Hugh Dowding

Account for the Luftwaffe’s failure to win the Battle of Britain. In 1941, Britain stood on the precipice of German invasion, the only thing in their way, the Royal Air Force, “hopelessly outnumbered, horribly outgunned, [they] battled desperately and somehow, despite the odds, emerged victorious.” With all the odds stacked in their favour, buoyed from their recent success in France, the German Luftwaffe still failed to win the battle in the skies over Britain. This essay will provide a…

Air power influenced each member of the Allies and Axis powers uniquely through the context in which they viewed the effects of air power in World War I (WWI), the development of theories and technology in the interwar years, and the geopolitical situation facing the nations at the outset of World War II (WWII). These situations and experiences created a perception of the capabilities of air power that drove the creation and employment of the nations’ air arm. In turn, each belligerents’…