backstab
Banned
Barry Curran said:The RAF had a number of advantages over the Luftwaffe. Firstly, it was backed by an air defence system ( radar, the Observer Corps, the plotting rooms etc) well equipped for winning a defensive air battle. Secondly, as I pointed out in earlier post, the RAF had excellent leadership in the form of Dowding and Keith Park who, as I also pointed, out gave the Luftwaffe another beating in 1942 when he took over Malta's air defences.
The RAF achieved an overall kill ratio during the battle of 1.8:1 , so the narrow margin was actually wider than many peolpe think. It also worth noting that when the Luftwaffe intensified its efforts during the battle, the kill ratio remained in favour of the RAF or was even. For example:
11/08/40 RAF losses 17 Luftwaffe losses 20 RAF's kill ratio 1.2:1
30/08/40 RAF losses 23 Luftwaffe losses 23 RAF's kill ratio 1:1
15/09/40 RAF losses 28 Luftwaffe losses 56 RAF's kill ratio 2:1
So increasing its efforts in the air led to even heavier losses for the Germans.
As for taking out airfields, even at the height of the Battle, the only Sector Station to go down was Biggin Hill and that remained non-operational for a few hours only. Even if the Luftwaffe had concentrated more of its efforts against the airfields, the difficulty of knocking these out for a significant period of time has to be taken into account plus the losses incurred in doing so( see kill ratio data above).
Turning to the threat against the radar network, the Germans only enjoyed limited success in taking these out, partly because of the difficulty involved in doing so and partly because the Germans did not concentrate their effort to destroy radar stations to any great degree. Even if they did, the British had mobile radar and would have been able to improvise repairs as they did during the Battle. Moreover, the RAF would have devised strategies to cope with gaps in the radar coverage because they had winners in the form of Dowding and Keith Park.
Taking all of the above into consideration, a Luftwaffe victory over the RAF is just too far-fetched for a serious debate,
Still dont think your right. Luck played more part than the skills Dowding and Keith Park ( Dont forget in malta they were fighting the incompetent Italians). The Germans were also hamstrung by Goering. Cut the deadwood and things would have gone better. I do not beleive in any case that the Germans could of pulled off Sea Lion but they could have smashed the RAF.