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The Battle of Britain, 1940: the few

World War II · July to October 1940 · RAF vs the Luftwaffe · ~7 min read · Updated October 2026

Next anniversary: 10 July 2027, the 87th anniversary of the start 10 July in history ›

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Paul Nash's 1941 painting Battle of Britain, with swirling fighter contrails and smoke above a river estuary and the coast

Paul Nash, 1941, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain (UK Crown copyright expired).

At a glance

Britain (RAF)Hugh Dowding
vs
Germany (Luftwaffe)Hermann Göring
Date
July-October 1940
Location
England, United Kingdom
Period
World War II
Outcome
RAF victory; Germany abandons the invasion plan
By the numbers
SideAircraftAircraft lostAircrew killed
Britain (RAF)~2,937 to 2,945 Fighter Command aircrew (~1,960 serviceable RAF aircraft)~966 aircrew: 544 Fighter Command killed and 422 RAF wounded (~1,744 RAF aircraft lost, ~1,087 of them Fighter Command)~544 Fighter Command aircrew (~1,542 in all RAF commands)
Germany (Luftwaffe)aircrew unknown (~2,550 serviceable aircraft)~4,245 aircrew (~1,977 aircraft lost, incl. 343 non-combat)~2,585 aircrew

Rounded historical estimates, counted in aircrew; aircraft figures in brackets. Fighter Command flew 2,937 aircrew, “the Few,” by the count of the Battle of Britain Monument in London (2,945 by the RAF's), of whom 544 were killed; the RAF lists 422 aircrew wounded, and all RAF commands together lost 1,542 aircrew killed. Luftwaffe aircrew losses: 2,585 killed, 735 wounded and 925 captured.

Balance of forces

Britain (RAF)~1,960
Germany (Luftwaffe)~2,550

Approximate serviceable aircraft; estimates vary.

Quick answer

Who won the Battle of Britain?

Britain's Royal Air Force won the Battle of Britain between July and October 1940, denying Germany the air superiority it needed to invade. The Air Ministry's account of 1941 said that nothing like it had ever been fought before in the history of mankind, and Germany's failure to destroy RAF Fighter Command forced Hitler to postpone, and finally abandon, the planned invasion.1

In the summer and autumn of 1940, with France fallen and Britain standing alone, a battle that the Air Ministry's 1941 account called the first decisive encounter between Britain and Germany, fought in the air, was decided over the fields of southern England. To invade, Germany first had to destroy the Royal Air Force. It never could.2

Britain alone

In June 1940 the British Expeditionary Force escaped from Dunkirk, and France sued for peace. On 18 June Winston Churchill told Parliament that the Battle of France was over and "the Battle of Britain is about to begin," asking the country to fight so that men would still say: "This was their finest hour." Hitler had expected Britain to seek terms. When it refused, he hesitated, and only on 16 July did he order preparations for an invasion, code-named Operation Sea Lion, to be ready by mid-August.3

The German army had no landing craft and no training for a seaborne assault, and the navy feared what the Royal Navy would do to a fleet of river barges in the Channel. Everything was therefore handed to the Luftwaffe. Hermann Göring promised that his aircraft would drive the RAF from the sky and keep the British fleet away, and the invasion was put off until the air battle was won.4

Dark locator map with a gold star in a glowing circle marking the approximate center of the fighting of the Battle of Britain, the coasts, rivers and lakes of the region, and a small world map inset with the area boxed
The Battle of Britain: the star marks the approximate center of the fighting, and the inset shows the area on a world map. Drawn for this article from Natural Earth data, with no modern borders. Location map: © Echoes of Battle (data: Natural Earth, public domain)

The two air forces

By 1940 the Luftwaffe was the largest and most formidable air force in the world. Three air fleets were ranged in an arc from Norway to the Cherbourg peninsula, with about 1,300 bombers and dive bombers, some 900 single-engine and 300 twin-engine fighters; the RAF puts the number of German aircraft available at its peak at 2,550. Against them Fighter Command had slightly more than 600 frontline fighters at the start, and at most 749. Its weapons were the sturdy Hawker Hurricane, used mainly against the bombers, and the faster Supermarine Spitfire, kept as far as possible for the German fighter escorts.5

The German machines had weaknesses that were not obvious at first. The twin-engine Heinkel and Junkers bombers carried too small a load to strike decisive blows and were vulnerable by day; the Ju 87 Stuka dive bomber was even easier to shoot down; and the superb Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter was flying at the edge of its range and could stay over England for only a short time.6

Spitfire Mark I fighters of No. 610 Squadron flying in vic formation on 24 July 1940, during the Battle of Britain
Spitfire Mark I fighters of No. 610 Squadron, based at Biggin Hill, flying in vic formation on 24 July 1940, during the Battle of Britain. RAF official photograph. Public domain

The system behind the pilots

Britain's hidden advantage was organization. Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, head of Fighter Command since it was formed in July 1936, had built what became known as the Dowding System. A chain of coastal radar stations, Chain Home, gave early warning of every raid; inland, the Observer Corps, tens of thousands of volunteers manning about 1,000 posts, tracked the raiders by eye and ear.7

Black and white portrait of a gaunt senior RAF officer with a mustache, peaked cap with gold braid and pilot's wings on his tunic
Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, Commander in Chief of RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain. Ministry of Information photograph, Imperial War Museums D 1417. Ministry of Information official photographer, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain (Crown copyright expired)

The reports flowed to the Filter Room at Fighter Command headquarters at Bentley Priory, then to the headquarters of the four groups, and on to the sector stations, whose controllers scrambled the fighters and guided them by radio onto the enemy. Women of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force worked as radar operators and as plotters, moving markers across the map tables. The system meant that scarce squadrons were sent to the right place at the right height, instead of wearing themselves out on standing patrols.8

RAF officers with headsets and telephones at control desks in the Sector G Operations Room at RAF Duxford, September 1940, with a map table in the foreground
The Sector G Operations Room at RAF Duxford in September 1940, where controllers directed the sector's fighters onto incoming raids. Photograph by Stanley Devon, Imperial War Museums CH 1401. Stanley Devon, RAF official photographer, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain (Crown copyright expired)

The Channel battles

The fighting began on 10 July, the date usually taken as the opening of the battle, with German bombers attacking convoys in the Channel and the southern ports. For a month the Luftwaffe tried to draw Fighter Command into battle over the sea. On 13 August came the main offensive, Adlerangriff or Eagle Attack, aimed at airfields, radar stations and aircraft factories in the south-east. By late August, according to Britannica, the Luftwaffe had lost more than 600 aircraft and the RAF about 260.9

On 20 August, with the battle at its height, Churchill told the House of Commons: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." The words gave the pilots their name: the Few.10

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.11

The crisis

In the last week of August and the first week of September the Germans threw everything at Fighter Command. The airfields of No. 11 Group, which defended London and the south-east under the New Zealander Keith Park, were heavily damaged, though most stayed in operation, and 31 August was Fighter Command's worst day of the battle. It was losing fighters and, above all, experienced pilots faster than it could replace them. Yet the Luftwaffe overestimated the damage it was doing and wrongly concluded that the RAF was nearly finished.12

The switch to London

At the beginning of September a few German bombs fell, apparently by accident, on London, and the RAF retaliated by bombing Berlin. Hitler, furious, ordered the Luftwaffe to turn on London and other cities. The first mass raid came on 7 September, and London was bombed on 57 consecutive nights. For Londoners it was the start of the Blitz; for Fighter Command it was a reprieve, because the airfields of 11 Group had time to recover.13

Aerial view of a German Heinkel He 111 bomber flying over the docks of Wapping and the bend of the Thames in East London, 7 September 1940
A German Heinkel He 111 bomber over Wapping and the bend of the Thames in East London on 7 September 1940, the first day of the mass raids on the capital. Photograph taken by a Luftwaffe crew. Public domain

15 September

On Sunday 15 September the Luftwaffe launched another massive assault over the south-east, expecting to finish off the RAF. Instead Fighter Command met them in strength, and the Germans lost about 60 aircraft, 16 of them credited to No. 303 Squadron, according to the Institute of National Remembrance. Losses on that scale could not be sustained, and it was now clear that the Luftwaffe could not win control of the air. In 1943 King George VI made 15 September Battle of Britain Day, and it is still marked every year.14

Hitler had already postponed the invasion once, on 3 September, to 21 September. Now he put it off indefinitely: on 19 September he ordered the shipping gathered in the Channel ports to be dispersed, and on 12 October he called Operation Sea Lion off for the winter. The Luftwaffe turned more and more to bombing cities at night. The daylight fighting wound down through October; the last raids on London counted as part of the battle came on 6 and 8 October.15

The Few

Nearly 3,000 RAF aircrew flew in the battle. The RAF's own count is 2,945; the Battle of Britain Monument in London counts 2,937 British and Allied airmen awarded the Battle of Britain clasp for at least one authorised sortie with Fighter Command between 10 July and 31 October 1940. Most were British, but Fighter Command was an international force, with men from New Zealand, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Rhodesia, Belgium, France, Poland and Czechoslovakia, and even a few from the neutral United States and Ireland. Of the Few, 544 were killed; another 312 RAF personnel died on the ground. Only one pilot of Fighter Command, James Nicolson, won the Victoria Cross in the whole war, for a fight near Southampton in August 1940.16

The Poles were the largest foreign contingent. Two Polish fighter squadrons, Nos. 302 and 303, were formed in the summer of 1940, and 144 Polish pilots fought in the battle, 29 of whom were killed. No. 303 Squadron became operational only on 31 August, yet it became Fighter Command's highest-claiming squadron, with 126 victories, and its Czech pilot Josef František, with 17, was among the top ten scorers of the battle, the Institute of National Remembrance notes.17 › Witold Urbanowicz

A group of airmen in flying jackets and life vests walking across grass from a Hurricane fighter
Pilots of No. 303 (Polish) Squadron walk back from a Hawker Hurricane, October 1940. Official RAF photograph by Stanley Devon. Public domain

Behind them stood the Many: ground crews who rearmed and repaired the fighters, factory workers who kept up production, anti-aircraft gunners, searchlight and balloon crews, and the volunteers of the Home Guard. British factories outproduced German ones, and that, as much as the pilots, allowed Fighter Command to absorb its losses.18

Why Operation Sea Lion never came

The victory's most concrete result was a landing that never happened. The Luftwaffe was dealt a blow from which it never fully recovered, and Germany's war against Britain became a blockade by submarine, while Hitler turned east toward the Soviet Union.19 › The Dunkirk Evacuation, 1940

The battle did not win the war, but it made winning possible. Britain stayed in the fight, and four years later the Allied invasion of occupied Europe was launched from its shores.20 › D-Day, 1944

Map of southern Britain and northern France showing RAF groups, Luftwaffe bases and radar range
The Battle of Britain in 1940: RAF Fighter Command group boundaries and airfields, Luftwaffe fighter and bomber bases across the Channel, and the reach of British radar cover. Public domain

Memory

Battle of Britain Day is still marked each September, including a service at Westminster Abbey, whose RAF chapel lists 1,497 airmen killed in the battle, 35 of them Poles. The last surviving pilot of the Few, John "Paddy" Hemingway, died on 17 March 2025 at the age of 105. The RAF marked the 85th anniversary in 2025 with a reminder that the battle was Nazi Germany's first major military defeat.21

Frequently asked questions

When was the Battle of Britain fought?

It was fought from July to October 1940, beginning with attacks on Channel convoys on 10 July. The main German offensive against the RAF began on 13 August, and the decisive daylight battle came on 15 September.22

Who won the Battle of Britain?

The Battle of Britain in 1940 was won by Britain and the RAF, which denied Germany the air control it needed to invade. Unable to win the sky, Hitler postponed and then abandoned the invasion, handing Germany its first major defeat of the war.23

What gave the RAF its real edge in the Battle of Britain beyond the pilots?

Organization. The Dowding System linked coastal radar, the Observer Corps, the Filter Room at Bentley Priory and the group and sector operations rooms, so that scarce Hurricane and Spitfire squadrons were sent to the right place and height instead of being worn out on patrol.24

Why did the German switch to bombing London matter?

Through late August the Luftwaffe hammered the RAF airfields and put Fighter Command under severe strain. When the Germans turned on London on 7 September, they began the Blitz but gave the exhausted airfields time to recover, and on 15 September the RAF met another massive assault and held.25

Who were the Few?

Churchill's name for the RAF aircrew who fought the battle, from his speech of 20 August 1940. There were nearly 3,000 of them, 2,945 by the RAF's count and 2,937 by that of the Battle of Britain Monument in London, from Britain, the Commonwealth and occupied Europe; 544 were killed.26

What part did Polish pilots play?

A large one. 144 Polish pilots fought in the battle and 29 were killed. No. 303 (Polish) Squadron, operational only from 31 August, became Fighter Command's highest-claiming squadron with 126 victories.27

What is the biggest misconception about the Battle of Britain?

That it was won by fighter pilots alone. The decisive edge was the system behind them, radar, observers and control rooms, together with ground crews and factories that kept Fighter Command supplied with aircraft faster than German industry could replace its losses.28

Notes

A number in the text points to a note; each note names the works that paragraph draws on, listed in full under Sources.

  1. Imperial War Museums, “8 Facts You Need To Know About The Battle of Britain”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Battle of Britain”; Air Ministry, The Battle of Britain. ↩
  2. Imperial War Museums, “8 Facts You Need To Know About The Battle of Britain”; Royal Air Force, “The Battle of Britain”; Air Ministry, The Battle of Britain. ↩
  3. Imperial War Museums, “8 Facts You Need To Know About The Battle of Britain”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Battle of Britain”. ↩
  4. Imperial War Museums, “8 Facts You Need To Know About The Battle of Britain”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Battle of Britain”. ↩
  5. Imperial War Museums, “8 Facts You Need To Know About The Battle of Britain”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Battle of Britain”; Royal Air Force, “The Battle of Britain”. ↩
  6. Imperial War Museums, “8 Facts You Need To Know About The Battle of Britain”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Battle of Britain”. ↩
  7. Imperial War Museums, “8 Facts You Need To Know About The Battle of Britain”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Battle of Britain”. ↩
  8. Imperial War Museums, “8 Facts You Need To Know About The Battle of Britain”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Battle of Britain”. ↩
  9. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Battle of Britain”. ↩
  10. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Battle of Britain”; Royal Air Force, “The Battle of Britain”. ↩
  11. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Battle of Britain”; Royal Air Force, “The Battle of Britain”. ↩
  12. Imperial War Museums, “8 Facts You Need To Know About The Battle of Britain”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Battle of Britain”. ↩
  13. Imperial War Museums, “8 Facts You Need To Know About The Battle of Britain”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Battle of Britain”. ↩
  14. Paweł Kowalski and Paulina Szymaniak-Kowalska, Dywizjon 303 w bitwie o Wielką Brytanię; Imperial War Museums, “8 Facts You Need To Know About The Battle of Britain”; Royal Air Force, “The Battle of Britain”. ↩
  15. Imperial War Museums, “8 Facts You Need To Know About The Battle of Britain”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Battle of Britain”. ↩
  16. Battle of Britain Monument, “The Airmen of the Battle of Britain”; Imperial War Museums, “8 Facts You Need To Know About The Battle of Britain”; Royal Air Force, “The Battle of Britain”. ↩
  17. Paweł Kowalski and Paulina Szymaniak-Kowalska, Dywizjon 303 w bitwie o Wielką Brytanię; Imperial War Museums, “8 Facts You Need To Know About The Battle of Britain”. ↩
  18. Imperial War Museums, “8 Facts You Need To Know About The Battle of Britain”; Royal Air Force, “The Battle of Britain”. ↩
  19. Imperial War Museums, “8 Facts You Need To Know About The Battle of Britain”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Battle of Britain”. ↩
  20. Imperial War Museums, “8 Facts You Need To Know About The Battle of Britain”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Battle of Britain”. ↩
  21. Westminster Abbey, “Battle of Britain 80th”; Royal Air Force, “The Battle of Britain”. ↩
  22. Imperial War Museums, “8 Facts You Need To Know About The Battle of Britain”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Battle of Britain”. ↩
  23. Imperial War Museums, “8 Facts You Need To Know About The Battle of Britain”; Royal Air Force, “The Battle of Britain”. ↩
  24. Imperial War Museums, “8 Facts You Need To Know About The Battle of Britain”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Battle of Britain”. ↩
  25. Imperial War Museums, “8 Facts You Need To Know About The Battle of Britain”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Battle of Britain”. ↩
  26. Imperial War Museums, “8 Facts You Need To Know About The Battle of Britain”; Royal Air Force, “The Battle of Britain”; Battle of Britain Monument, “The Airmen of the Battle of Britain”. ↩
  27. Imperial War Museums, “8 Facts You Need To Know About The Battle of Britain”. ↩
  28. Imperial War Museums, “8 Facts You Need To Know About The Battle of Britain”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Battle of Britain”. ↩

Sources

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Take to the sky over Britain

The Battle of Britain is one of 40 battles in Echoes of Battle, told scene by scene, with a real-time tactical mode in the works, and set over the real skies where it was won.