The Greatest Day (Der größte Tag)

01 Clear Skies

1100 to the Southeast, 150 to the North.

02 General der Flieger Paul Deichmann

This guy is going to have a bad day.
3 days into Aldertag, Chief of Staff Paul Deichmann launches 1100 planes toward England.

03 He 111

The workhorse bomber of the Luftwaffe, the Heinkel.

04 Messerschmitt BF 110.

Very effective against countries without an air force. Against the RAF, not so much.

05 Junkers Ju 87

or Stuka. The ones with the badass Jericho Horns. They're dropping like flies today.

06 Messerschmitt 109

The Great Aryan Hope. It will be severely outflown...

07

mostly by this badass Kiwi and his mates. Sir Keith Park commands Number 11 Fighter Group. He's awesome, and I could do a whole post on him alone. But since this is an air battle...

08 Supermarine Spitfire Mk I

On everyone's top ten list of coolest planes ever, really rose to the occasion today, the fabulous Spitfire.

09 Hawker Hurricane

The weapon that wins the day, (And several others besides, up to 60% of the BoB kills.) The Hurricane. If you see one, thank it nicely, in English.

10 George Barclay and his Mk1

So important, have to have two shots.

Today is pivotal. Churchill will remark "Never, Never in the field of human conflict, was so much owed by so many to so few" repeated in a major speech several days later. Despite the impressive loss ratio the RAF inflicts, (34 fighters to 39 fighters and 37 bombers in the Southeast, ZERO to 7 fighters and 16 bombers in a seperate sortie of 150 in the north.) the real turning point is the blunting of the Luftwaffe in its future tactics and morale.