Case Studies in the Achievement of Air Superiority - Air Force ...

BATTLE OF BRITAIN
too weak to fight, and from whom experienced pilots would be drawn to
reinforce the other two classes of squadrons.
The level of Hurricanes and Spitfires at maintenance units, produced
and wasted by being shot-down or written off on September 7 is shown on
Figure 3-3. This only in part supports the conclusions of the Air Historical
Branch in February 1945, repeated in a different graphic form in the official
history, The Royal Air Force, 1939-45. (See Figure 3-4) What is interesting
is that production and wastage were about equal and do not account for the
dramatic fall in stocks in storage.
No. 11 Group, which did most of the fighting, had only 19 squadrons in
early July and only 23 when the battle really began in August. At the end of
September, No. 11 had dropped to 20 squadrons. On August 10 the storage
units had 160 Hurricanes and 129 Spitfires available for issue to all of
Fighter Command, to replace a wastage for the previous week of 64. However,
in the next 4 weeks, wastage averaged 240 per week; for the last 2
weeks of the 4-week period, 297 Hurricanes and 209 Spitfires were lost in
battle or accident. On September 7 only 86 Hurricanes and 39 Spitfires
were immediately available for issue. This period from August 25 to September
7 was the crisis of the battle as far as aircraft supply was concerned.
Had the Germans continued their attacks at this time, they would have run
Fighter Command out of aircraft.23
As it was, the last blow of the old offensive on September 4 almost
destroyed Fighter Command. Park scrambled all his planes, but No. 12
Group to the north failed to get fighters over his naked airfields fast enough.
What most infuriated Park was that his vital sector-control apparatus was
smashed; and everything had to be moved to temporary quarters. He
sensed that a switch in German strategy was coming, however, when yet
another aircraft factory in his Group area was bombed. He consequently
ordered special patrols over the Spitfire works at Southampton and the
Hurricane works at Kingston-on-Thames. Also on the 4th, he sent up
paired squadrons to take on incoming raids as soon as they reached the
coast: the Spitfires were to tackle the escort, while the Hurricanes went for
the bombers. Even so, on September 5th, 6 of the 7 sector airfields and 5
advanced landing grounds were seriously damaged. Losses in the last 2
weeks had been 200 more fighters than had been produced, and reserves
were at an all-time low of 127. The loss of over 300 pilots in August, many
of them “greenhorns,” meant a deficit over training of 40. And of the original
1,000 pilots with which Fighter Command had started the war, only
about 250 now remained in action.
Not unnaturally, worrisome situations demand consultation, and Park
was at Fighter Command Headquarters at Bentley Priory on the evening of
the 7th when the Germans made the anticipated switch in targeting and
with no feint achieved surprise by flying straight into London. As he
climbed his Hurricane away from Northolt in the soft September evening
135