THE CANADIANS — In the Battle of Britain
It simply cannot be overstated. In the summer of 1940, Great Britain was well and truly up against the wall. Its army, decimated in France, was lucky to be pulled from the jaws of total annihilation on the beaches of Northern France. With the army licking its wounds, and the Royal Air Force with heavy losses in France, the population of Great Britain fully expected that there would soon be door-to-door fighting in London, in York, or in Kent. While the RAF, Navy and Army steeled themselves for coming fight, the ordinary people of Great Britain were readying themselves as well—for a fight to the death on sacred British soil. In anticipation of a Nazi invasion on British beaches, the British government had printed a poster which was to be posted in the event the Germans came ashore. It said in simple large letters beneath the King’s crown, “Keep Calm and Carry On”. It was never used. It would only surface 65 years later and become a modern day icon for stick-to-it-iveness.
Though disaster was just over the horizon, there was one last battle to be fought—a battle like no other in history. This was the Battle of Britain. The Battle, the aircraft and the nearly 3,000 men who flew in the defence of Great Britain live today as unparalleled icons of courage and determination in the face of almost certain defeat. Its inspirational effect on Great Britain and the hundreds of thousands of young men and women who, upon hearing the story, would enlist in the RAF, RCAF, RAAF, RNZAF and SAAF is unquestionable. It not only stopped the advance of the dark stain of Nazism, it turned the tide.
It is the story of a courageous few and a steadfast country. The part played by Canadians, while small in numbers, was great of heart. We stood shoulder to shoulder with other pilots of the British Commonwealth, occupied Europe and even America. The summer of 1940 is the stuff of legend. — Dave O’Malley
The Battle of Britain – the Canadians.
By 18 June 1940, the Germans had overrun all of Western Europe. France had finally surrendered and the British had evacuated their remaining troops through Dunkirk in a remarkable across-the-Channel withdrawal made possible particularly by fleets of boats and small ships from the UK largely manned by civilian volunteers. The RAF was able to provide the control of the air essential to safe passage.
Facing reality about the oncoming fight, Churchill stated: “Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. The whole might of the enemy must soon be turned upon us. Let us…so bear ourselves that men will say ‘this was their finest hour’ ”. It was to be a battle of survival for Britain.
The fact is that in 1940 just under 3,000 young airmen changed the course of history and established the foundation upon which democracy would build to achieve its final victory in Europe. The purpose of this article is to tell how they did it.
The Battle of Britain is unique in that it is the first and only time that airpower alone defeated a major threat to a nation’s very existence.
Following Dunkirk, the Germans mounted their air campaign aimed at eliminating Britain’s ability to ward off a cross-Channel seaborne invasion. By late summer 1940, the German operation, code-named Operation SEA LION, was to follow immediately after the Luftwaffe had gained control of the air and destroyed other threats.
It is generally agreed the Battle of Britain can be divided into four stages: From 10 July to 7 August, the first stage, the Luftwaffe attempted to destroy the RAF’s radar towers which it knew were vital to the Britain’s air defense tactics. Simultaneously, German bombers were bent on destruction of Britain’s ability to fight back by neutralizing its defenses, crippling its infrastructure and breaking civilian morale. Despite the German raids, and much overlooked, RAF Bomber and Coastal Commands were indeed active in attacks on the French Ports from which the German invasion fleet could be launched.
During the second stage, 8 August to 6 September, the Luftwaffe mistakenly believed it had destroyed much of the RAF early warning radar capability and now aimed to destroy the RAF on the ground by bombing its airfields. This put further pressure on the RAF. However, the RAF’s ongoing success in the, until then, mainly daylight air war, confronted the Luftwaffe with such aircraft and aircrew losses that by October the Luftwaffe had largely switched to night raids.
One of these early bombing raids had killed civilians in London. The result was dramatic to both sides. Hitler had specifically directed that attacks against civilian targets were not to be carried out, because he believed that eventually the British people would sue for peace, and he hoped to be seen to have no fight with the British people.
On the other hand, the British reaction to this raid on London was to bomb Berlin. Hitler raged over this unexpected counterblow by the British and ordered attacks by his bombers on civilian targets in the UK. This changed everything and led to the third stage of the Battle which ran from 7 September to 5 October. The Blitz began.
This change in tactics by the Germans was a mistake for other reasons, but it did relieve the pressure on the RAF airfields. To reach industrial targets and built-up areas, Luftwaffe Bombers and their Messerschmitt Bf-109 escorts were forced to operate close to the limits of their range, and were thus inhibited in their freedom to maneuver in their own defense. Added to this problem for the Germans, was the growing availability to the RAF of rudimentary airborne intercept radar. German losses became intolerable. This was the fourth phase.
The battle didn’t end in a finite way, but rather ran down because Hitler was finally convinced that Air Superiority over the Channel to defend the invasion fleets from air attacks could not be gained, and defeat of the RAF and his dream of negotiating a peace were unachievable. On 21 October, Hitler put off Operation SEA LION and ordered his forces and their matériel, which had been amassed for the invasion, to be withdrawn from Western Europe and dispatched to the Russian Front.
Of the 2,962 allied pilots engaged in the Battle of Britain, 2,421 were RAF (and Fleet Air Arm), 117 were Canadian, 141 were Polish and a further 210 were from ten other countries. 515 of them including 29 Canadians were killed.
Four of the Fighter Command Squadrons which took part in the Battle had links with Canada. The link was evidenced in each of these units’ badges. No. 73 Squadron flying Hurricanes had a Canadian contingent, No. 92 Squadron flying Spitfires was a Canadian unit in the First World War, No. 242 Squadron flying Hurricanes had a Canadian Moose head in its badge and the future No. 401 RCAF Squadron. This Squadron had arrived in the UK on 21 June 1940 with its own Hurricanes as No. 1 RCAF Squadron.
Related Stories
Click on image
The brunt of the air battle was borne by the Hawker Hurricane and the Supermarine Spitfire. While many of the aircraft and pilot numbers are still debated, it is most probable that at the outset of the Battle, 615 Hurricanes and 324 Spitfires were assigned to the task. At the end in October, despite a steady replacement of losses, the strength was 512 Hurricanes and 281 Spitfires. However, a total of 526 Hurricanes and 389 Spitfires had been lost. They had accounted for (actual – not claimed) 1,733 German aircraft shot down. The RAF’s loss of 915 aircraft was far fewer than the 3,058 claimed by the Germans.
The Hurricane accounted for 1.8 German aircraft shot down for every Hurricane lost and the Spitfires accounted for 2.0 German aircraft for every Spitfire lost. However, the Hurricanes accounted for 55% of the total air victories and the Spitfires 45%. Was the Hurricane therefore the better aircraft? The answer is No! There were many more Hurricanes than there were Spitfires. (And bragging rights as to which was better still goes to him who speaks the loudest!)
Finally, though, as to which was best, of the seventeen double aces to earn this recognition, ten had flown Spitfires and seven had flown the Hurricane!
Canadian pilots accounted for 194 Luftwaffe losses. The top Canadian scorer was Flight Lieutenant Mark Brown, DFC and Bar, with a total of 15 during the battle.
At the age of 39, the oldest Canadian pilot to take part was Flight Lieutenant Gordon McGregor, DFC OBE. His score was five enemy fighters. Retiring as a Group Captain, he will also be remembered as the inspired leader of Canada’s Trans Canada Air Lines after the war’s end. The youngest Canadian pilot in the Battle was 19 years old, Leo Ricks from Calgary. He was a member of 235 Squadron.
Arguably, the most famous pilots to have fought in the Battle of Britain were the RAF’s Group Captain Douglas Bader, the ‘legless’ ace, RAF’s F/L (later Air Vice Marshall) Johnnie Johnson, who at war’s end was the top allied ace in the European theatre, and on the Luftwaffe side the unequaled Adolph Galland.
Air operations ‘petered out’ to quote one author on 21 October and the end was officially declared reached on 31 October. The Battle of Britain was a triumph of indomitable human spirit against a numerically superior enemy led by a maniac. In retrospect, the manner in which a relatively small number of brave young airmen victoriously defended the British Homeland is as remarkable now as then.
Already in August 1940, Churchill said, in part, “The gratitude of every home in our island, in our empire and throughout the world… goes out to airmen who undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger helped turn the tide of the world war”.
Canadian airmen flew shoulder to shoulder with the best from elsewhere. The ‘Few’ were unique and not unlike their contemporaries later, and consciously or not, upheld the airman`s credo of honour which was never to be found wanting when the chips were down.
Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s words of praise and thanks, seventy years ago, are still valid: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed to by so many to so few.”
A Few Canadians of Note in the Battle of Britain
About the author: Lieutenant General William Keir Carr was a photo-reconnaissance Spitfire pilot during the Second World War. The stories of the courage and determination of Canadian fighter pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain inspired wave after wave of young Canadian men like Carr to enlist in the RCAF and join the fight. By war’s end Carr had flown 142 operational sorties—alone and unarmed. After the war, Carr’s star continued to rise as he took one command after another. As Commander of 412 Squadron, he oversaw the operation of the first jet transport aircraft in any air force in the world—the RCAF’s de Havilland Comet. With the 412 Squadron Comet, the RCAF was the first ever (Civilian or Military) to operate jet transports on scheduled service over the Atlantic. At the end of his military career Carr was the first Commanding Officer of Air Command, and the acknowledged “father of the modern Canadian air force”. Today, even in his mid-90s he remains a force to be reckoned with and is often called upon for his wise and careful counsel. After nearly 75 years connected to the Royal Canadian Air Force, Carr’s words still carry much weight, and while his respect is mightily earned, he remains humble, often fighting with determination to shine light on other men, other battles, other Canadians.