was ultimately a major set back for Hitler thanks to the Brits NOT AMERICA.Prior to the battle,there was enormous pressure by many in British political circles to agree to a truce with Hitler,because of the fear that England would lose in a protracted conflict with Germany.Churchill refused to give in,and inspired Britain to fight,despite almost complete apathy in the United States towards England's situation.
Britain was actually better prepared to fight the Luftwaffe than history has sometimes portrayed.The command and control capabilities (including the use of RADAR) of RAF fighter command,was a critical advantage.It helped to offset the Luftwaffe's numerical advantage.The RAF had two of the finest fighter aircraft in service in the world at that time-the Hawker Hurricane, and the Supermarine Spitfire.The Germans had the ME 109,which was pretty evenly matched against the Spitfire,but it lacked the range to be able to dogfight over England very long.
Hitler made some critical mistakes,yet still nearly wiped out fighter command.The crucial turning point in the battle came when the Luftwaffe shifted it's attacks onto civilians,which gave an exhausted RAF time to regroup,train pilots and replace aircraft losses.England's stand against Nazi Germany in that early stage of the war really was their "Finest hour".America played a very minor role,whereas Canada made significant contributions.
Some important lessons were learned from the battle of Britain.Firstly,Bombers required fighter escort,otherwise they would suffer prohibitive losses.secondly,indescriminate bombing of civilians could not force a country to surrender.And perhaps most importantly,air superiority was required before an invasion could be undertaken.Less than a year after the battle of Britain,Hitler commited his next biggest blunder,the invasion of Russia,thereby opening up a two front war which Germany was ill-prepared to fight.
World war two could not have been won without the United States,but too often the contributions of the allies role in victory is overlooked.Regarding air superiority,it was the P-51 mustang which made D day possible.There could not have been an invasion of the European continent if the luftwaffe had not been decimated by this fighter.The mustang was an American produced fighter built for Britain,according to british specifications and designed mainly by a German who had previously worked on German aircraft.Thanks to the Rolls Royce merlin engine,the mustang was a critical weapon which enabled final victory.And of course there is ULTRA, and the stirling work of allied code breakers,electronic break throughs by British scientists,etc..
I could go on,and in more detail,but if anyone wants more info on the real Battle of Britain I'd suggest the book "The Most Dangerous Enemy" If anyone wants more info on the Allied air war just ask me.And to Royal Highlander: We Scots certainly played a critical role in beating the Hun
