Canadian pilots from the 1st Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force

Canadian pilots from the 1st Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force (No.1 Squadron RCAF) sprint to their Hawker Hurricane fighters after enemy air contacts are picked up and the order to “scramble” is given. September-December, 1940.

2021 marks 81 years since the Battle of Britain began and was fought by the pilots of the RAF over a 3 month period versus the Luftwaffe for the control of the skies over Britain.

The Luftwaffe needed to establish air superiority over what is now the United Kingdom in order to ensure the success over Operation Sealion, their planned invasion of the island.

The RAF, already battered from their brief yet grueling days over France, barely held on against a seemingly endless onslaught of German bombers and fighters. Men from all nations, Polish, Czech, Canadian, and even Americans volunteered to man the machines that would take this threat head-on.

Some flew up to 7 sorties a day, catching up on what little sleep they had in between sorties on lawn chairs, awoken by a bell and the call to “scramble!” Losses were high but the RAF possessed some advantages her adversary did not.

It had the support of a vast radar network that gave early warning as to the number and direction of approaching enemy aircraft.

Additionally, unlike the Germans who had to nurse their aircraft back over the channel or be captured, British pilots landed in friendly territory if they bailed/crashed and could be back up flying the very next day.

It was this war of attrition that eventually ground down the Luftwaffe and prevented them from achieving air superiority. Thus the Third Reich shifted their sights eastward to the USSR.

Comments

A great story about a little bit of 'humanity' during a terrible war.

A great story about a little bit of 'humanity' during a terrible war. In April 1945, 2nd Lt. Peter During was a South African fighter pilot (N.7 Squadron) running missions over Italy when his Spitfire was shot down by German AA fire. He managed to crash land his plane behind enemy lines where he was immediately captured. Whilst been escorted to a German Lufwaffe Prisoner of War (POW) camp (he was a pilot and thus his interrogation and imprisonment was the responsibility of the German airforce), he opened a conversation with his captors. He was quickly able to establish that they could already see the writing on the wall, that the war was at an end and Germany would lose it. ...

French woman accused of sleeping with Germans during the occupation has her head shaved by vindictive neighbors in village near Marseilles.

French woman accused of sleeping with Germans during the occupation has her head shaved by vindictive neighbors in village near Marseilles. Antony Beevor wrote: "... In Paris, there were cases of prostitutes kicked to death for having accepted German soldiers as clients. (...) A large number of the victims were prostitutes who had simply plied their trade with Germans as well as Frenchmen, although in some areas it was accepted that their conduct was professional rather than political, others were silly teenagers who had associated with German soldiers out of bravado or boredom. In a number of cases, female schoolteachers who, living alone, had German soldiers billeted on them, were falsely denounced for having been a "mattress for the boches. (...) Women accused of having had an abortion were also assumed to have consorted with Germans. Many victims were young mothers, whose husbands were in German prisoner-of-war camps. During the war, they often had no means of supp...

The Nazis assassinate Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in a failed coup attempt.

The Nazis assassinate Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in a failed coup attempt. Engelbert Dollfuß (4 October 1892 – 25 July 1934) was an Austrian Fatherland Front politician who served as Chancellor of Austria between 1932 and 1934. Having served as Minister for Forests and Agriculture, he ascended to Federal Chancellor in 1932 in the midst of a crisis for the conservative government. In early 1933, the so called "Selbstausschaltung des Parlaments" happened, which made the Austrian parliament unable to govern. Suppressing the Socialist movement in February 1934 during the Austrian Civil War and later banning the Austrian Nazi Party, he cemented the rule of authoritarian conservatism through the First of May Constitution. Dollfuss was assassinated on 25 July 1934 by a group of Austrian Nazis, who entered the Chancellery building and shot him in an attempted coup d'état. During mass trials which took place after the coup, Hudl was sentenced to li...

WORLD OF ALL

Search This Blog