Figure 1.--Here we see a downed He-111. The girl have a small piece and seem to be looking up which bomber it was. The He-111 had a bomb load of 4,400 lb. Other German bombers had smaller bomb loads. In comparison, the American B-17 could deliver 8,000 lb on short missions like those of the Battle of Britain. Thus the Luftwaffe required more pilots per pound of bombs delivered than the Americans and British. One would think that the country bombing another country would have the advantage in an air war because they could destroy the enemy air bases and factories. This was the Luftwaffe strategy and they had some success in damaging 11 Groups air fields, but hardly touched Britain's aircraft factories. What the Luftwaffe did not calculate, however, was the loss of pilots, perhaps because the French turned captured airmen over to them. British pilots who bailed out were commonly back in the fight in a day or so. German aircrews who were shot down were lost to the war effort for good. This was particularly important because the primary British problem was the lack of experienced pilots. The loss of air crews would affect the Luftwaffe's ability to continue bombing Britain and to provide air support in the much larger battlefront of the Eastern Front which Hitler opened in 1941.

The Lufwaffe with all its strengths had serious weaknesses. It was conceived as a tactical air force and was not equipped for a strategic bombing campaign, especially one at substantial distances from their bases. The German air offensive was to be conducted with two engine medium bombers that proved highly effective in short range tactical operations, but were not well suited for long-range strategic bombing. They had no strategic bomber fleet with the ability to strike in force throughout Britain. The Me-109 was a superb fighter. But much of itsearly successwas in facing obselete aircraft and tactics. The British Spitfire was the first oposing fighter of comparable capabilities. And the RAF was thefirst time the Luftwaffe faced an opponent with an integrated air defense. It was over Britain that the inadequacies of the Luftwaffe first became apparent. The Me-109 was one of the superb fighters of the War. The major problem over Britain washowit was used. Its major disadvantage was its limited range which meant that over England it had only minutes of combat to protect the bombers. Over Kent this was manageable, but further north the fighters could not stay with the bombers very long and north of London fighter escorts were ot possible. And it was in the industrial Midlands north of industry when British industry was located. No matter how good the Me-109 was, it was valuless after it had to wihdraw across the Channel. The greatest problem for the Germans, however, was the chief of the Luftwaffe was incompetent, not stupid but incompetent. G�rimg was more concerned with maintaing his relationship with Hitler than listening to his knowledgeable commanders. And not fully understood at the onset of the Battle was that their bombers were totally unsuited for the campaign. All four were not only slow, but carried only small bomb loads. And most importantly they were vulnerable to the British fighters. Lufwaffe bombers had 6-7 hours of fuel bringing most British cities within range. Luftwaffe fighters, however, could only cover the bombers raiding southern England and not beyond London. And even then they only had fuel for a few minutes of aerial combat. Another problem was that the German planes were beautifully engineered, but were complicated and required extensive maintenance. This meant that the Luftwaffe was unable to strike with the full force, especially after the opening raids.

Created: 10:02 PM 1/25/2019
Last updated: 10:02 PM 1/25/2019