- 6/4/2025
For educational purposes
Spitfire vs Messerschmitt Me 109 in Battle of Britain.
Spitfire vs Messerschmitt Me 109 in Battle of Britain.
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00:00Transcribed by ESO, translated by —
00:30The Spitfire was one of the most beautiful aircraft ever made, from Wright's flyer to the F-22.
00:41It began with a young genius's vision of a remarkable fighter, and made history at the hands of a valiant few.
00:50The Germans hated them. When they saw Spitfire coming towards them, they used to call out Achtungsschwitzfeuer.
01:00The Germans are dive-bombing a convoy out into the sea.
01:10There are one, two, three, four, five, six, seven German dive-bombers.
01:13Junkers 87. There's one going down on its target now.
01:18Bomb. No, missed the ship. They haven't hit a single ship. There are about ten ships in the convoy.
01:22July 17, 1940. BBC radio reporter Charles Gardner gives ringside commentary to an early air attack in the Battle of Britain, from his perch, atop the cliffs of Dover.
01:38And here they come. They come in absolute steep dive. You can see their bombs actually lead to the sea.
01:46I'm looking around now. I can hear machine gun fire, but I can't see our Spitfires.
01:51There must have come where they are.
01:52Oh, here's one coming down now.
02:00There's one coming down in flames.
02:02Somebody's hit a German, and he's coming down with a long streak.
02:05He's got down completely out of control, a long streak of smoke.
02:08He's, oh, a man's mailed out by parachute.
02:11It's a Junkers 87, and he's going slap into the sea, and there he goes.
02:14Man!
02:14There is no doubt the whole of Britain shares Gardner's unbridled enthusiasm for the legendary Spitfire fighter planes charging in to save the convoy from destruction.
02:30I can see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 Germans, hurrying back towards France now for all they can go, and here are Spitfires coming after them.
02:44There's going to be a big fight, I think, out there, but it will be too far away.
02:49But that was a very unsuccessful attack on the convoy, I must say.
02:54You couldn't help seeing them. I mean, they were the most beautiful airplane, and I think it ever was.
03:00Known for its small, clean fuselage and slim, curved wings, the Spitfire was the star of the first generation of one-winged metal fighters.
03:15Billed as the world's fastest fighter when it debuted in 1936,
03:20this aircraft was as graceful as it was quick.
03:26The early ones, with a sort of 1,000-horsepower Merlin, were like a ballerina.
03:33I'm sure a lot of people would tell you that it was just great.
03:37You could put it in any attitude, any part of the star you wanted, and you knew it would never frighten you.
03:45It did frighten the Germans, with formidable wing armament, tight turns, and a top speed of 380 miles per hour.
03:53It was obvious, said one Frenchman who flew it, that the Spitfire was conceived by cool, precise brains and conscientious hands.
04:05From a pilot's point of view, it had no faults.
04:09It was actual perfection to fly, beautiful fly.
04:12Well, we knew that they were, you know, good little planes, and that they were doing their stuff, and they were British.
04:23Nearly 15 years active with Britain's Royal Air Force, the Spitfire would undergo many changes.
04:29Fly faster and fight harder.
04:32It became a symbol of a country's iron will for survival in the darkest days of war, the Battle of Britain.
04:42Six weeks of brutal air combat over England in the summer and fall of 1940 that changed the course of World War II.
04:51Just prior to that fateful battle, spring 1940, the armies of German dictator Adolf Hitler blast through Europe
05:05and trounce the last stronghold of Allied troops in France.
05:08Three hundred sixty thousand British soldiers drop their arms and retreat.
05:20Rescuers at the French port of Dunkirk spent nine days dragging exhausted, oil-smeared forces from channel waters and shipping them to safety.
05:30The British had literally nothing left after Dunkirk, except the rifles the soldiers carried.
05:37They left all their artillery, their tanks, any heavy equipment they had at all.
05:43It was a bit like the South after the siege of Petersburg.
05:47I mean, the army was a bit like the army that marched to Appomattox.
05:52I mean, the British had nothing.
05:53A few key aides urged Hitler to forge ahead with his lightning war.
06:03Victory in Poland, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, and France had come so quickly.
06:11Bring Britain to her knees while she still reels from Dunkirk's disaster.
06:18But Hitler has another plan for Britain.
06:20He holds out for peace, confident Britain will realize she is beaten.
06:26He even plans a victory parade in Paris.
06:30Hitler didn't want to invade England.
06:37In truth, he was an Anglophile, even though he often made insulting comments about Winston Churchill.
06:44He didn't want to ruin things with England, since he regarded it as a nation that was related to us, our British cousins.
06:57Newly appointed Prime Minister Winston Churchill does not give in,
07:01and in fact, threatens to drown German troops in the sea before they ever set foot on British shores.
07:11On July 2nd, 1940, a furious Hitler orders his army, navy, and air force to prepare for invasion.
07:19The German army is to be carried across the English Channel by 15,000 river barges in a full-scale assault over 225 miles of coastline.
07:32The hastily assembled scheme, called Operation Sea Lion, has little support within the German military.
07:43General Halder, who was the chief of staff, said that the operation would resemble a large-scale river crossing,
07:57which shows really how land-minded the Germans were.
08:02The English Channel, at its narrowest point, is 19 miles wide,
08:06and it's a very stormy and treacherous passage of sea.
08:11Hitler's first step is to send out his elite air force, the Luftwaffe, to clear the skies of British planes.
08:22They had a general aid, which was to destroy the Royal Air Force, particularly the Royal Air Force fighters,
08:28because they thought if they destroyed the fighters, then they could attack the Royal Navy,
08:35and if they attacked the Royal Navy and defeated it, then they could invade Britain.
08:39In Britain, the resolute head of fighter command, Hugh Dowding, prepares for Germany's impending attack
08:47with a controversial decision to keep his Spitfires on British soil.
08:53After Dunkirk, the French fight on against the German army
08:57and pleaded for more British fighters to protect their dwindling forces.
09:04But Air Marshal Dowding lost 300 pilots in the battle for France.
09:09He has none to throw away on what he feels is a lost cause.
09:13The politicians wanted us to send Spitfires to help the French,
09:23because most of the squadrons, British squadrons in France, were hurricanes.
09:30But Dowding very sensibly said,
09:32Look, I have to have these Spitfires here, no good wasting them there,
09:37and I want to use them for the eventual defence of Great Britain.
09:42And he was right.
09:44It didn't make him any more popular with some of the politicians.
09:48Britain and its Royal Air Force now stand alone
09:52to fight against Hitler's tyrannical quest to dominate Europe.
09:55As Prime Minister Churchill warns the people of Britain
09:59that darker days lie ahead for their isolated island nation.
10:06What General Weygand has called the Battle of France is over.
10:12The Battle of Britain is about to begin.
10:17We shall defend our island.
10:20We shall fight in the fields and in the streets.
10:23We shall fight in the hills.
10:26We shall never surrender.
10:31Late spring 1940.
10:34British citizens take the words of Prime Minister Winston Churchill to heart
10:38as they prepare for an imminent German attack.
10:43London school children have been packed off to safety in remote villages.
10:51Factories furiously work overtime.
10:54Producing badly needed fighters, spitfires, and hurricanes.
11:04A ragtag corps of volunteers known as the Home Guard
11:08makes use of any available weapon,
11:11including pitchforks and golf clubs,
11:13as they patrol Britain's roads and coastline.
11:16It's the job of the Observer Corps to scout for enemy planes.
11:26A lot of policemen used to do it in their off-duty hours,
11:29which was very good,
11:30because you sort of had to set up your own post.
11:33So if you wanted, right in the middle of nowhere,
11:36and you wanted to set up an Observer Corps post,
11:38you would be issued with a basic kit,
11:39like a telephone and a machine for looking and spotting aircraft
11:43and a pair of binoculars.
11:47The defence of the nation lies largely in the hands of the fighter pilots
11:51of Britain's Royal Air Force.
11:53They are a surprisingly international cast of 1,200 young airmen.
11:58British, American, Canadian.
12:01Some of the fiercest of these air warriors are from Eastern Europe.
12:05Poles, Czechs, others determined to turn the tide on the madman
12:10who has already ravaged their homeland.
12:12Our squadron has brought down 33 German planes in a month.
12:19We hope we shall bring down many more.
12:22Now there.
12:23Many of the British airmen are well-to-do auxiliary pilots
12:27with longish hair and a cool distaste for military formality.
12:32The fighter glamour boys.
12:34The British pilots treated the whole thing a bit like sport.
12:37They thought it was a bit like a game of rugby.
12:39And when I met John,
12:44I thought another damn fighter pilot, nothing in his head.
12:49That's what I felt about them to start with,
12:51that they thought, you know, that they were the...
12:54The cat's whiskers.
12:55The cat's whiskers, yes.
12:57And then I discovered there was a lot in his head
13:00and we got on fine.
13:04However confident these young pilots may be,
13:07they are under-equipped and badly outnumbered
13:11by their highly trained rivals.
13:15The Germans, with 2,000 planes, have twice the air power.
13:20In early summer,
13:25the British hear the ominous din of German aircraft
13:28flying toward them across the English Channel.
13:35Britain's battle plan?
13:37Against the wishes of most RAF officials,
13:40Air Marshal Hugh Dowding
13:41sends up small numbers of Spitfires and hurricanes,
13:4512 to 16 at a time,
13:47to attack German airplanes.
13:50He is determined to preserve precious manpower
13:53for what could be a drawn-out battle.
13:58This defies conventional wisdom,
14:00which is to send out every available plane
14:03against every incoming attack.
14:05His strategy for the Battle of Britain,
14:08I think, was a very orthodox one,
14:10which was to keep a large number of fighters
14:13at a high degree of readiness
14:14and to direct them against the German bomber formation
14:18in a very carefully controlled way
14:20through the radar early warning system.
14:24Radar, Britain's secret weapon.
14:29Dowding has the ability to analyze
14:31ultra-high frequency waves
14:33reflected from the surface of German planes.
14:36The Germans know it exists,
14:38but not its true capacity.
14:42Dozens of fighter stations are manned
14:44by the Women's Auxiliary Air Force.
14:48Plotters like Vera Shaw and Philippa Robertson
14:51take in data from Observer Corps
14:54and cathode ray tube operators.
14:56They then plot incoming German planes
14:59on large operations boards.
15:02Numbers of planes, height, and direction.
15:06They were all on the little boards, yes.
15:09They were all on the plots that we received,
15:11either from a teleprinter or from the,
15:13what do you call it, the earphone things?
15:16Through the earphones, from the Observer Corps.
15:18It was all done on a map-type method.
15:22They were in different trigometric points,
15:24and they reported back information
15:26about the particular square that they operated in.
15:30They were very good at aircraft recognition,
15:32and they simply passed information
15:34of how many aircraft,
15:35what height they were flying at,
15:37what type of aircraft they were,
15:38and in what direction they were traveling.
15:41Pilots and planes are dear.
15:44Radar frees them from aerial patrol duty.
15:46July is a month of limited but bitter air battles.
15:55German planes attack ships in the English Channel,
15:58smash the ports,
15:59and batter the RAF in dogfights.
16:06Despite radar's early warning,
16:09Dowding loses 145 aircraft in four weeks.
16:13In August, the expanding battle finally moves inland.
16:20The arrows were showing the actual plane's movement,
16:25and the blocks were giving you the name of that particular raid.
16:29And it's, as Philippa said,
16:30its height and its direction,
16:33and it's then the number of planes in that particular raid
16:36when they knew.
16:37The information on the incoming raid
16:41is sent out to fighter bases
16:42where pilots have been on alert since dawn.
16:46Normally, we were sitting around in chairs
16:49or lying on beds at what you call dispersal.
16:52and the phone would ring,
16:56and as it rang,
16:59you all sat up tense.
17:01And then, of course,
17:02the classic sign would happen.
17:05The bell would ring on the telephone,
17:08and then somebody would ring an enormous hand bell,
17:10and the pilots would jump up out of their deck chairs
17:12as they were sitting around outside the crew rooms
17:14and sprint to their aeroplanes.
17:16Scramble would take place.
17:17And off you go,
17:22jump into your aeroplanes,
17:25and take off in formation.
17:32Once you were airborne,
17:35you're more relaxed,
17:36and you knew what it was all about.
17:37You knew you were going somewhere
17:38and going to do something.
17:39The controller would come on the radio
17:47with the squadron's call sign
17:49and say,
17:51they used to use the express for Angels,
17:54Angels 1-5.
17:56And so you would start climbing up
17:58on that vector
17:59to Angels 1-5.
18:03With the haunting cry of tally-ho,
18:06British fighters are off to engage their rivals.
18:11Spitfire pilot David Glaser's commanding officer
18:14has a startling strategy
18:15for attacking German bombers.
18:19He brings it right over the top of the bombers,
18:22and then he'd roll straight down
18:24and go through the middle of them.
18:27They'd immediately do that
18:28as he shot down through them,
18:30and we were waiting,
18:31and that's when we came in,
18:32you know, to pick them off
18:34because he broke up the formation,
18:35which was a very good
18:36and a bit of a hairy thing to watch,
18:38but it was a very good tactic.
18:42The Spitfire is fairly evenly matched
18:45with its main rival
18:46in the Battle of Britain,
18:47the ME-109.
18:50You couldn't see out of the cockpit
18:52of the 109 very well,
18:53whereas the Spitfire
18:53had actually quite good visibility
18:55from its cockpit.
18:56And there were other things,
18:57like the 109 could turn
18:59a little bit better,
19:00but the Spitfire could go faster.
19:02The ME-109 has cannons.
19:04Their shells explode on impact.
19:09The Spitfire does not have
19:11the long-nosed cannon,
19:12but there is a lot to work with
19:14as bullets blast
19:15from eight Browning 303 machine guns.
19:22The eight machine guns
19:24that the Spitfires
19:25and the Hurricanes had
19:26were extremely effective.
19:28There were so many bullets
19:30that when they fired their guns,
19:32it looked like a watering can
19:34pouring water
19:35out of their machine.
19:37They were sure to hit something.
19:38I suppose it would have been nice
19:43if at that stage
19:44we had a 20-millimeter cannon.
19:48On the other hand,
19:49you see great bits of aircraft
19:51flying off
19:52and that kind of thing.
19:53In fact, you had to dodge them
19:54on occasion.
19:55German raids
20:01are now on
20:02with a vengeance.
20:03August 13, 1940
20:05is Eagle Day,
20:07the official start date
20:08for inland raids.
20:13On August 15,
20:15the Luftwaffe
20:16flies nearly
20:171,800 sorties.
20:18Total chaos.
20:24Not as quiet
20:25as it's usually depicted
20:26when you see it in films
20:27because there were
20:29people,
20:31plotters,
20:32calling for new raids.
20:34There were these
20:35runners behind here
20:36running around
20:36to get the new raids,
20:37bringing them back.
20:39And then people
20:40were calling out
20:41to a board at the back there
20:42that had had a,
20:43there was a board up there
20:44that said it was an,
20:45if it was an unidentified raid.
20:48The target,
20:50RAF Airfields.
20:55Hangars
20:56set afire
20:57and runways
20:58pounded with bombs.
21:01The entire sky
21:03above 200 miles
21:04of British coastline
21:05is black with planes.
21:08On this day,
21:09the Royal Air Force
21:10claims it's downed
21:1190 German aircraft.
21:13Not a bad figure,
21:15but the effort
21:16brings Dowding's
21:17fighter command
21:18to the brink
21:19of exhaustion.
21:20Far too many
21:21of Britain's pilots
21:22have been killed
21:23or wounded
21:24early in this battle.
21:26On August 15th alone,
21:29more than 100 RAF airmen
21:31are lost.
21:33That's nearly a fifth
21:34of Dowding's
21:35entire force.
21:40Surviving RAF pilots,
21:42including 21-year-old
21:43Cyril Bamberger,
21:45have lost friends
21:46in devastating combat
21:48and fear for their
21:49own lives
21:50in this battle
21:51against the Goliath
21:52that is the Luftwaffe.
21:56Of course,
21:57we acted out
21:57as if it was
21:58a wonderful thing,
22:00but it was only
22:00a performance
22:01by the majority
22:03of the pilots.
22:05I was very frightened.
22:10Very, very scared.
22:11In 1935,
22:18Adolf Hitler
22:18announced the re-emergence
22:20of the German air force,
22:21the Luftwaffe.
22:23With the threat
22:23of a major air conflict
22:25looming over Europe,
22:27British aircraft designer
22:29R.J. Mitchell
22:30created a single-seat
22:32monoplane
22:33to be the star
22:34of Britain's fighter fleet.
22:37Mitchell
22:38was the boy genius
22:39who at the tender age
22:41of 25
22:42became chief designer
22:43at Supermarine Aviation Works.
22:47His agile seaplanes
22:49dominated
22:49international flying contests
22:51and were the prototype
22:53for the Spitfire.
22:56It was a beautiful,
22:57long, thin thing
22:58with a very
23:02neat fuselage,
23:06I suppose you'd say,
23:07and of course
23:08it had these
23:09wonderful wings
23:10which were
23:11curved at the ends.
23:14It was all said
23:15that R.J. Mitchell
23:16designed it
23:18from watching seagulls.
23:25Mitchell preserved
23:27exceptionally clean
23:28cowling lines
23:29by locating the radiator
23:30under the starboard wing.
23:33Never before
23:34was such attention
23:35lavished on the sheer aesthetics
23:37of a front-line fighter.
23:40The P-38
23:42was just...
23:45Nobody bothered
23:46with what it looked like.
23:47They just put
23:48a great big engine
23:49on a great big strong airframe
23:51and it worked
23:52and they said,
23:53right.
23:54Now, he said,
23:55Mitchell,
23:55when he was designing
23:56the Spitfire,
23:57was always saying,
23:58well, perhaps it'd look nicer
23:59if we just shaved
24:00a little bit off here.
24:02That angle doesn't look
24:03quite right.
24:03one of the things
24:08for which the Spitfire
24:09is particularly famous
24:10is this elliptical shaped wing
24:12which is more or less unique.
24:14He decided that he needed
24:15the thing to be wide
24:16in the middle of the wing
24:17so that they could fit
24:19big guns into it
24:20and it turned out
24:21when they built it that way
24:22that it actually improved
24:23the handling of the aircraft
24:24enormously
24:25because the wide cord,
24:27as they say,
24:27in the middle of the wing here
24:28meant that you could
24:29take it down
24:30to very low speeds
24:31but still get very good
24:32roll qualities
24:32in the aircraft
24:33and it was a very sweet
24:34handling aircraft.
24:35All the pilots
24:36who've ever flown
24:37the Spitfire
24:37have always said
24:38how wonderful it was
24:39to handle.
24:41The young design genius
24:43had his own personal menace
24:44with which to content.
24:46He already knew
24:47that he had cancer
24:48so he basically designed
24:50this aircraft
24:51under a sentence of death.
24:53Reginald Joseph Mitchell
24:55was only 42
24:57when he died of cancer
24:58in 1937.
25:01Three years later,
25:01the Spitfire
25:02was flying out
25:03to defend Mitchell's
25:04beloved English countryside
25:05in the Battle of Britain.
25:16The daily tallies
25:18of Luftwaffe attacks
25:19in the first weeks
25:20of the Battle of Britain
25:21prove that Germany
25:22has the upper hand
25:23but only just.
25:27German Reich Marshal
25:28Hermann Goering
25:29predicted resounding defeat
25:31over Britain's Royal Air Force
25:33in just four weeks
25:34but four weeks into battle
25:36it is clear
25:37the RAF
25:37is still in the fight.
25:39The Luftwaffe
25:40had been told
25:40by Goering
25:41and everybody else
25:42that we would be
25:43pretty well annihilated
25:44within the first
25:45couple of weeks.
25:46They realized
25:46something was going on
25:47when they kept
25:48coming over here
25:49and finding Spitfires
25:50and Hurricanes
25:50waiting for them
25:51each time they're on.
25:54Germans suspect
25:55those Spendley Steel
25:56towers along the coast
25:57are the reason
25:58British fighters
25:59are always airborne
26:00and ready for them.
26:03Some of the first
26:04inland raids
26:05Goering launches
26:06with his Stuka dive bombers
26:08are on key radar towers
26:10on the Kent
26:10and Sussex coast.
26:13It's a task
26:13one historian compares
26:15to dropping peas
26:16on pinheads.
26:17It is impossible
26:25to destroy
26:26such a tall
26:27narrow target
26:27with bombs.
26:28You might get
26:30a few hits
26:31but the damage
26:32is easy to repair
26:33so the bombing
26:34didn't achieve much.
26:40The combination
26:42of the target
26:43the actual towers
26:45being very difficult
26:46to hit
26:46and the aircraft
26:48being ineffective
26:48against modern
26:49Spitfires
26:50made the raids
26:52on the radar towers
26:53not very cost effective
26:54as far as they were concerned.
26:58Stukas are so slow
26:59and ineffective
27:00Goering yanks them
27:02out of service
27:02on August 18th
27:04and puts an end
27:05to strikes
27:06on radar stations.
27:10Bombing raids
27:11on airfields
27:12continue
27:12but also fail
27:14to bring about
27:14the scorching damage
27:16for which the Germans
27:17had hoped.
27:21Well they were
27:21very primitive airfields
27:23on the whole
27:23I mean a lot
27:24of the fighters
27:24flew off grass
27:26so if you bombed
27:30one literally field
27:32a grass covered field
27:34you could more or less
27:35go and land
27:36in another one.
27:37Also of course
27:37the air force
27:38was defending itself
27:39at the same time
27:40so it was very costly
27:41for the Germans
27:42to come and attack
27:43the airfields.
27:48Other tactical difficulties
27:49orders from high command
27:51rob ME-109 pilots
27:53of their power
27:54to take the offensive.
27:56They are directed
27:57to fly
27:57with the bombers
27:58they escort
27:59not break away
28:00to chase enemy fighters.
28:02The worst problem
28:09for frustrated
28:10ME-109 airmen
28:11supreme
28:12in European skies
28:13is lack of range.
28:15They only have enough fuel
28:17to fly for 90 minutes
28:18total.
28:19Barely time
28:20to make a raid
28:21on Britain.
28:23Many German pilots
28:24ditch
28:25in the English Channel
28:26even after successful missions.
28:28A jumble of events
28:31conspires
28:31against the Germans
28:32allowing Britain's
28:34fighter force
28:34to hold on
28:35even through
28:37repeated
28:37devastating attacks.
28:42The legacy
28:43of the Spitfire
28:43is born
28:44as this modern
28:46expensive
28:46all metal fighter
28:48grabs an inordinate
28:49amount of attention
28:50for fending off
28:52the Luftwaffe
28:52in the Battle of Britain.
28:54This
28:56despite being
28:57outnumbered
28:58and in many ways
28:59outperformed
29:00by its truly
29:01able sidekick
29:02the Hurricane.
29:07The Hurricane
29:08although every bit
29:10as effective
29:10as the Spitfire
29:11was very much
29:12a traditional
29:13aeroplane
29:14and if you like
29:15it was the workhorse
29:16and it was built
29:17on traditional
29:18methods
29:18covered in fabric
29:19and looked very much
29:20like aeroplanes
29:22of a slightly earlier era.
29:24The Spitfire
29:27has certainly
29:27had a very good press
29:28and some people
29:30would say
29:30that it's had
29:30rather too good
29:31a press
29:31because in the Battle
29:32of Britain
29:33there were far more
29:34hurricanes than Spitfires
29:35and they achieved
29:36something like
29:37five-sevenths
29:37of the total kills
29:38in the Battle of Britain.
29:44Even German commanders
29:45are impressed
29:46with the Spitfire.
29:47In late August
29:48Reich Marshal Gehring
29:50berates the Luftwaffe
29:51for failing to achieve
29:53air supremacy.
29:54He then turns
29:56to dapper
29:57German air commander
29:58Adolf Galland
29:59and asks
30:00what he needs
30:01to win this battle.
30:03Galland's
30:03impertinent answer
30:04I need a squadron
30:06of Spitfires.
30:07August 24, 1940.
30:15The most devastating
30:16phase of the Battle
30:17of Britain
30:18inadvertently begins.
30:20A German formation
30:27mistakenly dropped bombs
30:28on London's residential areas.
30:31They did not intend
30:32to fly to London.
30:33Their target was really
30:34an industrial city
30:35north of London.
30:37The crew completely lost
30:38their orientation
30:39and wandered off their course.
30:40those were the first bombs,
30:43those were the first bombs,
30:43those were the first bombs,
30:44those were the first bombs,
30:45that dropped onto an English
30:46residential area
30:47and it was an accident.
30:49The very next evening,
30:54Winston Churchill
30:55orders British bombers
30:56to attack Berlin.
30:59A battle of retaliatory bombings
31:01on city centers
31:02is underway.
31:04The Blitz.
31:05This is no longer
31:07a war between soldiers.
31:08It is a war
31:10on citizens.
31:15Goering
31:15sees this unexpected
31:16change of focus
31:17away from airfields
31:18as his chance
31:19to deal Britain's fighters
31:21a final deadly blow.
31:23London is certainly
31:24a target.
31:25The last of the RAF fighters
31:26will fly to defend.
31:31September 7, 1940.
31:33The first of a series
31:35of Hitler's mass raids
31:36on London.
31:37625 German bombers
31:40escorted by as many fighters
31:41deliver the heaviest
31:43air attack waged
31:44on a British city
31:46to this point.
31:57It was very frightening,
31:59really,
31:59because we had,
32:01my mother was in London
32:02and we had friends
32:03of course all over London.
32:05Our church was bombed,
32:06wasn't it?
32:07And it was very worrying,
32:09especially the docks fire,
32:11I remember very well.
32:13We actually have a photograph
32:14of a Heinkel 111
32:16flying where this building is.
32:19So 55 years ago,
32:21at about noon,
32:23if we'd looked straight upwards,
32:25we would have seen
32:25a Heinkel 111 overhead
32:27about to drop its bombs
32:28and set these docks on fire,
32:31because they did of course create
32:33really a fire storm
32:35and they burnt out
32:36the London docks.
32:38But there was about
32:38five or six miles
32:40of continuously burning
32:42dockland,
32:44one of the biggest fires
32:45that has ever taken place
32:47in Europe.
32:47The RAF is indeed
32:59dealt a harsh blow.
33:01The change in target
33:02confuses plotters.
33:04British fighters are too low
33:06to attack the incoming raid.
33:08On this day,
33:0942 aircraft
33:10and 14 pilots
33:11are lost.
33:12The RAF is so desperate
33:17for pilots,
33:18officials have slashed
33:19training time
33:20from six months
33:21to two weeks.
33:26When I got to the squadron
33:28in,
33:29it was sometime
33:31about mid-August.
33:34There were,
33:35I should say,
33:36certainly 5%
33:37of those pilots
33:38had been lost.
33:39Hitler's private hope
33:42is that citizens
33:43will turn on
33:44Winston Churchill,
33:46blame him
33:46for bringing
33:47such destruction
33:48upon the nation.
33:52But for the proud British,
33:54the pragmatic phrase
33:55is business as usual.
33:59By night,
34:00they sleep in subways
34:01protected from the bombings.
34:04By day,
34:05yet confident of victory,
34:07they clean up the rubble
34:08and systematically
34:09piece their shattered lives
34:11back together.
34:14You always felt,
34:15you know,
34:15nobody had invaded
34:16England yet
34:17and it wasn't going
34:18to happen now.
34:20I don't think anybody
34:21thought that.
34:22Did they?
34:23No, I don't think they did.
34:24I was certain
34:25as a little boy
34:26growing up in the world,
34:28I mean,
34:28of course the British
34:29were going to win.
34:31It was absolutely
34:31ridiculous to think
34:32that...
34:34I actually used to feel
34:35rather sorry for Hitler
34:36and I used to say,
34:37why doesn't he understand?
34:39I mean,
34:39he's obviously
34:40going to lose the war.
34:41Why doesn't he just give up?
34:42We were a proud
34:43imperial people.
34:44We weren't going to give in.
34:47We looked down on the Germans.
34:49We'd beaten them
34:49in the First World War.
34:53A few days of bombing
34:55and 2,000 Londoners
34:57are dead,
34:5814,000 wounded,
35:0050,000 homeless.
35:03But with the Luftwaffe
35:05focus on London,
35:06not the airfields,
35:08Fighter Command
35:08has a scarce opportunity
35:10to repair its planes.
35:17Then, September 15th,
35:19the Luftwaffe sets out
35:21to make a final,
35:22full-fledged assault
35:23on the battered
35:24British capital,
35:25which Gehring swears
35:27will wipe out
35:27British fighters
35:28and make Prime Minister
35:30Churchill scream for mercy.
35:35It was very quiet at first
35:37because it didn't crop up
35:38until about 9 o'clock.
35:40And I think I was
35:42writing letters.
35:44And suddenly,
35:45from command,
35:46I heard,
35:47be prepared,
35:48big raid coming up.
35:49I dropped my book
35:51and I don't think
35:52I picked it up
35:53for about two hours
35:53because of my feet.
35:56And it was such
35:57a big raid
35:58that the sergeant
36:00in charge of the watch
36:01told me to query it.
36:04He didn't believe it.
36:05And of course,
36:06you weren't meant
36:06to query things
36:07because they didn't like
36:09the disturbance at command.
36:11But in the end,
36:12he was so insistent
36:13that I had to query it.
36:14And I asked them,
36:16I said,
36:16is it really 250 plus?
36:18And they said,
36:18yes, but don't.
36:19disturb us.
36:21And so he then believed it.
36:24With operators
36:26plotting the German formations
36:27for over 30 minutes,
36:29the Spitfires
36:30and Hurricanes
36:30have time to fly high,
36:33giving them the advantage
36:34of swooping down
36:35on German planes.
36:38So then it started
36:39from this area,
36:41of course,
36:41the usual southeast.
36:43And it went on like that
36:45all day,
36:45waves and waves
36:46and waves of them
36:47coming over.
36:49Three waves
36:50of bombers
36:51and fighters
36:52are on their way
36:53to finish off London.
36:55German crews
36:56are shocked
36:57to see Spitfires
36:58knife through formations
36:59with guns hammering.
37:02Their extremely
37:03poor intelligence
37:04had told them
37:04the RAF
37:05barely exists.
37:08Doubting strategy
37:10of holding back fighters
37:11is about to pay off.
37:13Yes,
37:14the RAF
37:14is terribly stretched,
37:16but not as badly
37:17as the Germans think.
37:20Mr. Churchill
37:21came down
37:21as he was then,
37:22and Mrs. Churchill
37:23came down
37:24on that particular day.
37:25And we had all our
37:27squadrons up,
37:28all in combat,
37:30and we had borrowed
37:31from 10 groups,
37:32it was 11 groups here,
37:33we'd borrowed
37:33from 10 groups
37:35and,
37:37what was the other one?
37:38Was it 12?
37:3812 and 10.
37:40And so,
37:42he'd borrowed those
37:42and they were all up
37:43as well.
37:44And Mr. Churchill
37:46turned to the controller
37:47that was sitting
37:47in the middle there
37:48and he said,
37:49have we any more?
37:51And the controller
37:53said,
37:53no,
37:54we've got them
37:55all in combat.
38:23It is touted
38:27as the greatest day
38:28in the Battle of Britain.
38:30The claims?
38:32183 German planes
38:34knocked out of the sky
38:35by British spitfires
38:37and hurricanes.
38:39Any claims, Johnny?
38:42A 109 destroyed,
38:43Freddy, yes.
38:44Oh, good show.
38:46Actual kills
38:47are a third
38:48of those claimed,
38:49but this psychological
38:50victory for the British
38:52dashes the morale
38:53of German pilots
38:54who feel
38:55they are being misled
38:56by their commanders.
38:59And I think
38:59the British even created
39:01an artificial turning point
39:02by saying that
39:05September the 15th
39:06was the sort of
39:08great day
39:09of the Battle of Britain.
39:10It was the day
39:10when they'd shot down
39:11180 German aircraft,
39:12which they hadn't,
39:13but it didn't matter
39:14because they believed
39:14they had.
39:15and they thought
39:16that they'd,
39:17they thought
39:18they'd turned a corner
39:19and that therefore
39:20thereafter
39:20they were going
39:21to win the battle.
39:27Doubting,
39:28still cautious
39:29and quite worried
39:30of what is yet to come,
39:31supports his pilot's claims
39:33of their greatest day.
39:36We did hear of
39:37where he was asked
39:39whether our claims
39:43were exaggerated
39:44for the enemy
39:45aircraft shot down
39:46and he replied
39:48he didn't worry
39:51about that at all,
39:52but the outcome
39:54would be proof
39:55was whether the enemy
39:56continued attacking.
39:57So I thought
39:57that was a wonderful,
39:58a wonderful support
40:01for his pilots
40:02in the circumstances.
40:09There was a very
40:13common sense
40:16in Britain
40:16in August
40:18and September 1940
40:20that something
40:22tremendous
40:23and critical
40:26was going on.
40:27Every day
40:28they radio broadcast
40:30the numbers
40:30of German aircraft
40:31shot down.
40:32I think there was
40:33a very strong sensation
40:34of the country
40:36living on a thread.
40:39Remember that
40:44when you're taking part
40:45in a thing like that,
40:48you haven't got
40:49the benefit of hindsight
40:51so that I must say
40:53we never,
40:55at that time,
40:56we never particularly
40:57thought that the battle
40:58was ever going to end.
41:02After Germany's
41:04September 15th defeat,
41:05the air battles continue,
41:07but with each attack,
41:08Britain's tenacious
41:10fighter force
41:10flies up to fight
41:11and the impending
41:13autumn weather
41:14threatens to make
41:15the English Channel
41:16unnavigable
41:17for invasion barges.
41:19Hitler considers
41:20these facts
41:21and on September 17th,
41:221940,
41:23while continuing
41:24his air campaign,
41:26he postpones
41:26his invasion of Britain.
41:28I suppose
41:30I suppose Goering
41:30realized that
41:31he wasn't getting
41:32anywhere
41:33and the morale
41:35of the German
41:36bomber squadrons
41:38was going down.
41:40Suddenly we noticed
41:42all the invasion barges
41:43were being decommissioned
41:45and so on.
41:46there is no final clash,
41:52no declaration of victory.
41:55The Battle of Britain
41:56in the autumn of 1940,
41:58in the words of one German pilot,
42:00just fell asleep.
42:01Several of,
42:05certainly my squadrons,
42:07fiercest battles,
42:10very often
42:10fighter versus fighter,
42:13took place
42:14after the Battle of Britain
42:16was officially over,
42:18but nobody actually
42:19rang a bell
42:20to tell us
42:21when it was over.
42:23I mean,
42:23the Battle of Britain,
42:24as we know,
42:24lasted about six weeks
42:26and they were
42:27at full stretch
42:28for six weeks,
42:30but I think
42:30had it gone on
42:31for three months,
42:33had the Germans
42:33been able to keep up
42:34the pressure,
42:35then the strain
42:36on quite small numbers
42:38in fighter command
42:39might have proved
42:40unbearable.
42:44After all,
42:45they were the few,
42:46the famous few,
42:48what Churchill
42:49called the few.
42:56Hitler is now
42:58plotting to invade Russia.
43:00He will deal
43:00with Britain later.
43:02The trouble is,
43:03later never comes.
43:06In a way,
43:07the Battle of Britain
43:08didn't just save Britain
43:10from invasion,
43:11it also created
43:13the conditions
43:14where Churchill
43:15could open up
43:17a second front
43:18in the Mediterranean,
43:20humiliate the Italians,
43:23cause Hitler
43:24to go to the Italians,
43:25rescue for prestige purposes,
43:27get involved
43:28in a war
43:28in North Africa
43:30and find that
43:32a sort of
43:33nice, simple plan
43:34he had
43:35spawned complications
43:37which eventually
43:39were very, very damaging.
43:41The Spitfire
43:42was there
43:43every step of the way.
43:45It was manufactured
43:46until 1948
43:48and wasn't taken
43:49out of RAF
43:50frontline service
43:51until 1951.
43:55In all,
43:5720,000 spits
43:59were built.
44:00Over the years,
44:01they gained
44:012,000 pounds
44:03in weight
44:03and increased speed
44:05by nearly 100 miles per hour.
44:09The Spitfire
44:10was eventually
44:11outfitted with cannons
44:13as well as machine guns.
44:15Prime Minister
44:16Winston Churchill
44:17himself
44:17was impressed
44:18on a visit
44:18to Biggin Hill
44:19fighter station
44:20where John Bisdy
44:22served as
44:23armament officer.
44:26And, um,
44:27he said,
44:28young man,
44:29show me
44:29your cannon guns.
44:32So,
44:33I took him
44:33to where
44:34there was an aircraft
44:35pointing at the butts
44:36and helped him
44:39into the cockpit
44:40and he looked up
44:41at me
44:41and said
44:42rather sheepishly,
44:43do you think
44:44I could have a go?
44:46So, I said,
44:46I thought so, sir,
44:48and I turned
44:48the button
44:50on the control column
44:51of the aircraft
44:52round to fire
44:53and he
44:56pressed the button
44:58and immediately,
44:59of course,
44:59all hell was let loose
45:00with these cannons
45:01going off
45:02and the machine guns.
45:03and I realised
45:05that the cannon shells
45:06were going right
45:06through this,
45:07um,
45:08these butts
45:09and coming out
45:10the other side
45:11so I
45:11hastily told him
45:14that I thought
45:15that would do, sir.
45:16Anyhow,
45:17he had his go
45:18with cannons
45:18and he obviously
45:20enjoyed it
45:20and, uh,
45:23then I took him
45:24back to his party.
45:33Never in the field
45:41of human conflict
45:43was so much old
45:45by so many
45:47to so few.
46:03When I was
46:20I
46:20I
46:22I
46:22I
46:22I
46:27I
46:28I
46:28I
46:29I
46:30I
46:30I
46:31Transcription by CastingWords
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