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

BATTLE OF BRITAIN
In the week ending August 10, just before Adler Tag, stocks stood at
an all-time high of 574 Hurricanes and Spitfires in various states from
ready for immediate issue to awaiting modifications at MUs. In 5 weeks,
by September 10, they had dropped to 254, or a drain from stocks that
averaged 64 aircraft per week. Two things occurred that account for
the drastic reduction. First, in July the decision was made to build
up all Hurricane squadrons from an initial establishment of 16 aircraft
with 2 reserves, to a level of 20 plus 2, which accounted for 116 machines
to 29 squadrons. Second, as fighting intensified, new aircraft were
issued from stores because maintenance needs went beyond what units
could handle.52
It was the practice at the time to repair only bullet holes on the squadron
bases; aircraft that were more badly damaged were flown to RAF repair
and maintenance units or dismantled and taken by road. Not until after the
battle were mobile teams organized to visit the stations and repair aircraft
on the spot. The daily equipment reports show an accumulation of aircraft
too badly damaged by the standards of the day to be repaired by the squadrons.
It is not possible to tell from these records how many of these
machines were being reported more than once, on subsequent days, but
they indicate clearly that repairs were not keeping up with the demand. In
June the daily figure for Hurricanes declared unserviceable ran at about
eight, in July at about twelve, and in August at fifty-five; dropping back to
thirty-three by the end of the month, it rose again in September to fortyeight
and still stood at forty-nine in early October. The pattern for Spitfires
was similar but reached into the lower fifties twice in September; it was still
at thirty-eight ir. early October.
The daily equipment records also show that the backlog of machines
held at squadron bases but awaiting repairs that would take more than
twelve hours was at a low of thirty-five Hurricanes on June 14, rose to
a sudden peak of seventy-seven on July 3 1, and then dropped back
slightly to a plateau in the middle sixties until September 15, when it
reached seventy-seven; it dropped again to fifty-seven in early October.
The smaller number of Spitfire squadrons showed a more erratic rate,
varying between the low thirties, with a high of seventy-one on July
21, the forties with a high of fifty-three on August 30, and about forty for
the rest of the peri0d.~3
The Air Ministry’s weekly casualty reports provided additional information,
with the advantage of indicating whether the loss or damage
was caused in action, although they did not indicate the degree of damage.54
These reports show that the number of Hurricanes and Spitfires
lost weekly from all causes totalled 75 in July, 237 in August, and 462 in
September. In addition, the numbers damaged and needing to be repaired
in July, August, and September, were 50, 133, and 270, respectively.
In the equipment reports, the category designated “struck-off
151