232: The Battle of Britain Pt. 7 - Battle of Britain Day

History of the Second World War

Wesley Livesay

Society & Culture, Documentary, History

4.5 • 626 Ratings

🗓️ 10 September 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On September 15, 1940—Battle of Britain Day—the Luftwaffe launched what would become the climactic daylight assault of their campaign against Britain. In a desperate final effort to enable Operation Sea Lion, the German invasion of Britain, over 500 bombers escorted by hundreds of fighters targeted London's railways and dockyards in two massive raids. However, RAF Fighter Command rose to meet them with unprecedented coordination, deploying every available squadron in a series of perfectly timed intercepts that turned the skies above London into absolute mayhem. Despite wildly exaggerated victory claims on both sides, the day's fighting proved that Fighter Command was far from the spent force the Germans had hoped, while the Luftwaffe's mounting losses and fuel limitations exposed the futility of their campaign. As weather closed in and Hitler postponed Sea Lion indefinitely, September 15th marked not just the end of the daytime Battle of Britain, but the beginning of a new phase—the Blitz. Contact advertising@airwavemedia.com to advertise on History of the Second World War. History of the Second World War is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast.
0:09.4	Hello, this is Matt from the Explorers podcast.
0:12.6	I want to invite you to join me on the voyages and journeys of the most famous explorers in the history of the world.
0:18.3	These are the thrilling and captivating stories of Vigllan, Shackleton, Lewis, and Clark,
0:23.0	and so many other famous, and not so famous, adventures from throughout history.
0:27.4	Go to Explorerspodcast.com or just look us up on your podcast app.
0:31.6	That's the Explorers Podcast. Hello everyone and welcome to History of the Second World War, Episode 232, The Battle of Britain Part 7, Battle of Britain Day.
0:52.7	This week, a big thank you goes out to Aidan, Cole, and Zach for
0:56.2	supporting the podcast by becoming members. Members get access to ad-free versions of all of the
1:00.7	podcast episodes, plus special member-only episodes released roughly once a month. Head on over to
1:06.6	history of the second world war.com slash members to find out more. On September 15th, 2024, 84 days to the day after the first Battle of Britain Day,
1:17.6	I was on my way to IWM Duxford for the Battle of Britain Day airshow.
1:22.5	It was an absolutely incredible day.
1:24.7	The weather was perfect, and there were so many interesting historical
1:28.1	aircraft flying around that day. The sounds of hurricanes and spitfires in the air,
1:33.9	absolutely wonderful. But the perspective of me, at an air show, is completely different
1:40.2	than what it would have been like on September 15, 1940, the actual Battle of Britain
1:45.9	Day. On that day, the Luftwaffe would launch what has come to be seen as the climax of
1:51.4	the daytime battles of Britain that had started months earlier. The target of the German raid that
1:57.4	day was London, just like it had been over the previous weeks.
2:01.8	And once again, ARIA Fighter Command would rise to meet them in what would be one of the
2:06.0	most costly raids for the Germans over the entire campaign.
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