Kills Final Score Unit
Hptm Herbert Ihlefeld 33 132 Stab l.(J)/LG 2, 2.(J)/LG 2 and 2.(J)/LG 2 Hptm Walter Oesau 26 122 2./JG 51 and Stab lll./JG 51 Maj Adolf Galland 25 104 Stab JG 22, Stab lll./JG 26 and Stab JG 26 Maj Helmut Wick 24 56 3./JG 2, Stab l./JG 2 and Stab JG 2
Ltn Erich Schmidt 15 42 9./JG 53
Obit Hermann-Friedrich
Joppien 13 20 l./JG 51
Obit Werner Machold 13 32 9./JG 2 & 9./JG 2 Maj Werner Molders 13 115 lll./JG 53 and Stab JG 51 Obit Josef Priller 13 101 6./JG 51 and l./JG 26 Hptm Gerhard Schopfel 13 45 9./JG 26 and lll./JG 26
Ltn Horst Ulenberg 13 16 2./JG 26
Ltn Friedrich Geisshardt 12 102 l.(J)/LG 2 and 2.(J)/LG 2
Obit Hans Hahn 12 108 4./JG 2
Obit Gustav Rodel 12 98 4./JG 22
Obit Hans-Ekkhard Bob 10 60 9./JG 54, 2./JG 54 and Stab lll./JG 54
AFTERMATH
Officially, the Battle of Britain ended for the RAF on 31 October 1940. However, both Fighter Command and the Jagdwaffe continued to lock horns regularly until the end of the year. Indeed, on 1 November four Biggin Hill-based Spitfires were shot down by Bf 109Es from JG 26 that were escorting Ju 87s sent to attack a convoy off Dover - the kind of attack that had signalled the start of the Battle of Britain four months earlier! This particular raid was unusual for the period, as the Luftwaffe had by then reassigned the majority of its dedicated bomber units to night raids, using high-flying Bf 109E Jabos to
attack targets in the south-east during daylight hours.
These raids were carried out at altitudes of between 26,000ft and 33,000ft, and at high speeds, presenting Fighter Command with little chance to intercept them. Fortunately, the bombloads carried by the Jabos was small, and accuracy of the weapons released from 18,000ft was generally poor. Nevertheless, Jabo attacks by Emils would continue well into 1941.
By then the Bfl09E'sdays as the premier German fighter
Sqn Ldr 'Sailor' Malan's loose line-astern formation now possessed mutual support, coverage of blind spots to the rear and cohesion if forced to turn in combat. It was also much easier to fly.
The Jagdwaffe continued to score victories and suffer losses through to the end of 1940, even though the daylight bombing offensive of southern England had ended in the autumn. The most famous Jagdflieger to perish during this period was Major Helmut Wick, Kommodore of JG 2. With 56 victories to his credit (including 24 Spitfires), Wick was shot down off the Isle of Wight just minutes after downing his final victim - a Spitfire from No. 609 Sqn - on 28 November 1940.
OPPOSITE BOTTOM South African Sqn Ldr 'Sailor' Malan was one of Fighter Command's most influential tacticians in 1940-41. Having enjoyed great success against the Luftwaffe (including destroying nine Bf 109Es during 1940) with No. 74 Sqn, he set about changing the types of formations used by RAF squadrons in the wake of his combat experiences.
on the Channel front were well and truly numbered. As early as 9 October 1940, Major Werner Molders, Geschwaderkommodore of JG 51, had flown his first combat sortie over southern England in the Emil's successor, the Bf 109E Over coming months, the improved 'Friedrich' would be issued to JG 53, JG 3, JG 2 and JG 26, in that order. The last frontline Emils on the Channel front, flown by the latter unit's II Gruppe, were still 'mixing it' with the RAF's Spitfires and Hurricanes over France as late as 7 September
1941, after which they were replaced by the all-new Fw 190A-1.
The RAF, meanwhile, had gone from being on the defensive in 1940 to taking the fight to the Germans in 1941. In the vanguard of this campaign was Fighter Command, whose new commander-in-chief, Chief Marshal Sir Sholto Douglas, wanted his squadrons 'leaning forward into France'. The first such mission had actually been performed by two pilots from Spitfire- equipped No. 66 Sqn on 20 December 1940, when they strafed LeTouquet. This was the first time Spitfires had sortied over France since the fall of Dunkirk. Large-scale operations aimed at enticing the Jagdwaffe into combat over France and the Low Countries commenced in earnest in January 1941, with the first 'Circus' mission taking place on the 10th of that month. Spitfire units from Nos 10 and 11 Groups were heavily involved in this long-running offensive from the very start, escorting medium bombers sent to attack various military targets in occupied Europe.
More and more Hurricane units now switched to Spitfires - often battle-tired Mk Is, but also newer Mk lis and the significantly improved Mk V. And with operations progressing ever deeper into occupied Europe, the short-ranged Spitfire was finding it difficult to offer the vulnerable medium bombers the protection they required. In a desperate effort to stretch the endurance of the Supermarine fighter, 60 Spitfire lis were built with a fixed 40-gal tank fitted under the port wing. Designated the Spitfire 11 Long Range, these aircraft saw considerable service from the spring of 1941 onwards. Despite being built in only modest numbers, the Spitfire II (LR)s flew with no fewer than eight units, as aircraft were passed between squadrons rotating in and out of No. 11 Group.
By then the tactics being employed by Spitfire squadrons in the front line had also altered dramatically from those in place for much of the Battle of Britain. Several units had taken it upon themselves to modify the formations they flew when going into combat, and at the forefront of these changes was Spitfire-equipped No. 74 Sqn. Its CO, Sqn Ldr 'Sailor' Malan, was effectively the Werner Molders of Fighter Command, being one of the best tacticians in the RAF. He had also claimed nine Bf 109Es destroyed during 1940, so his theories on fighter formations had been formulated through bitter combat experiences.
During the final stages of the Battle of Britain, Malan began dividing his 12-aircraft formations into three sections of four, rather than the traditional four sections of three in an unwieldy 'vie'. Now, if a formation of Spitfires broke up after being bounced, its four-aircraft sections would split into two fighting pairs, which operated similarly to the German Rotte. With the three section leaders flying in a widely-spaced 'V',
and the rest of their sections in line astern behind them, Malan's formation now possessed mutual support, coverage of blind spots to the rear and cohesion if forced to turn in combat. The loose line-astern formation was also much easier to fly than tight 'Battle Formation', thus freeing pilots to devote most of their time looking out for the enemy, rather than watching what their section leader was up to. Malan's new formation was soon officially implemented throughout Fighter Command, as was the German 'finger four' Schwarm.
Virtually all Spitfire I/IIs had either been relegated to Training Command or rebuilt as Mk VBs by December 1941, and, fittingly, veteran Battle of Britain unit No. 152 Sqn had the honour of flying the final sweeps over enemy territory in these early mark fighters the following month. Later marks of Spitfire would, of course, continue to take the fight to the Jagdwaffe, duelling with improved versions of the Bf 109 to help the Allies ultimately claim final victory in Europe in World War II.
The importance of the victory of the Battle of Britain, and the success that the Spitfire pilots achieved cannot be overstated. It was the first victory secured by the Allies against the Third Reich and it was a necessary victory to ensure later successes. Without victory here the Battle of the Atlantic could not have been fought, it is doubtful whether America would have been convinced to enter the European conflict, and Britain could not have fulfilled her final destiny as a staging ground for the D-Day invasion force of June 1944. Like Stalingrad, the Battle of Britain was one of the true turning points of the war, but one that was achieved without costing millions of lives. Indeed, as Churchill so famously concluded, 'Never was so much owed by so many to so few.'
No. 72 Sqn Spitfire IIAs form up off the Kent coast in the summer of 1941 prior to heading across the Channel on yet another 'Circus' over France. The unit is still operating in 'vies' of three here, although the aircraft have closed up specially for the photographer, strapped into a Blenheim bomber.