British Military Aviation in 1940 - Part 5

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13 August
Alder Tag (Eagle Day): the Luftwaffe commence massive air attacks on RAF Fighter Command's air defence ground network and fighter stations. During the course of the day, the Luftwaffe generate 1,500 sorties and shoot down 13 Royal Air Force (RAF) fighters and a further 47 are destroyed on 6 Fighter Command airfields. The defenders shoot down 46 Luftwaffe aircraft.

15 August
Luftflotte 5 in Scandinavia joins its counterparts in France and Belgium, Luftflotten 2 and 3, in an attack on the United Kingdom. However, due to the distance between Luftflotte 5's air bases and its targets in northern England, it can not provide Messerschmitt Bf109 single-engine fighter escorts for the bomber force. As a consequence, the attackers and their twin-engine escorts (Messerschmitt Bf110s) suffer heavily at the hands of Fighter Command. Such are their losses that targets in the north of England will never again be attacked in force in daylight.

German forces in France and Belgium continue their attacks on the Royal Air Force. 75 Luftwaffe aircraft and 34 RAF aircraft are lost during the course of this day.

16 August
RAF Bomber Command attacks the Fiat works in Turin and the Caproni works in Milan.

16 August
The only Fighter Command Victoria Cross to be given during Second World War is awarded to Flight Lieutenant E.J.B. Nicolson for an engagement near Southampton in which he shot down an enemy aircraft even though his own aircraft, a Hawker Hurricane P3576 (GN-A) of No.249 Squadron, had been hit and was on fire.

16 August
RAF Bomber Command raids the Fiat works in Turin and the Caproni works in Milan.

17 August
Pilot Officer William Mead Lindsey 'Billy' Fiske becomes the first American citizen to die while serving with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War.

Fiske volunteered to join the RAF two weeks after the outbreak of the Second World War and on completion of flying training, he was posted to No.601 Squadron at Tangmere on 12 July 1940. He claimed his first kill, a Junkers Ju8, on 13 August. On 16 August, Pilot Officer Fiske's Hawker Hurricane (P3358) crash-lands in flames following an engagement with a Junkers Ju87 Stuka over Bognor. Horribly burned, he died on the following day.

In response to RAF Fighter Command's insatiable demand for replacement pilots, fighter Operational Training Unit courses are shortened. During the Battle of Britain, pupils were passed out of Operational Training Units with as little as 10 to 20 hours on Supermarine Spitfires or Hawker Hurricanes.

18 August
Both the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Luftwaffe suffer the highest number of aircraft destroyed or damaged in the air and on the ground for any day during the Battle of Britain. During the course of the day, the Luftwaffe launch three major air attacks against airfields and radar stations in Southern England.

The Luftwaffe generate approximately 970 sorties, 69 aircraft are destroyed or damaged beyond repair by RAF fighters, British anti-aircraft fire or in collisions with RAF aircraft. A total of 94 aircrew are killed, 25 wounded and 40 taken prisoner.

The RAF generate 927 sorties, 886 during the day and 41 at night. 31 fighters are shot down and a further 8 destroyed on the ground and 29 non-operational aircraft are also destroyed. 10 fighter pilots are killed or fatally wounded and 19 wounded.

"The laurels for the day's action went to the defenders. The aim of the Luftwaffe was to wear down Fighter Command without suffering excessive losses in the process, and in this it had failed. It had cost the attackers five aircrew killed, wounded or taken prisoner, for each British pilot casualty. In terms of aircraft, it had cost the Luftwaffe five bombers and fighters for every three Spitfires or Hurricanes destroyed in the air or on the ground. If the battle continued at this rate the Luftwaffe would wreck Fighter Command, but it would come close to wrecking itself in the process"

(Dr Alfred Price, Battle of Britain: The Hardest Day, 18 August 1940, London: Macdonald and Jane's, 1979. Pages 156-59).

19 August
The commander of the Luftwaffe, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, issues orders for renewed attacks upon RAF Fighter Command. In an attempt to reduce bomber losses, and falling aircrew morale, he orders stronger fighter escorts for Luftflotte 2's bombers, transferring fighters for this purpose from Luftflotte 3, the latter will place greater emphasis on night bombing. Göring further orders that Junkers Ju87 Stuka units, which had suffered heavily casualties when intercepted by the Royal Air Force, be conserved for the forthcoming invasion.

20 August
In a speech to the House of Commons, Prime Minister Winston Churchill says, "The gratitude of every home in our island, in our Empire and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen, who undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of 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."

21 August
The first Royal Air Force (RAF) unit established to support the activities of the Special Operations Executive and other clandestine operations dedicated to Special Duties operations, No.419 (Special Duties) Flight, is officially formed at RAF North Weald. The flight is subsequently redesignated No.1419 (Special Duties) Flight on 1 March 1941.

24 August
During the night Luftwaffe aircraft of Kampfgeschwader 1 (KG1) erroneously makes the first bombing attack on London due to a navigational error.

25 August
In retaliation for the previous night's attack on London, 81 Vickers Wellingtons, Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys and Handley Page Hampdens stage the first night attack by Royal Air Force aircraft on Berlin. Six Hampdens fail to return.

5 September
'Bromide' Radio Counter Measure (RCM) transmitters are first used to jam enemy 'Ruffian' beams, marking the effective start of electronic countermeasures.

7 September
The fourth phase of the Battle of Britain begins with an all-out onslaught by the Luftwaffe against London during the afternoon. Almost 1,000 Luftwaffe aircraft are despatched to raid the Capital and are engaged by twenty squadrons of RAF Fighter Command. forty German aircraft are lost, and a further fourteen damaged on operations. The defenders lose 28 aircraft.

The codeword Cromwell is released, bringing the United Kingdom's air, sea and land defences to the highest level of alert - an invasion is judged to be imminent.

RAF Bomber Command begins a concentrated bombing campaign on German landing barges and shipping being grouped in French ports for Operation Sealion - the planned invasion of the United Kingdom.

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