Drop Tanks over Dunkirk

Having to fight at lower altitudes to conserve fuel was also mentioned in the film

The RAF's mission was to establish air superiority, and deny the area to the enemy. To do so required that they engage the enemy, and so, the altitude of combat was established by the Luftwaffe, not fuel conservation factors. The Luftwaffe had their own problems what with their airfields being farther away than Fighter Command's bases.
 
The RAF's mission was to establish air superiority, and deny the area to the enemy. To do so required that they engage the enemy, and so, the altitude of combat was established by the Luftwaffe, not fuel conservation factors. The Luftwaffe had their own problems what with their airfields being farther away than Fighter Command's bases.

Thank you
 
The Myth that the RAF abandoned the Army and Navy at Dunkirk is deeply imbedded and has only in recent years been challenged by Historians. If he Air battle had taken place over the ships and beaches where the navy and army personnel could have seen it then the myth might have never started but if that had been the case then the RAF would have already failed in it's task. Air Vice Marshall Park was well aware that He did not have the resources to maintain air superiority over the perimeter held by the BEF at Dunkirk so he had to ration his cover to try and inflict the greatest losses on the Luftwaffe and disrupt their ability to attack the evacuation. IIRC Park himself flew over the Dunkirk perimeter several times to asses the effectiveness of his tactical plan and changed his dispositions and deployments accordingly.
 

Errolwi

Monthly Donor
This historian's (overall positive) review stresses that any aircraft over Dunkirk weren't visible most of the time due to extensive and thick cloud and smoke.
 

Archibald

Banned
The Myth that the RAF abandoned the Army and Navy at Dunkirk

Seriously ? I've heard that the RAF got its precious Spitfires over Dunkirk. Interestingly enough, there is a similar myth in France with the 1940 Armée de l'Air. It was a convenient scapegoat for the Armée de Terre.
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westland_Whirlwind_(fighter)
The Westland Whirlwind was a British twin-engined heavy fighter developed by Westland Aircraft. A contemporary of the Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane, it was the first single-seat, twin-engined, cannon-armed fighter of the Royal Air Force.

When it first flew in 1938, the Whirlwind was one of the fastest and most heavily armed combat aircraft in the world. Protracted development problems with its Rolls-Royce Peregrine engines delayed the project and few Whirlwinds were built. During the Second World War, only three RAF squadrons were equipped with the Whirlwind but despite its success as a fighter and ground attack aircraft, it was withdrawn from service in 1943.
There's also the Gloster F.9/37 Reaper.

From Wikipedia
Gloster F.9/37
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Gloster F.9/37

Gloster F.9/37
Role Heavy fighter
Manufacturer Gloster Aircraft Company
Designer George Carter
First flight 3 April 1939
Primary user Royal Air Force (intended)
Number built 2
The Gloster F.9/37, also known as the Gloster G.39, was a British twin-engined design from the Gloster Aircraft Company for a cannon-armed heavy fighter to serve with the Royal Air Force, planned before the Second World War. The F.9/37 was rejected in favour of other designs.

A development of the F.9/37 as a night fighter, for a new Air Ministry Specifications F.29/40 – known unofficially as the "Gloster Reaper" – was dropped so that Gloster would be able to concentrate on existing work and on the nascent British jet projects.



Contents
[1 Design and development


Design and development[edit]
Gloster had designed a twin-engined turret-fighter for specification F.34/35 but the single-engine design from Boulton Paul (Boulton Paul Defiant) for F.9/35 was seen to cover both requirements and the F.34/55 design dropped. Less than two years later, F.9/37 for a "twin-engined single-seat fighter with fixed armament" was issued.[1]

The F.9/37 was designed under the direction of W. G. Carter, his first for Gloster, to F.9/37 (hence the name) as a single-seat fighter carrying an armament of four 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns and two 20 mm Hispano cannon in the nose. Intended for dispersed production by semi-skilled labour, the structure broke down into sub-assemblies.[2]

A prototype (military serial number L7999) with 1,060 hp Bristol Taurus T-S(a) radial engines flew on 3 April 1939,[3] and demonstrated excellent performance, its maximum speed of 360 mph (580 km/h) being the best recorded by a British fighter at the time.[3] Test flights revealed that the prototype was very manoeuvrable and "a delight to fly."[4] However, after being badly damaged in a landing accident in July 1939, it was re-engined with 900 hp Taurus T-S(a)-IIIs in 1940, which resulted in reduced performance. A second prototype (L8002) with 880 hp Rolls-Royce Peregrine I liquid-cooled inline engines flew on 22 February 1940;[3] it proved capable of 330 mph (530 km/h) at 15,000 ft (4,570 m).[5]

F.18/40 and F.29/40[edit]
Specification F.18/40, for a dedicated night fighter, with both nose- and turret-mounted guns, led to Gloster submitting a design based on the F.9/37, fitted with Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, a dorsal four-gun turret and Airborne Interception (AI) radar.[6] This received support from the Air Staff who saw it as superior to the Bristol Beaufighter and the Air Ministry ordered one of the F.9/37 prototypes to be converted to the new specification as F.29/40.[7]

Unofficially known as the "Gloster Reaper", it inherited the admirable handling characteristics of the F.9/37, and despite being judged superior to other designs, including turreted variants of the Beaufighter and de Havilland Mosquito, the Reaper was terminated[7] in May 1941, so that Gloster could concentrate on other work, especially its work on jet aircraft.

Specifications (L7999 with Taurus engine)[edit]
Data from The British Fighter since 1912[3]Gloster Aircraft since 1917[8]

General characteristics

  • Crew: one
  • Length: 37 ft ½ in (11.29 m)
  • Wingspan: 50 ft ½ in (15.26 m)
  • Height: 11 ft 7 in (3.53 m)
  • Wing area: 386 ft² (35.9 m²)
  • Empty weight: 8,828 lb (4,013 kg)
  • Loaded weight: 11,615 lb (5,280 kg)
  • Powerplant: 2 × Bristol Taurus T-S(a) 14 cylinder radial engine, 1,000 hp (746 kW) each
  • Propellers: 3-bladed metal Rotol variable pitch [8] propeller, 1 per engine
    • Propeller diameter: 10 ft (3.04 m)
Performance

Armament

 
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