The battle of Britain课件.pptVIP

The Battle of Britain Background Following the evacuation of British and French soldiers from Dunkirk and the French surrender on 22 June 1940, Adolf Hitler was mainly focused on the possibilities of invading the Soviet Union while believing that the British, defeated on the continent and without European allies, would quickly come to terms. Germany tried to conquer Britain by first gaining air supremacy England, despite its militarily hopeless situation, still has not shown any signs of being prepared to negotiate Fighters Fighter formations Bombers Pilots International participation Royal Air Force Spitfire Mk I Hurricane Mk I Bf 110C Bombers Before the war, the RAF‘s processes for selecting potential candidates were more concerned with social standing than actual aptitudeBy summer 1940, there were about 9,000 pilots in the RAF for approximately 5,000 aircraft, most of which were bombers.However, the problem of pilot shortage was self-inflicted, due to inefficiencies in training and assignment. With aircraft production running at 300 each week, only 200 pilots were trained in the same period. Only about 30% of the 9,000 pilots were assigned to operational squadrons; 20% of the pilots were involved in conducting pilot training, and a further 20% were undergoing further instruction, like those offered in Canada and in Southern Rhodesia to the Commonwealth trainees; the rest were assigned to staff positions RAF had fewer experienced pilots at the start of the battle, and it was the lack of trained pilots in the fighting squadrons, rather than the lack of aircraft, that became the greatest concern for Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding RAF strategy The Dowding system Groups Control systems Sectors Limitations Effect of signals intelligence Air-sea rescue Tactics Bomber and Coastal Command contributions Control systems: Usually the first indications of incoming air raids were received by the Chain Home Radio Direction Finding (RDF) facilities which were loc