Richard Overy: The Battle of Britain

Table 1: PRO AIR 22/296, ‘Personnel: Casualties, Strength and Establishment of the RAF’.

Table 2: C. Webster and N. Frankland, The Strategic Air Offensive against Germany (4 vols, London, 1961), vol. 4, p. 501; W. Murray, Luftwaffe: Strategy for Defeat 1933–1945 (London, 1985), p. 54. For September, Webster and Frankland give a figure of 688 operational pilots.

Adlertagy 57–8

Advanced Air Striking Force, 6–7

air fleets see German air fleets

air intelligence

American, 115

British, 38, 105

German, 70, 72–3, 96, 113–14

Air Ministry (British), 3, 14, 31–2, 38, 46, 61, 64, 70, 76, 110, 118–19

air raids see bombing; Blitz

aircraft

British: Avro Lancaster, 54;

Boulton-Paul Defiant, 35;

Bristol Beaufighter 35, 95;

Bristol Blenheim, 7, 35, 44, 95; Hawker Hurricane, 7–8, 34–7, 52, 71, 73, 85–6, 145–7; Vickers Supermarine Spitfire, 8, 35–7, 52, 71, 73, 85–6, 97, 145–7

German: Dornier 17, 54; Heinkel He 111, 53–4; Heinkel He 113 (118), 53; Junkers Ju 87B, 53, 72; Junkers Ju 88A–1, 54; Messerschmitt Me 109 (Bf 109), 47, 50, 52, 97, 109, 111; Messerschmitt Me 110 (Bf 110), 53

Soviet: I 16 fighter, 35

aircraft production, 33–4, 50–51, 114–16, 145

Alexander, Harold, General, 117

Anti-Aircraft Command, 42–3

antisemitism, 92

Atlantic Ocean, 14, 87

Attlee, Clement, 105

Australia, 15

Bader, Douglas, Wing-Commander, 85

Balbo, Italo, 85

Baltic states, 22

Battle of the Atlantic, 107–8

Battle of Britain Day, 86

Battle of Britain Despatch, 119

Battle of Britain pamphlet, 118–19

Beaverbrook, Lord 118

Beaverbrook, Lord, 33–5

Bechtle, Otto, 61

Belgium, 48

Bentley Priory (Fighter Command HQ), 39–40

Berlin, 18, 21, 56–7, 78–83, 109

Bern, 18

Bessarabia, 22

‘Big Wings’, 85–6

Biggin Hill, 69

Birmingham, 79

Blitz, 66, 89–98, 106, 119, 121

blockade, 17, 23, 56, 63, 107–8

Blumentritt, Günther von, General, 108–9

Bomber Command, 4–7, 44–5, 63–6, 74–5, 78–81

bombing, 4, 55, 63–6, 79–82, 86–96, 104–5

Brand, Quintin, Air Vice Marshall, 39

Bristol, 79

Britain, 6–7, 14–23, 32, 34, 38, 50–51, 62, 78, 88–90, 98, 103–9, 120–22

British Army, 108

Brittany, 47

Brooke, Sir Alan, General, 44

Budapest, 105–6

Butler, R. Α., 11

Buxton, Charles Roden, 11

Cadogan, Sir Alexander, 12

Cambridge, 105

Canada, 15, 34, 113

Carinhall, 56–7

Chain Home radar stations, 40–41, 71–2

Chamberlain, Neville, 3–6, 9–10

Charlton, L. E. O., 89

Cheadle, 42

Chigwell, 83

China, 120

Churchill, Winston, xiii, 9–12, 16, 18, 29, 31, 38–9, 46, 74–6, 98, 103–6, 117–20

Ciano, Galeazzo, Count, 19–20

Clark, Kenneth, 14, 120–21

Coastal Command, 63, 65

Command of the Air , 97–8

Condor Legion, 48

Conservative Party, 10

Cooper, Duff, 43–4

Cornwall, 66

Coronation Chair, 10

Cowles, Virginia 15, 75

Crayford, 83

Cripps, Sir Stafford, 18, 35

CROMWELL, 93

Croydon, 83, 90

Czech crisis, 3

Daily Express , 94

Danzig, xii

Dean, Sir Maurice, 29

Devon, 66

Douglas, Sholto, Air Marshall, 118

Douhet, Giulio, General, 97–8

Dover, 72

Dowding, Sir Hugh, Air Chief Marshall, 8, 30–31, 37, 49, 61–2, 65, 76–7, 81, 86, 110–12, 118–19

Dublin, 18

Dulwich, 83

Dunkirk (Kent), 72

Dunkirk evacuation, 8–9, 15

Duxford, 86

Economic Warfare Ministry, 116

Egypt, xi, 104

Eire see Ireland

El Alamein, Battle of, xi

‘England-Committee’, 98

English Channel, 16, 27, 42, 55, 62–4, 67, 86

‘Enigma’, 42, 93, 115

Farnborough, 62

Fighter Command, 8, 30–48, 54–7, 64–5, 71–9, 83–6, 93–7, 106–18

operational strength, 32, 72–3, 112, 114, 116, 146

10 Group, 32, 71, 84

11 Group, 31, 67, 71, 74–7, 84

12 Group, 32, 71, 74, 84–6

13 Group, 32, 74

First World War, 29–30, 51, 113

France, 6–9, 12, 15–18, 21, 47–8, 55, 69, 77, 104, 117

Franco, Francisco, General, 87, 107

Galland, Adolf, 109–10

gas masks, 4

German air fleets, 48

German Air Force, 4, 27–8, 33, 42–55, 64–8, 75–9, 83, 86, 88, 98, 103–4, 114–17

operational strength, 32–3, 72–3, 116

German Army, 17, 22, 49, 108

German Foreign Office, 17, 98

German Navy, 16–17, 63, 88, 108

German-Soviet Pact (1939), 11

Germany, 14–17, 22, 33, 45, 47, 51–4, 64, 87–8, 95, 103, 120

Glasgow, 43

Goebbels, Joseph, 16, 19, 56–7, 80–82, 98–9

Goering, Hermann, Reich Marshal, 19–20, 28–9, 50–51, 56–7, 68, 73, 79, 84, 89, 114

Groups see Fighter Command

Halder, Franz, General, 16

Halifax, Lord, 9–12, 20–21

Harrogate Programme, 33

Hart, Basil Liddell, 11

Harwich, 62

Hawker Aircraft Company, 37

Hawkinge, 69

Heinkel, Ernst, 53

Hendon, 83

Hendon Air Show, 89

Hitler, Adolf, 9–22, 27, 50, 56–7, 78, 87–9, 99, 107–10, 122

Home Intelligence (British), 10–13, 90–95

Hook of Holland, 63

Ilford, 83

India, 15, 30

Information Ministry, 14, 94–5, 106, 120–21

invasion, 16–19, 68, 87–8, 92–4, 106–9

Ireland, 13, 46–7

Irish Republican Army (IRA), 14, 46

Isle of Wight, 19, 72

Italian Navy, 104

Italy, 34, 74, 87, 94–5, 103, 107

Japan, 104, 120, 122

Jeschonnek, Hans, General, 89

Jodl, Alfred, General, 109

Joint Intelligence Committee (British), 13, 92

Kent, 47, 68–9

Kesselring, Albert, Field Marshall, 48–9, 57, 111

King’s Lynn, 57

Kosovo, 89

Kroll Opera House, 19

Labour Party, 10, 105

Langdon-Davies, John, 90–92

Leicester, 57

Leigh-Mallory, Trafford, Air Vice-Marshall, 32, 85

Liberal Party, 10, 29

Liège, 45

‘Linatex’, 37

Liverpool, 43, 62, 79

Lloyd-George, David, 9, 11

Local Defence Volunteers, 121

London, 7, 35, 43, 47, 55, 78–87, 90–95, 98, 117

losses, 72–3, 86–7, 96, 116–19, 147

Lufthansa, 51

Lympne, 69–70

Manchuria, 122

Manston, 69–70

Mediterranean, 87, 104, 107

Middle East, 34–5

Milch, Erhard, Field Marshall, 51

Mill Hill, 83

Ministry see under Ministry title

Moscow, 35, 121

Mussolini, Benito, 87, 107

Netherlands, 48

‘New Order’, 21

New Zealand, 15

Newall, Sir Cyril, Air Chief Marshall, 30–31, 34, 49, 118

Newcastle, 62

Nicolson, Harold, 75, 103, 105

Normandy, Battle of, xi, 109

Norway, 47

Observer Corps, 40–41

Old Kent Road, 83

Olympia, 39

Operation Barbarossa, 22

Operation Sealion, 19, 22, 27, 56, 79, 87–9, 108–9

Operational Training Units, 73–4