Short History Of... - The Battle of Britain

Episode Date: July 30, 2023

In the summer of 1940, the Battle of Britain saw 3,000 airmen risk their lives to defend British shores from the Nazis. But as the pilots battled overhead, what was life like for those supporting them on the ground, and the people of Britain they sought to protect? What was Hitler’s objective, and how did the British react? And what was the secret to defeating the formidable Luftwaffe? This is a Short History of the Battle of Britain. Written by Linda Harrison. With thanks to Patrick Tootal, Honorary Secretary of the Battle of Britain Memorial. For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Now available for Apple and Android users. Click the Noiser+ banner on Apple or go to noiser.com/subscriptions to get started with a 7-day free trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's the 31st of August, 1940, about 20,000 feet over Essex in southeast England. RAF Flight Lieutenant Maurice Mounston has been scrambled, along with other fighter pilots, to intercept a formation of German Luftwaffe bombers heading to the city of Colchester. His squadron may be surrounded by clear blue skies this Saturday morning, but it's freezing inside the enclosed cockpit of his Hawker Hurricane. The 22-year-old shifts in his seat, where the parachute digs into his back. Handsome, with slicked back hair and a dashing moustache, he also wears a flying helmet, goggles, oxygen mask, leather jacket, and inflatable life vest. It's a year since the start of the Second World War,

and the Battle of Britain has been raging for almost two months. Day after day, waves of Luftwaffe planes have been making their way over the Channel to attack British military targets, readying the field for Nazi invasion. And today is no exception. Now, the controller's voice from the base at North Weald Airfield crackles in his headset. Bandits approaching. Mounsden peers through his goggles to scan the clouds, then sees it. A large group of black dots in the sky. He recognizes them as German Dornier bombers. Escorting them are modern, powerful Messerschmitt fighter planes, painted with swastikas and with wing-mounted cannons. It's now a desperate race to destroy them before they destroy him. He gets into position and takes

aim at one of the fighters, showering it with a burst of machine gun fire. He gets into position and takes aim at one of the fighters, showering it with a burst of machine gun fire. But as he pulls away, he glances over his shoulder. Another Messerschmitt has peeled off and is right on his tail. It opens fire. A cannon shell hits his petrol tank and there's a sudden, searing pain in his leg. Shrapnel. Then the instrument panel shatters and there's a flash, before his nostrils fill with the eye-watering stench of petrol fuel is spilling into the cockpit and half a second

later it's on fire he grapples with the parachute harness his hands erupting in pain as they blister in the intense heat he somehow manages to put the burning aircraft into a roll. And at 14,000 feet, with his heart hammering in his chest, he slides back the canopy, stands up, and with all his energy, pushes himself over the side. The cold air roars past his ears. He's never used a parachute before. There wasn't enough time during his training.

He fumbles for the ripcord and pulls hard. He's jerked out of his freefall as the bright canopy of the parachute unfolds above. As he drifts silently over a church tower, his hurricane spins out of control behind him, smoke streaming from it as it descends. But now he hears birdsong as he nears an open field. He lands clumsily but alive, and his parachute floats down next to him. Insects buzz around his head, but he's badly injured. He looks down at the exposed skin on his blistered and bloodied legs. His trousers are almost totally burned away. The pain is extraordinary, but the

relief is overwhelming. However, his ordeal is not yet over. Two schoolgirls run over, and they're soon joined by local farmers. Then the home guard arrive, and, assuming he over, and they're soon joined by local farmers. Then the Home Guard arrive, and, assuming he is German, they're wielding pitchforks. It's not easy to convince them that he's English, but he manages to win them over with his accent and RAF moustache. Mounsden will spend many months undergoing pioneering skin grafts and treatments for his severe burns And, as one of the lucky ones, he'll go on to live until the age of 101 The Battle of Britain was one of the most pivotal moments in Britain's history The Battle of Britain was one of the most pivotal moments in Britain's history.

With much of Europe under the control of Hitler, Britain was next in the Nazis' plan for domination. But in order to invade, they needed to subdue the formidable RAF and take control of the skies. From mid-July to the end of October 1940, 3,000 airmen took to their planes to defend Britain from the Nazis, destroying their hopes of invasion. But who were the airmen who risked their lives? What drove them on? And what was the secret to defeating the formidable Luftwaffe? And what legacy does the Battle of Britain leave today? I'm John Hopkins, and this is a short history of the Battle of Britain. In 1918, following its defeat in the First World War and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, Following its defeat in the First World War and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany is banned from having an air force.

Around this time, the British Royal Air Force becomes an independent branch of the British Armed Forces. The RAF develops slowly over the next few years, but at the same time, a humiliated Germany starts to rebuild its military aviation in secret. In the early 1920s, German pilots attend flight courses, though for now it's under the guise of civilian training. But then it looks to the Soviet Union for help, knowing it too has been devastated by war and isolated in Europe. has been devastated by war and isolated in Europe. By 1925, would-be German fighter pilots are disappearing off to a secret Soviet training school at an airfield near Lipetsk, 200 miles south of Moscow. As the covert base expands, more German pilots learn their craft, along with

engineers. Germany's aircraft manufacturers carry out research there, with the two nations swapping concepts for tanks and planes. Meanwhile, prototype German planes and weapons are shipped in for clandestine testing. By the time Adolf Hitler comes to power in 1933, more than 100 German pilots have completed their training. Two years later, buoyed by growing nationalism and support at home, Hitler no longer feels the need to hide. He announces to the world his intentions to rebuild the German air force. The Luftwaffe is officially established in 1935, under the command of Hermann Göring, and funding is pumped in to aircraft manufacturing.

France and Britain are alarmed by its rapid expansion, but, desperate to avoid another bloody world war, they don't intervene. Britain's Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, instead favors a policy of appeasement. instead favours a policy of appeasement. But with Hitler's rhetoric about territorial expansion, a policy known as Lebensraum, or living room, there's a growing sense of conflict afoot. Britain begins to strengthen the RAF in earnest,

and in July 1936, RAF Fighter Command is established under the leadership of Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding. The Scotsman, later to become Lord Dowding, is a veteran airman. In preparation for war, he oversees development of fast fighter aircraft, spitfires and hurricanes. He also has the foresight to secure funding for the first experimental radar stations on the coast. funding for the first experimental radar stations on the coast. But by the time Hitler declares war in 1939, the Luftwaffe is the biggest and most formidable air force in the world. When the Nazi tanks roll across Europe, British troops are forced to withdraw from Dunkirk, abandoning their equipment and retreating back across the Channel. and retreating back across the Channel. It takes just weeks for France to fall.

Britain is now alone, the last bastion against what Prime Minister Winston Churchill calls the menace of tyranny. Hitler expects the British to seek a peace settlement, and when it fails to do so, he orders his armed forces to prepare for an invasion of Britain, codenamed Operation Sea Lion. An invasion fleet of barges, trawlers, and merchant ships is assembled at Calais and Rotterdam. But for them to have a chance of crossing the English Channel, Germany needs control of the skies, and to do that, it will need to destroy the RAF. Goering assures Hitler that the RAF can be crushed by mid-September.

By the 10th of July, his Luftwaffe is ready to begin. A swarm of cutting-edge German bombers and their fighter escorts roar into the air, honing in on their first target, a shipping convoy in the English Channel. Next, 70 bombers attack dockyard installations. The Battle of Britain has begun. At airfields across southern England, British pilots soar into the sky to intercept the bombing raids. It's time for Fighter Command to take on the most powerful war machine in the world. In the early days of the battle, Britain is most definitely the underdog. Comprising just 640 aircraft, its fleet is around a quarter of the size of the Germans' 2,600 planes.

But the RAF has some of the best fighters in the world, the now iconic Hawker Hurricanes and Supermarine Spitfires. Even so, Britain desperately needs more planes, and the materials to make them from. A plea goes out to the public from the Ministry for Aircraft Production for donations of aluminium pots and pans to cover the shortfall. Meanwhile, the Hurricane and Spitfire pilots take to the skies against the fearsome Messerschmitt fighters. Both single-engine planes, the Hurricane and Spitfire, are different generations of aircraft. Although these sleek Spitfires attract more public attention

and are better matched to the Messerschmitt in terms of speed and agility, the sturdier Hurricanes are considered easier to fly, and the RAF has more of them. Patrick Tootle is honorary secretary of the Battle of Britain Memorial and a retired group captain from the Royal Air Force, where he served for 33 years. The Hurricane was a development of a standard biplane at the time with an enclosed cockpit. The Hurricane was 37 and before, whereas the Spitfires were only really coming into service in 39. And that was a whole different concept. It had no fabric. The Spitfire had a better performance,

better turning. But on the other hand, the Hurricane was a much better gun platform. In fact, the Hurricane shot down two-thirds of the Luftwaffe in the battle. But the Spitfire, as ever, gets the glory. They both had their role. The Spitfire, of course,

could take on the Messerschmitts, who were giving protection for the bomber stream, where the Hurricane could sail in and just shoot down the bombers. And it was a very good platform. But the also thing about the Hurricane is, when it landed, if it had holes in it, you just put patches on it and off it go again. Whereas, of course, the Spitfire was much higher stress skin technology, so it needed much more rigging to get back into the air again. Rearming and refueling the Spitfire takes 26 minutes, while the Hurricane needs just nine. But either of these are lightning fast compared to the Luftwaffe's turnaround times, as they need to travel back across the channel whenever they're out of fuel or ammunition. they're out of fuel or ammunition. While the Luftwaffe campaign gets underway with attacks on ports and shipping convoys, the RAF patrol the skies. Knowing formations of German bombers

will be heading towards the coast at any time, the pilots are alone in their cockpits. With the voices of their fellow airmen and commanders in their earphones, they might be chatting one minute and locked in a brutal dogfight the next. These deadly engagements can last just minutes, and with each combatant committed to shooting the other out of the sky, the stakes couldn't be higher. They often said this was quite uncanny. We had sort of five minutes of terror, and then suddenly it was all quiet again. And they landed back on, re-armed, refueled, and got ready to get airborne again. Your visibility is sometimes better in the Spitfire than in the Hurricane, but all the time you're twisting your neck to look behind you and keeping your lookout, and then also trying to fly in some sort of formation with your fellow aircraft.

It wasn't easy. Camaraderie is key to maintaining the focus of the airmen. Living together in squadrons at their bases, the fighter command pilots share meals and sleeping quarters amid a grueling daily routine. After being woken at dawn, they're driven out to their aircraft, where they wait for the order to rapidly mobilize or scramble when the luftwaffe has been sighted there's no time to waste to get into the sky and intercept them pilots may fly many missions each day and the shifts are long especially as the battle progresses as airmen are lost the pressure on those remaining increases many are exhausted

but once in their aircraft they have no time for tiredness. They have to make split-second decisions. Their lives depend on it. Between raids, the young men spend time together chatting, smoking, reading, or playing football. And though the weather might be great for peacetime, the fact that the summer of 1940 brings day after day of bright blue skies is a source of despair for many, because those clear conditions are perfect for enemy bombers to attack. The day's work depended on the weather. I mean, Geoffrey Wellham, who wrote that famous book, First Life, which is probably the best personal account of the Battle of Britain, said, oh it's a nice day, oh it's going to be a very long day. Because generally the flying started at four in the morning at first

light, the British summer time probably didn't get dark until about 10 o'clock, so in a high summer, and if it was a nice day they could be flying up to five sorties a day, which is about one and a half or just under one hour. So it was a very hard day. And so they used to pray for low cloud and rain. But if it was a nice sunny day, it was going to be a hard day for them. There are many stories of enormous resilience and team spirit. There are many stories of enormous resilience and team spirit. Take the legendary pilot, Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader. Before the war, at the age of 22, Bader lost both of his legs while performing aerial acrobatics.

He's continued to fly. But the urgency with which airmen must be ready to take off once alerted is such that he and his comrades have an unusual procedure in place. is such that he and his comrades have an unusual procedure in place. After a long day's fighting, the flying ace removes his prosthetic legs in order to sleep. But if the alarm sounds during the night, he'll immediately lift a leg over either side of his single camp bed. Two other airmen in nearby bunks are responsible for attaching one metal leg each, then carried to a spitfire and lifted onto the wing.

Grabbing the sides of the cockpit, he climbs into his seat and fires up the engine before all three Spitfires take off. The team, Barda and the two other pilots, manage to get this routine down to 2 minutes and 50 seconds, at least 30 seconds faster than any other section. But though pilots ordinarily fly in groups, very often they come back with diminished numbers. Every time an airman straps himself into his cockpit, he knows he may not return. Planes may be shot down or erupt into flames. And as the summer continues, the unrelenting nature of the battle means there's often no time

to mourn the deaths of their friends. I think the pace of operations tended to have an effect on this. When the squadron first started, they were all mates, they knew one another, and gradually some of them were wounded or some were killed. I think one thing about being an aircrew is that you're a bit facialistic. You have an attitude, it's not going to happen to me. I think you've got to have that, particularly in the combat situation. There's a case where

a young pilot arrived in his MG sports car, parked with all his kit in the mess car park, scrambled, was shot down and killed, and that happened. In all these cases, you have an effects officer who then gets all his effects back to his next of kin and all the rest. So you weren't having close friendships. You were just there flying for your life. The young airmen need to let off steam on their days off and often go to the pub or officers' mess together.

Many spend their wages freely, believing there's little point saving for years to come when they might not even be around tomorrow. In this time of fear and uncertainty, the pilots are heroes, the pop stars of their day. And in their smart, dark blue RAF uniforms, proudly showing off their silver wings, they look very dashing. But they usually had a bar wherever they were, and of course the local pub was their main rest. And when they finished a day's flying, a few pints of beer, and in the morning, if their head was fuzzy,

oxygen, 100% oxygen, usually cleared their fuzz. It was a strenuous life, and I think some people really were stressed out by it. But like in all things, young men, when they got their backs to the wall, they seemed to go through it quite well. Many airmen are very young. The average age of a pilot in the Battle of Britain is just 20.

And they come from a wide range of backgrounds, from farming to banking. Some are called to service from the RAF Volunteer Reserve. A lot came from the public school sector, but a lot were from grammar schools. That was because very much the Air Force was a technical service. The Army and Navy had their traditional public schools, Army from Wellington College. But generally, because we were a technical service, your air crew ability depended on how you could fly

and not really what was up here in your mind. So very broad brush from grammar schools and higher education. But generally people have got a secondary education and done well at it. But Fighter Command is also an international effort, comprising airmen from 15 different countries. These overseas pilots will be among the most effective in the cockpit, with some going to extreme lengths to play their part. cockpit, with some going to extreme lengths to play their part. A significant number of pilots have come from Eastern Europe after their countries are invaded by the Nazis. The great advantage is that they come already trained.

Czech pilot Josef Frantisek joins the RAF after escaping the Nazis. He goes on to take many aerial victories, shooting down a record 17 enemy planes for the Allies. Others come from as far away as New Zealand, South Africa, and Australia. There are US citizens who want to serve, but they're prevented from doing so because America isn't yet involved in the war. Pilot officer Billy Fisk, for example, is the son of a wealthy New York banker. He studied at Cambridge University and worked in banking in London. At the outbreak of war in 1939, he is recalled to work in New York,

but he chooses instead to volunteer in the RAF. However, as the US is still neutral at this time, he has to pretend to be Canadian. As Canada is part of the Commonwealth, this gets around the rules, is still neutral at this time. He has to pretend to be Canadian. As Canada is part of the Commonwealth, this gets around the rules, and soon he's flying regular sorties over the Channel. Fisk, like many others, simply feels that he wants to help. For him, it's a moral obligation. Nearly 200 RAF pilots will become air aces, meaning they've shot down at least five enemy aircraft. It speaks to the intensity of the work that a few manage this in a 24-hour period, becoming what is known as an ace in a day. As July turns to August, it's fair to say that the battle isn't going the way Hitler had hoped.

And on the 8th, a new intensive phase begins, with the Germans changing tack to destroy fighter command on the ground. What follows is a series of relentless bombing raids with up to 1,500 aircraft a day, directed against British airfields and radar stations. August will be the hardest month, with the Luftwaffe determined to destroy Britain's defences so that Operation Sea Lion's invasion can get underway. It's just after 5pm, on the 14th of August 1940, in Hampshire, southern England. In one of the cavernous hangars at RAF Middle Wallop airfield, Corporal Robert Whittle-Smith is looking forward to a pint in the local pub. It's been quieter today, the Luftwaffe's activity hampered by low cloud and drizzle,

but he's feeling tired after another long shift. Adjusting one rolled-up shirt sleeve on his dirty overalls, he walks around the Spitfire, inspecting it carefully. His stomach rumbles noisily, and another airman looks around and laughs. He digs half a chocolate bar out of his pocket, breaks off a chunk, and offers it to Smith, who gratefully takes it. Although it's hard work as a member of the maintenance ground crew, with shifts of up to 15 hours long, he's found a great camaraderie among the men here. Working alongside fellow engineers, he takes pride in his role, in getting the Spitfires airworthy between flights and keeping the pilots flying. He's about to invite his colleague to join him for a pint, when the alarm suddenly sounds.

Smith dashes outside. With a sinking heart, he hears the unmistakable drone of a German plane engine overhead. The menacing shadow of a single Junker bomber sweeps across the countryside beyond the airfield as it flies directly towards them. Smith and his two crewmates turn on their heels and run back to the hangar. Immediately putting their training into action, their only thought is to protect the aircraft within. They grab the big ratchet handles that operate the huge steel-plated doors of the hangar, winding them round as fast as they can.

The doors laboriously start to close as the men work. They shout frantic encouragement to each other to keep going. But each of them knows what is about to happen. They're out of time. Inevitable is a storm, the Junker closes in, bomb doors open. When it's directly overhead, Smith watches in impotent horror as it unloads its deadly cargo. An almighty blast knocks him off his feet. The hangar's ceiling caves in and the massive doors have been dislodged from their runners by the blast. With a ringing in his ears, Smith looks up to see 13 tons of steel topple over

towards him and his crewmates. Around 300 ground crew are killed during the Battle of Britain, either through combat or accidents. Roughly 460 more are wounded. The vast ground crew network plays an essential role as they risk their lives on a daily basis to support the pilots. Their efforts keep the Spitfires, Hurricanes and other planes fuelled, armed and repaired. and other planes fueled, armed, and repaired. Meanwhile, the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, or WAF, plays a similarly crucial role. Women perform a wide variety of essential jobs as drivers, telephonists, and cooks. They also serve as plotters and radar operators, sometimes while under fire themselves. Tens of thousands of volunteers also track incoming raids,

ensuring 1,000 observation posts are continuously manned, while RAF Coastal Command mans anti-invasion patrols. The local defense volunteers, later the Home Guard, is set up as the last line of defense against German invasion. Meanwhile, factory workers keep up aircraft production to replace lost or damaged aircraft. The RAF's other services, like Bomber Command and Coastal Command, also play key roles, along with the Army and Navy. The ground crew were pivotal, and of course the WAFs as well, not only on station level,

but at command level there were the controllers and all the rest. And I think the Air Force can be quite proud that we got females into active service. I mean, there were military medals won at Biggin Hill by WAFs who stayed at their posts when the ops room had been bombed. And there was one lady who used to come to Memorial Day who was at the radar stations at Ventnor, South Coast. It was bombed and she was in a control room and she was still sending all the plots back. And she should have actually got out and she said, well, I had a lot of reporting to do, so why could I leave? She ignored an order to take cover over 100 German aircraft attacking the polling radar station behind Littlehampton and nearby targets.

The sort of courage that was shown in the air was also very much shown on the ground. And I think ground crew are important, and normally they're the unsung heroes. Even so, when Churchill makes the speech in late August that will become famous, it's the pilots he praises the most highly. The gratitude of every home in our island, he says, in our empire and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen, who, undaunted by their odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the world war by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.

But the few, as they come to be known, depend not just on ground support, but the cutting edge of intelligence, too. In the leafy outskirts of London, vital work takes place inside the rooms of a grand, converted country house. From the outside, with its ornate 18th-century architecture, vivid stained-glass windows, elaborate rotunda, and Italian gardens, it looks like the stately home of a wealthy aristocrat. But behind its blacked-out windows lies a secret. This is RAF Bentley Priory, home of Fighter Command. It's also the base of the Dowding system, a crucial element of support which gives Britain a critical advantage over

Germany. Based on the world's first radar system, the innovative network developed by Sir Hugh Dowding brings together ground defenses, fighter aircraft and other elements like searchlights to share intelligence in one unified system of defense. It allows fighter command to spot and locate enemy aircraft and then respond swiftly, making the best use of limited resources. It also gives airmen time to rest between flights. Inside Bentley Priory's historic walls, men and women work around the clock. On giant maps of Britain laid out on tables, they plot the information they've received by radar so the aircrew can disrupt enemy raids. Once the Luftwaffe are detected, the RAF know there are only about 20 minutes until they reach the UK. And as it takes an

average of 16 minutes to scramble fighters to intercept them, that leaves just four minutes for Fighter Command to decide upon a strategy. At the time, the Post Office had the best landline system in the world. And this was all set up by Dowding in 1936, who, with a touch of a switch, you could talk to any Fighter Command station in the country. The ground crew were essential. The many were the people who were behind the few. The battle wouldn't have been won without them. And all the people that worked so hard, and a lot of civilians as well. Nevertheless, by late August, though the incredible determination of the RAF has filled the public with pride,

it's experiencing heavy losses of much-needed planes and pilots. Pilots often find their training fast-tracked. Most receive just two weeks. This leaves them without the expertise and essential combat skills usually picked up from real experience over time. Round-the-clock bombings of airfields, factories, and radar stations mean the Germans are on the cusp of destroying the RAF on the ground. The constant raids make taking off and landing at bases difficult, and rest and sleep almost impossible.

But now the German pilots are also exhausted. The campaign is dragging on much longer than they expected, and the fields and shores of southern England are littered with Luftwaffe wrecks. So it's no surprise that sometimes mistakes are made. The biggest mistake comes on the 24th of August, when some lost Luftwaffe night bombers, aiming for RAF airfields, accidentally bomb London. They destroy several homes, killing a number of civilians. For Churchill, it means the gloves are now off. He retaliates by sending RAF bomber command to drop bombs over civilian areas of Berlin.

Enraged, and with intelligence wrongly telling him that the RAF is on its last legs, Hitler orders Luftwaffe bombers to move their attacks to reprisal raids on London and other British cities. The 7th of September sees the start of the Blitz in London. It will be the first of 57 consecutive days and nights of bombing. of 57 consecutive days and nights of bombing. That was a turning point when, after the inadvertent bombing of London, Churchill sent a raid to Berlin, which upset Goring,

and so they changed their policy to bomb London, which was a great mistake because the blitz started and people saw through that. But by the end of August, airfields were very close to falling apart because they'd been attacked all day. And so that gave respite and that gave chance to regroup, get the airfield back up and running, get the aeroplanes online. And that was a big mistake they made to start bombing London. The Blitz results in tens of thousands of British civilian casualties and vast destruction. Londoners camp out in air raid shelters and tube stations as their city burns around them.

But the Blitz also means that the pressure on the RAF is temporarily relieved. They have a chance to rebuild their airfields and refresh their pilots. And it's just as well. build their airfields and refresh their pilots. And it's just as well, because the most decisive day of the battle, which will test Fighter Command's resilience, skill and resources to its limits, is yet to come. On the 15th of September, the date by which Goering had earlier told Hitler that the RAF would be destroyed. The Luftwaffe goes for an all-out attack.

Intending a two-pronged assault to destroy railway sites and then dockyards, the plan is to cause catastrophic strategic damage to get Operation Sea Lion back on track. They start by sending around 250 planes. Bombers, heavily protected by Messerschmitt fighters, in formations that blacken the skies over the English Channel. The radar network picks them up first, but they come into view late morning, zigzagging over Kent and Sussex. But they don't stop at the coast. Their very deliberate target is London. More than 125 RAF fighter planes fall on the Luftwaffe formations. Churchill watches the battle unfold while on a visit to RAF Uxbridge near London.

The Luftwaffe attacks come in waves, giving the British time to refuel and rearm. Pilots must make do with the absolute minimum of rest before they're deployed again. After a while, the enemy aircraft retreat, but by early afternoon they are back, and this time there's even more of them. Every available RAF pilot is scrambled, meaning there are 300 Spitfires and Hurricanes when they get back in the sky to meet the Germans over London. But the Luftwaffe force is 400 strong. It's early afternoon on Sunday the 15th of September in a suburb just beyond the outskirts of London. A seven-year-old girl,

dressed in a cotton pinafore for the warm autumn day, finishes the sponge pudding her mother made as a Sunday treat. The government has rationed butter and sugar since the beginning of the war, so she knows she has to make the most of every mouthful of her favorite food. Now her mother gathers up the plates and sends the girl outside to play. The child lifts her younger brother down from his chair and heads to the backyard of their brick terrace home. She neatly lines up her dolls on the wall, dodging her brother as he runs wildly around the yard.

These last weeks, he's mostly liked to play spitfires, his arms fully outstretched as he tears around making machine gun noises. Their mother shouts out of the window to remind him not to trample her new vegetable patch, but she's interrupted mid-sentence by the distant, ominous wail of the air-raid siren over London. She looks up, and the girl turns and follows her gaze. Though it's only quiet, over the wine they can hear another, deeper drone. And there, in the distance and heading towards the city, are dozens of specks in the blue sky. Transfixed, the girl stands still, her favorite doll dangling by its arm. She knows what these are.

They're German bombers. And coming in close behind them are the RAF fighters her brother talks about ceaselessly. With a bang, her mother throws open the kitchen door and rushes into the yard, her eyes searching the sky. She pulls her daughter to her and beckons to her son. He has already stopped his game, his grubby hands still mid-air as he gapes open-mouthed at the spectacle above. RAF fighters, too many to count, have engaged with the enemy, and the sky is alive with gunfire.

the enemy and the sky is alive with gunfire. German bombs have been raining down on London day and night for over a week now, but there have never been so many planes at once. As they attack and counter-attack, the fighters twist around each other, leaving a tangled mass of vapor trails lacing the sky. The family should be too far away from any strategic targets out here to be at risk of the bombs, but these planes could be shot down at any moment. Now the girl holds out her arm and points at an enemy plane. It is falling. After spiraling towards earth in a plume of dark smoke, sending debris flying off, the German fighter crashes down a few streets away.

A little distance off, a lone parachute floats down to Earth and a huge cheer goes up over the walls. The whole neighborhood is watching. It's another small victory for their boys against the enemy. It's another small victory for their boys against the enemy. In this intense day of fighting, the RAF scatter the Germans, making accurate bombing impossible. They shoot down fighters in flames, damaging many others and forcing them off course. When their ammunition runs out, some fighters even ram the enemy planes. So determined are they to protect the strategic targets and civilians who are depending on them. The 15th of September was quite interesting because Operation Seal Iron really had to

happen before the end of September, before Channel Gales and all the rest would make it impossible to launch invasion barges. So Goring was virtually told, you know, win the battle by mid-September or we postpone. And the 15th of September started as sort of quite a sunny day, but it was a little low cloud over Germany, so they were late getting off and they were going to be in mass raids of London. Now, when the Luftwaffe took off, their intelligence services said there are no Hurricanes left, no Hurricane squadrons, and very few Spitfires left. As they crossed the coast, 11 group Hurricanes and Spitfires just waded in, and they really hit them.

But the effect was that a lot of airplanes were flying back crippled or badly damaged. And you know, you arrive back, you've lost 60, 70 of your airplanes, you're crash landing, and you can see the morale just hit rock bottom. That was the 15th, and that was really the turning point. By the end of the day, 56 German aircraft had been shot down, and the RAF suffers around half this number. One of the largest aerial battles of the Second World War is over, leaving the Luftwaffe's morale in tatters.

The 15th of September will become known as Battle of Britain Day. The Nazis continue bombing London and other cities, intending to destroy infrastructure and break morale to force Britain to sue for peace. But the battle for the supremacy over the skies that Hitler needed in order to invade is over. Two days later, Hitler postpones Operation Sea Line indefinitely and moves his focus for invasion east, towards Russia. For the duration of the Battle of Britain, the RAF faced unimaginable danger in relentless attacks. So what was it that kept the airmen motivated to keep fighting?

I think it was really the morale and the leadership. I think that was the important thing. And of course, you had the backs to the wall. Bob Foster flew down to join his squadron at Croydon, and it was about the time, early September, when the Germans started bombing London, that he saw German bombers bombing where his mum and dad lived. And of course, that gave them that great thing. You're defending your homeland, you're defending your next of kin.

I think that gave you the drive as well. Of just under 3,000 airmen who flew in the Battle of Britain, 544 died, along with more than 700 from Bomber Command and 280 from Coastal Command. Around 2,500 Luftwaffe pilots were also killed. Churchill captured the strength of feeling in his iconic speech, and those who fought are remembered even now as the few. But once the battle was over, many of these young men were left with life-changing injuries. Knowing they were facing another long battle, the pilots formed a social club for mutual support

during their recoveries. Referencing the experience of experimental skin grafts and other pioneering treatments many of them will undergo, they call it the guinea pig club. Today, the legacy of the few is kept alive by the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust, which runs a memorial center in Folkestone, Kent. It stands proudly atop a cliff edge overlooking the English Channel, under the skies which were once filled with Spitfires, Hurricanes and enemy planes. It includes a war, bearing the name of every airman who flew during the battle. More than eight decades later, the vital role that these

young men played in protecting Britain from German invasion is still legendary. While Britain's victory in the battle didn't win the Second World War, it was a bitter blow for the Nazis. And it signified another step towards Germany's defeat in the longer term, releasing the world from the grip of Nazi terror once and for all. When you look back from May 1940, the Nazi war machine was all victorious, and the Battle of Britain was the first setback for the nazi war machine by keeping these islands free it was a springboard for the eventual victory in western europe next time on Short History of... Something a little different.

We'll bring you an episode of Noise's brand new podcast. It's called Real Survival Stories, and it's hosted by me, John Hopkins. Real Survival Stories tells the astonishing tales of ordinary people thrust into extraordinary situations. People suddenly forced to fight for their lives. We think you'll love it. So that's an exclusive taster of Noize's new show next time. you