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VE Day 60 Years: Battle For The Skies - The Air Force In World War Two
By Graham Spicer
15/04/2005
The Hawker Hurricane was one of the RAF's main fighter aircraft during the Battle of Britain. © Kent Battle of Britain Museum
Allied air power was instrumental in winning the Second World War, and the UK has many aviation museums and collections that help to tell the story of the war in the air.
After Hitler’s blitzkrieg brought much of Europe to its knees he prepared for the invasion of Britain, and the struggle for air superiority in the ensuing Battle of Britain is regarded as the RAF’s finest hour. There are several permanent displays dedicated to these pivotal months from August to October 1940.
The Kent Battle of Britain Museum at the Hawkinge airfield houses the largest collection of Battle of Britain artefacts on show in the country including a display of Hawker Hurricane fighter aircraft.
Planes that helped to win the war. Three famous aircraft from WWII - the Lancaster bomber and the Spitfire and Hurricane fighters of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.
The legendary Supermarine Spitfire is perhaps the most famous fighter plane of all time and Glasgow Museum of Transport has the best-restored Spitfire in the UK. There are plans to move it to Glasgow’s Kelvingrove museum in early 2006.
There are only a few original World War Two aircraft still flying, and the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight is one of the best ways to see them, with its restored Spitfires, Hurricanes, and one of only two airworthy Lancaster bombers still in existence. Its visitor centre looks at the story behind the aircraft.
Just 2,945 RAF men were recognised as participants in the Battle of Britain. These are the ‘few’ Churchill referred to in his famous speech: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” There are several memorials to these, one is at Capel-le-Ferne in Folkstone.
Image: Shows a photograph of a world war two aircraft with RAF insignia in a hangar
Tangmere Aviation Museum in Sussex. Photo courtesy Tangmere Aviation Museum.
The Imperial War museum’s sites in London and Duxford have permanent exhibitions on the Battle of Britain and the Blitz that followed, with sustained bombing across the country until May 1941. They look at the machines involved, the ‘few’ who flew and crewed them and how the people of Britain coped under the bombing of their cities and homes.
Tangmere Aviation Museum’s Battle of Britain Hall in Sussex and the RAF Museum at Hendon’s Our Finest Hour exhibition also chart the course of these dramatic days.
For a more detailed look at the fight for British skies, go to our Battle of Britain Trail
Scramble! Spitfire pilots from RAF Duxford leap into action. Courtsey Imperial War Museum
Before the start of the Second World War it was argued that bombing would be instrumental in winning a major conflict. ‘Experts’ predicted that wars would be resolved in days or weeks through the power of massive bombing campaigns. At the outbreak of war, however, neither the RAF nor the Luftwaffe had the equipment or expertise to do so, despite frequent British sorties into enemy territory.
The experience of the Blitz proved that Hitler had quickly built up his air power, and demonstrated how devastating bombing had become. Once Sir Athur ‘Bomber’ Harris had assumed control of Bomber Command he insisted that we could take the war to Hitler and that it could be won from the air.
The RAF’s strength was built up to a point where, in 1943, Allied forces dropped more than 225,000 tons of bombs on European targets, one hundred times more than German bombing of the UK. Britain and the USA built some 38,000 bombers that year and used their power to break both physical targets and the morale of the German people.
Barnes Wallis, centre, inventor of the bouncing bomb that was developed to destroy the dams of Germany's Ruhr Valley. © RAF Museum Hendon
The Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum at RAF Flixton is home to the Bomber Command Museum and also takes a look at the role of the American airmen and squadrons who helped to eventually dominate the skies over Europe.
The most famous bombing mission of the war has to be the daring ‘Dambusters’ raid with its bouncing bombs. Lancaster bombers of 617 Squadron set off from RAF Scampton on the night of May 16/17 1943 to destroy German dams of the Ruhr using a bomb that would bounce across the water to reach the dams. Only 11 of the 19 crews returned after the Eder and Mohne dams had been breached. You can find out more detail about the Dambusters Raid at the National Archives Dambusters Site
Yorkshire Air Museum’s Barnes Wallis Collection explores the contribution the bomb’s inventor had to the war effort. It also take a look at the role of the Air Gunner on bombing missions, showing how dangerous this position was, where life expectancy was measured in weeks. The RAF Museum also has a ‘virtual exhibit’ on the {Dambuster raids| on their website.
Image: Shows a black and white photo of an airfield from World War Two
The base that launched the 'Carpetbagger' missions as it was.
The Dambusters used the famous Lancaster Bomber and Lincolnshire’s Heritage Aviation Centre displays ‘Just Jane’, a fully restored example of the aircraft that helped extend the range of bombing missions deep into Nazi territory.
As the Allies prepared to invade occupied Europe, a secret war was afoot. Agents and supplies were delivered to the resistance in thousands of covert and highly dangerous missions. These were known as the Carpetbagger Missions and you can learn more about them at the Carpetbagger Aviation Museum in Harrington, Northamptonshire.
To find out more about the secret history of the airforce click here.
Image: Shows a colour photo of a Halifax bomber, on the ground, just outside of a hangar building
Long range attacks, using aircraft like the Halifax, was championed by Bomber Command's chief Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris. Photo courtesy Yorkshire Air Museum
Britain’s air power was not confined to the RAF, however. The warplanes operating from aircraft carriers were under the command of the Fleet Air Arm. They helped to support the operations including the Battle of the Atlantic, where the navy defended vital supply convoys from attack, and in the Far East, where Allied forces fought the Japanese. Their story is told at the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Yeovil, Somerset.
By the end of the war, new technology had dramatically changed air combat – new aircraft were developed, the radar had been successfully used, and the stage was set for the ascendancy of the jet plane. The Royal Air Force Air Defence Museum shows the development of radar from 1935 and the use of this vital piece of equipment.
Visit the main 24 Hour Museum VE Day index page to find out about Their Past Your Future Events and to explore World War Two-related resources - including trails, features, news and reviews.
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Information published here was believed to be correct at the time it was prepared. Welsh language pages developed with CYMAL: Museums Archives and Libraries Wales, funded by the Welsh Assembly Government.