47 Fun Facts About Battle of Britain

The Battle of Britain's official end, 31 October 1940, fell during which German night-bombing campaign against British cities?

The Blitz moved the Luftwaffe to night raids, where RAF fighters struggled to find its bombers, and it went on hitting British cities until May 1941.

On Battle of Britain Day, Ray Holmes rammed a Dornier bomber that crashed onto which London railway station?

Victoria: out of ammunition, Holmes flew his fighter into the bomber's tail, and he is credited with stopping it bombing Buckingham Palace.

Billy Fiske, one of the first Americans killed flying for the RAF in 1940, had won Olympic gold in which sport?

Bobsleigh: with the United States still neutral, Fiske got into the RAF by passing himself off as a Canadian.

What was the codename for the planned German invasion of Britain?

Operation Sea Lion needed the RAF beaten first, so when that failed Hitler postponed it indefinitely on 17 September 1940, and it never went ahead.

Who commanded RAF Fighter Command throughout the battle?

Hugh Dowding won the battle but lost his job: within weeks of its end he was forced out after rows over tactics, and Sholto Douglas replaced him.

Who commanded the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain?

Hermann Göring, a First World War fighter pilot, told his commanders in September that the RAF was almost finished, yet Fighter Command kept fighting.

Adlertag, the planned opening day of the Luftwaffe's main assault, translates as what?

Eagle Day was meant to drive Fighter Command out of south-east England within four days, but poor intelligence and communication blunted the attack.

Which targets did the Luftwaffe first bomb to blind Fighter Command?

Radar stations: all but one of those hit were soon back on air, and with the sites proving hard to knock out, the Luftwaffe did not keep up the attacks.

On Battle of Britain Day, the Prime Minister watched the fighting from No. 11 Group's operations room at which RAF station?

RAF Uxbridge: watching every squadron go up, the Prime Minister asked what other reserves there were, and was told there were none.

Which surgeon rebuilt badly burned RAF airmen at East Grinstead, whose patients formed the Guinea Pig Club?

Archibald McIndoe had locals welcome his scarred patients into their homes and shops, and East Grinstead became known as the town that didn't stare.

Which city did the RAF bomb in late August 1940, prompting Hitler to turn the Luftwaffe on London?

Berlin: the switch to bombing London gave Fighter Command's battered airfields breathing space, a turning point in the battle.

Which RAF fighter outnumbered the Spitfire throughout the Battle of Britain?

The Hawker Hurricane was the RAF's workhorse, usually sent against the bombers while Spitfires took on the escorting fighters.

Which wounded RAF fighter pilot kept firing from his blazing cockpit and won the Victoria Cross in 1940?

James Nicolson was hit near Southampton, and with his fuel tank on fire he climbed back into his seat to shoot down a Bf 110.

Why could the Bf 109 dive away under negative g when Merlin-powered fighters could not?

Its DB 601 used fuel injection, while the Merlin's carburettor starved under negative g until engineer Beatrice Shilling devised a restrictor that eased the cut-outs.

The twin-engined Bf 110 was designated Zerstörer, meaning what?

Destroyer: the Bf 110 was meant to escort bombers deep into Britain, but it lacked the agility to survive against single-engined RAF fighters.

Which turret-armed RAF fighter without forward guns was pulled from day fighting?

The Boulton Paul Defiant lost six of nine aircraft to Bf 109s on 19 July, and by September it had been pulled out of daytime fighting.

The Luftwaffe's Junkers Ju 87 dive bomber is better known by what name?

The Stuka was too slow and vulnerable to RAF fighters, so after prohibitive losses it was withdrawn from attacks on Britain in August 1940.

Which RAF squadron claimed the most victories in the Battle of Britain?

No. 303 (Polish) was held back at first by commanders wary of its pilots' English, and it flew for only six weeks, yet it became the top-scoring RAF unit.

Which exiled pilot, allowed to fly alone as a squadron's roaming guest, was among the Battle of Britain's top scorers?

Josef František kept breaking formation to hunt alone, so the squadron he joined let him fly as a kind of guest, and he claimed 17 victories in a month.

Which Luftwaffe ace, a Battle of Britain veteran, advised on the 1969 film Battle of Britain?

Adolf Galland advised alongside RAF ace Robert Stanford Tuck, a wartime enemy who had become his friend.

Though their country was neutral, 10 airmen from which country flew in the Battle of Britain?

Ireland's neutrality didn't hold back its volunteers: some of its own soldiers even deserted the Irish Army to fight on the Allied side.

Which port did Fiat BR.20 bombers of the Italian Air Corps attack in their first raid?

Harwich was the target, and the Italian press hailed a great victory, but the Italian Air Corps achieved little over Britain before it later went home.

Who commanded Luftflotte 2, responsible for bombing south-east England and London?

Albert Kesselring's reputation was later stained by atrocities his troops committed in Italy, and after the war he was convicted of war crimes.

Luftflotte 5 attacked northern England and Scotland from headquarters in which country?

Its bombers flew without Bf 109 cover and were mauled on 15 August; it never appeared in strength again.

What did the Luftwaffe call its four-aircraft fighter formation made up of two pairs?

Schwarm: the Luftwaffe had honed this loose four in combat during the Spanish Civil War, and RAF squadrons later copied a version of it.

Idiotenreihen, the German nickname for the RAF's tight 'vic' formations, means what?

Only the leader could look for the enemy; the others were busy keeping station, so 'weavers' were added behind and above.

Which 74 Squadron leader devised the 'fours in line astern' formation?

'Sailor' Malan's looser formation was taken up across Fighter Command, part of the shift to open formations that denied the Luftwaffe its easy kills.

The 'Big Wing' tactic championed by Leigh-Mallory was pioneered by which pilot?

Douglas Bader's Big Wings could hit a raid in strength, but they took so long to form up that they often arrived after the bombers had struck.

Who commanded 11 Group, which bore the weight of the battle over south-east England?

Keith Park, a New Zealander, led the group that took the brunt of the fighting, yet after the battle he was moved out of Fighter Command to training duties.

Where was Fighter Command HQ, where radar and observer reports were filtered?

Bentley Priory's filter room merged duplicate radar reports of each raid into one track, then phoned it on to the group headquarters that directed the fighters.

What was the name of Britain's coastal early-warning radar network?

Chain Home was no secret to German intelligence, but how its plots fed straight into fighter control was, so the Luftwaffe underrated what the radar could do.

The German night navigation beam system Knickebein translates as what?

Bent leg: once British scientists detected the beams, they jammed them, and the system soon lost most of its value.

What did the Germans call the July running fights over convoys in the English Channel?

Stuka attacks hurt the convoys badly enough that the Admiralty moved the coal by rail instead.

What did Jagdflieger call the combat fatigue brought on by flights over the Channel?

Kanalkrankheit came from two long flights over cold water: bailing out over England meant capture, and coming down in the Channel often meant drowning.

What were the Störangriffe flown by the Luftwaffe from June 1940?

Nuisance raids by a few bombers taught crews to navigate Britain's defences, and the air-raid alarms they set off kept civilians awake and frayed morale.

In the Battle of Britain, what was a Luftwaffe Freie Jagd?

A free-roving fighter sweep let 109 pilots hunt on their own terms, which aces preferred to being tied to slow bombers as close escort.

What was the nickname of the RAF life jacket, which in 1940 still needed manual inflation?

Mae West was the actress the jacket is said to be named after, since a wearer with it inflated looked as buxom as she did.

What chemical did downed aircrew release to make a bright green patch on the water?

The Luftwaffe issued it first; the RAF copied the idea along with its own belated rescue launches.

Pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain have been known collectively by what name ever since?

The Few comes from the Prime Minister's tribute in August 1940: 'Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.'

The Prime Minister's 18 June 1940 speech naming the Battle of Britain is known by which phrase?

This was their finest hour closed a speech made days after France sought an armistice, as the Prime Minister declared the Battle of France over.

Which 1941 propaganda film won the first Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject?

Churchill's Island was narrated by Lorne Greene, whose deep-voiced delivery of grim war news on Canadian radio earned him the nickname 'the voice of doom'.

In the 1969 film Battle of Britain, who played the head of Fighter Command?

Trevor Howard played Park; former participants Adolf Galland and Robert Stanford Tuck were technical advisers.

A Ju 88 downed in Kent led to which 'battle', the last fought on British mainland soil?

Graveney Marsh saw the downed bomber's crew exchange fire with British soldiers on the north Kent coast.

Which award for civilian bravery was introduced during the Battle of Britain?

The George Cross answered a strong wish to reward acts of civilian courage as German bombs fell on British cities that September.

Which part of Buckingham Palace was destroyed by two bombs during the Battle of Britain?

The Royal Chapel was wrecked while the King and Queen were inside the palace, and the Queen said she was glad, as she could now look the bombed East End in the face.

In 1940, whom did Roosevelt send to Britain for a second opinion on whether it could survive?

William Donovan came back sure that Britain would hold out, and he went on to lead the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the CIA.

In 1926, Germany began secretly training fighter pilots at a school in which country?

The Soviet Union hosted the secret school because the Treaty of Versailles banned Germany from having an air force of its own.