The Battle of Britain: Their Finest Hour

Between July and October 1940, the Royal Air Force fought the Luftwaffe in the skies over southern England in a battle that would determine whether Hitler could invade Britain. It was the first major military campaign fought entirely by air forces, and its outcome changed the course of the war.

The RAF's Fighter Command, led by Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding, had approximately 700 operational fighters—mostly Spitfires and Hurricanes—to defend against a Luftwaffe force of over 2,500 aircraft. The odds seemed overwhelming, but Dowding's innovative use of radar, the Observer Corps, and a centralised command-and-control system allowed him to deploy his outnumbered fighters with maximum efficiency.

The battle reached its climax on 15 September 1940—now commemorated as Battle of Britain Day—when the RAF inflicted devastating losses on the Luftwaffe. Two days later, Hitler postponed Operation Sea Lion, the planned invasion of Britain, indefinitely. Churchill's tribute to the fighter pilots—'Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few'—became one of the most famous phrases of the war.