Battle of Britain: Why the RAF Won

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 15 September 2020

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

80 years ago, in 15 September 1940, the Luftwaffe made a gigantic aerial assault on London in the belief that the Royal Air Force was down to its last few fighters. This, they hoped, would be the decisive clash that finished the RAF, and force Britain to the negotiating table or even pave the way for invasion. To mark this anniversary I went to Bentley Priory, the HQ of RAF Fighter Command, with historian Stephen Bungay. He more than anyone I know is able to describe exactly why the RAF won. A tale of technology, leadership, bravery and organisation. A version of this interview appears on History Hit TV.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi everyone, welcome to Dan Snow's History Hit, exciting day today. Today,
0:03.7	Mark C. 80th anniversary of the huge aerial assault that Adolf Hitler's Luftwaffe launched
0:09.5	on London. Today, Mark C. 80th anniversary of what is becoming known as Battle of Britain day,
0:14.2	marks the last great daylight raid on London. The climax of the Battle of Britain is
0:19.1	Hitler's Luftwaffe attempted to deal a knockout blow to the RAF, which they believe was on
0:23.4	its last legs, and begin aerial bombardment of London, which would force the British government
0:28.4	either to the peace table or prepare possibly the way for an German invasion of the UK.
0:34.7	British fighter squadrons took to the skies and inflicted terrible losses on the Germans,
0:38.8	convincing that the Battle of Britain could not be won. It was a decisive victory, Hitler's first
0:44.4	defeat in the Second World War. To mark this anniversary, we've got a season of programmes going
0:49.0	out on History Hit TV. We've got Podcast, we've got Victoria Taylor coming up this week talking
0:53.6	about the German point of view during the Battle of Britain, but today we've got an interview I
0:58.0	conducted with a historian Stephen Bungay at Bentley Priory, which used to be headquarters of
1:02.4	Fighter Command, so Hugh Dowding's headquarters from which he planned and then ran the Battle of
1:07.2	Britain. You're going to hear today Stephen Bungay explaining why the RAF won and why it wasn't even
1:12.2	very close thanks to the extraordinary marriage of technology, operational and tactical innovations
1:19.3	made by so Hugh Dowding and others. It turns out the RAF was brilliantly prepared to meet an aerial
1:26.0	challenge in the skies above the UK. You can watch a version of this documentary on History Hit TV,
1:32.3	you can watch a whole series of other programmes we've made to mark this important anniversary,
1:36.8	we've got a season out at the moment. If you go to History Hit TV, yeah I hate doing this, but we
1:41.2	got a special offer at the moment because it is the Battle of Britain. If you go to History Hit TV,
1:45.3	and if you use the code Battle of Britain, all one word, Battle of Britain, you get a month for free,
	...

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