This Day in the Battle of Britain (2 Viewers)

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Njaco

The Pop-Tart Whisperer
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Feb 19, 2007
Southern New Jersey
In recognition of the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain, I'm starting a thread about the daily actions. I'll be starting this on the most accepted date of 10 July which is in a few days but before that I wanted to set the scene, so to speak by giving my sources, the combantants strengths, what machines were used and who were the heros of the battle. I understand that with a fluid battle its sometimes difficult to pinpoint a start or end to something but in this case it will be the 10th. There were numerous phases of which I will be going with the accepted 4 but when they started and ended is up to debate. I will be using the following:

10 July - 7 August - Channel convoy Attacks
8 August - 6 September - Attack of RAF Airfields
7 September - 30 September - London Bombed and Other cities
1 October - 31 October - Beginning of the Blitz

For this post I'm listing all my sources: books I have and several websites that I also gathered info. Below is the list along with authors and the ISBN number if anyone wants to look these books up.

"The Epic of Flight: The Luftwaffe" Time/Life Books 1982 ISBN 0-8094-3339-7
"The Epic of Flight: The RAF At War" Time/Life Books 1982 ISBN 0-8094-3293-5
"World War II: The Battle of Britain" by Leonard Mosley, Time/Life Books 1977 ISBN 76-45540
"The Narrow Margin" by Derek Wood Derek Dempster, Hutchinson and Company 1961 ISBN 0-85052-915-8
"The Battle of Britain" by Marcel Jullian, Grossman Publishers 1967 ISBN 67-12933
"Jagdwaffe: The Battle of Britain" by David Wadman Eddie J. Creek, Classic Publications 2001 ISBN 1-903223-05-9
"Defenders of the Reich: JG 1 1939-1942" by Eric Mombeek, Classic Publications 2001 ISBN 1-903223-01-6
"Bf 109 D/E Aces 1939-41" by John Weal, Osprey Press 1996 ISBN 1-855324-87-3
"The JG 26 War Diary: 1939-1942" by Donald Caldwell, Grub Street 1996 ISBN 1-898697-52-3
"JG 53: 'Pik As'" by John Weal Osprey Press 2007 ISBN 13-978-1-84603-204-2
"Luftwaffe Fighter Units: Europe 1939-41" by Jerry Scutts Osprey Press 1977 ISBN 0-89402-019-6
"German Bombers Over England" by Bryan Philpott, Patrick Stephens Limited 1978 ISBN 0-85059-339-5
"Hurricanes of the 40 Days" by Harold Calin, Belmont Productions 1968
"Duel of Eagles" by Peter Townsend, Simon Schuster 1971 ISBN 79-116510
"Eagle Day" by Richard Collier, Avon Books 1966 ISBN 66-19248
"Strike From the Sky" by Alexander McKee, Lancer Books 1960
"The Sky Suspended" by Drew Middleton, Pyramid Books 1960
"The Luftwaffe War Diaries" by Cajus Bekker, Ballantine Books 1964 ISBN 0-345-28799-1
"A History of the Luftwaffe" by John Killen, Berkley Medallion Books 1967 ISBN 425-01760-5
"Hitler's Luftwaffe" by Tony Wood and Bill Gunston, Crescent Books ISBN 0-517-22477-1
"Hitler's Stuka Squadrons" by John Ward, MBI Publishing 2004 ISBN 0-7603-1991-X
"The Hardest Day" by Dr. Alfred Price, Rigel Publications 1979 ISBN 1-898-80012-X
"The Luftwaffe Data Book" by Dr. Alfred Price, Greenhill Books 1977 ISBN 1-85367-293-9
"Finest Hour" by Tim Clayton and Phil Craig, Simon and Schuster 1999 ISBN 0-684-86930-6
"Spitfire vs Bf 109: Battle of Britain" by Tony Holmes, Osprey Press 2007 ISBN 978-1-84603-190-8

Battle of Britain
Battle of Britain aircraft losses
Bristol Past : Fishponds Local History Society
THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The Battle of Britain - Home Page
Hkans Flygsida - The Falco and Regia Aeronautica in the Battle of Britain
Luftwaffe Aces of the Battle of Britain
The timeline of the battle
World War 2 - No. 32 RAF Squadron, May/June 1940
www.wwiidaybyday.com
10 July 1940
Statistics of the Battle of Britain
Battle Losses
BoB: A German Perspective
Polish Air Force Operational Records
Daily Diary

I am also going to include pics that were either taken on the day in question or depict an event that happened on that day. There will also be maps to guide you through the battle as best as I can.

Above all I'm going to try to do my best to represent exactly what happened that day and hope no controversy erupts from this. :)

ADDITION
As a companion thread to this one, I would like to suggest that everyone check out Airframes "Bits and Pices" thread. Additional info can be gained from his work into the campaign.

Battle of Britain 'Bits Box'.

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and hope no controversy erupts from this. :)

I wish you the best of luck on that one:lol:

I am looking forward to this thread and hope to learn some new things about the period. I know a lot of historians now consider it to be only a minor battle in the grand scheme of things but I am still interested in how Britain kept on fighting when most sensible opinion was that defeat was inevitable.
 
Nice Chris but I doubt the 110 is of BoB vintage. It looks like a C-7 (bomb racks on the wings) with the large Wespe on the nose, common to the the Russian campaign.
 
Nice Chris but I doubt the 110 is of BoB vintage. It looks like a C-7 (bomb racks on the wings) with the large Wespe on the nose, common to the the Russian campaign.

You're right! I couldn't find a decent profile of the 110 so I used one as close to the battle as I could. Good catch!

Tried to make a map showing most of the fighter bases.
map102.jpg
 
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Great start Chris, and I've been looking forward to this ever since you first told me about it. It'll more than compliment the bits and pieces I'll be posting in the BoB thread in the Modelling Section - which I'm still trying to get together in a presentable fashion, without being too 'bulky' !
I should have some Bf110 profiles from the BoB, and other aircraft, if you need anything. I'll be posting the odd one or two of my own profiles in the other thread, so I'll liase with you, as already briefly discussed.
BTW, you've missed the top off the map, showing the more northern 13 Group airfields! Usworth and Catterick, although involved, were perhaps not so 'busy' as Acklington and Leuchars.
 

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