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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 September 2026

Next anniversary: 10 July 2027, the 87th anniversary of the start On this day ›

By Echoes of Battle

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

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)~1,960~1,547~1,542 (544 in Fighter Command)
Germany (Luftwaffe)~2,550~1,900~2,698

Rounded historical estimates; strength is serviceable aircraft.

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 19401, denying Germany the air superiority it needed to invade. It was the first great battle fought entirely in the air, and Germany's failure to destroy the RAF forced it to abandon the planned invasion.

In the summer and autumn of 1940, with France fallen and Britain standing alone, the first great battle fought entirely 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.

Britain alone

After Dunkirk, Hitler expected Britain to seek terms. When it refused, the Luftwaffe was ordered to sweep the RAF from the sky and clear the way for an invasion across the Channel. Everything turned on fewer than 3,000 RAF aircrew and the machines they flew.3

Formation of RAF Hurricane fighters in flight against clouds
Hawker Hurricanes of No. 85 Squadron RAF flying in formation in October 1940. Photograph by an official Royal Air Force photographer. Public domain

The system behind the pilots

Britain's hidden advantage was organization. The Dowding system tied together a chain of coastal radar stations, the Observer Corps and a network of control rooms2, so that scarce squadrons of Hurricanes and Spitfires were sent to the right place at the right height instead of wearing themselves out on patrol.

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few3.

The turning point

Through August the Luftwaffe hammered the RAF's airfields2 and put Fighter Command under severe strain. Then, in September, the Germans switched their weight to bombing London2. It brought terror to the city in the Blitz, but it gave the exhausted airfields time to recover2. On 15 September the RAF met another massive assault3 in strength and held. In those hardest weeks the Polish No. 303 Squadron was led by Witold Urbanowicz.

Aerial photograph of a German bomber flying over the docks and river bend of East London
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

What the day decided

Unable to win control of the air, Germany postponed the invasion of Britain, and then abandoned it. It was the first major defeat of the war for Hitler, and it kept Britain in the fight as a base from which, four years later, the liberation of Western Europe would be launched.

Why Operation Sea Lion never came

The victory's most concrete result was a landing that never happened. Germany needed air superiority over the Channel4 before it could risk an invasion of Britain, and when the Luftwaffe failed to win it, Hitler postponed Operation Sea Lion indefinitely2 and turned his attention east toward the Soviet Union. It was the first defeat the German air force suffered in the war, and it kept Britain in the fight as the unsinkable base from which the liberation of western Europe would one day be launched. The cost fell on a few thousand aircrew, the pilots Churchill called the Few5, whose stand denied Germany the quick knockout it wanted.

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

Frequently asked questions

Why was the Battle of Britain in 1940 so decisive?

In 1940 the Battle of Britain denied Germany the air control it needed to invade, so Hitler postponed and then abandoned the invasion. It was the first major defeat of the war for Hitler and kept Britain in the fight as the base from which Western Europe was later liberated.

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

Britain's hidden advantage in the 1940 Battle of Britain was organization. The Dowding system linked coastal radar stations, the Observer Corps and control rooms so that scarce Hurricane and Spitfire squadrons were sent to the right place and height instead of being worn out on patrol.

Why did the German switch to bombing London matter during the Battle of Britain?

Through August 1940 the Luftwaffe hammered the RAF airfields and put Fighter Command under severe strain. When the Germans shifted their weight to bombing London in September, they brought the terror of the Blitz but gave the exhausted airfields time to recover, and on 15 September the RAF met another massive assault and held.

What is the biggest misconception about the Battle of Britain?

It is tempting to see the 1940 Battle of Britain as won by fighter pilots alone, but the decisive edge was organization. The Dowding network of radar and control rooms is what let scarce pilots be used where they counted, so the machine behind the pilots mattered as much as the men in the cockpits.

When was the Battle of Britain fought and who took part?

The Battle of Britain was fought from July to October 1940, with France fallen and Britain standing alone. The RAF defended the skies over southern England against the German Luftwaffe, which had been ordered to clear the way for an invasion across the Channel.

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, Germany postponed and then abandoned the invasion, handing Hitler his first major defeat of the war.

Sources and notes

Numbered notes in the text point to the works below.

  1. Imperial War Museums, “Dowding system and Britain's air defence during the Battle of Britain” ↩
  2. Imperial War Museums, “8 Things You Need To Know About The Battle Of Britain” ↩ a b c d e
  3. Royal Air Force, “The Battle of Britain: 85 years of the past still shaping our future” ↩ a b c
  4. Stephen Bungay, The Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain (Aurum Press, 2000). ↩
  5. Richard Overy, The Battle of Britain: The Myth and the Reality (W. W. Norton, 2001). ↩
  6. Wikipedia, “Battle of Britain”

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.

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