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Originally Posted by Dutch_851
The only reason Stuka losses were that low is because they were withdrawn from the Battle after being knocked down like proverbial flies on I think only two occasions. Similar reason for 'only' 229 Bf110's, as they weren't up to the job of a dedicated fighter, compared to 533 Bf109's, which were shot down by the terribly inferior Spitfires and Hurricanes with their so tiny as to be insignificant .303 'peashooters'.
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dude, do not insist on this aspect: the Germans shot down some 601 Hurricanes and 357 Spitfires (which makes a total of 958 planes more or less). So, despite the tactical advantage of flying over its own territory, the RAF lost almost twice the number of fighters that the Germans did.. even if they lost the same number of planes it would have been a tactical failure for the RAF, considering their territorial advantage.
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However, most comparisons of losses tend to be inaccurate, as people rarely count overall losses on the British side. If we count total losses on both sides, including British bomber losses, the statistics become closer again.
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in addition to the aforementioned fighters, the RAF lost some 53 Blenheims and 76 other planes. Statistics are more accurate nowadays, the Luftwaffe lost circa 1600 planes, the RAF circa 1000.
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I can't agree with the 'when Fighter Command was on its knees' bit though. This is another propaganda ploy. Fighter Command was never 'on its knees' as evidenced by the deployment of the 'Big Wings' from 12 Group on Sept 15th, and the massive psychological impact this had on the German crews. This was when they discovered they'd been getting nowhere, and the RAF was as strong as ever, contrary to their intelligence reports. At no point was any airfield out of commission for more than a day, although one airfield was abandoned as it was too close to France for the aircraft to get to altitude.
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there were not enough pilots man, that is a known fact. The truth is that if the Fighter Command didn't get a break they would have found very hard to keep their planes in the air, simply because the pilot syllabus wasn't fast enough.
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At the end of the Battle, Fighter Command had more available fighters and pilots than at the start. It was Park's tactic of sending them up squadron by squadron in rotation that gave the impression of small numbers. This tactic gave the RAF a highly 'target rich' environment to fight in.
The Luftwaffe certainly weren't as strong at the end as they were at the beginning, as their manufacturing and training output couldn't keep pace with their losses. Britain out-produced Germany in both these areas.
The fact that British aircraft were easier to fly well probably also helped in speeding up delivery of pilots to the front.
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This is a common misconception: the Germans had already committed a huge number of planes for the Battle of Britain, they started it with the intended number of planes that they wanted, and then had to concentrate their resources on other industrial productions, hence the lower number of planes produced during the Battle of Britain; the British had to change pace and start building planes to catch up with the war. The numbers of planes produced per se doesn't really give any valuable perspective to the battle.
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It's impossible to 'overrate' Dowding, or Park for that matter.
Dowding devised the most comprehensive and efficient air defence network in the world.
Park put it to excellent use. Its principles are still in use today.
As it happens, Park then went on to face Kesselring again in Malta, and he beat him there too.
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I haven't put Dowding and Park on the same level: the former was an old fashioned but charismatic leader who gained popularity with the Battle of Britain (but bear in mind that his "brilliant intuition" was a simple consequence of the entry in service of the Radar system), and unfortunately he wasn't as successful when it came to night fighting issues.. Park was indeed a brilliant tactician, and IMHO is the man that made a real difference in the development of the RAF.