Hello, and thank you for listening to the history of World War II, Episode 47, those behind

the heroes.

The people that made up the support teams behind the ARIA fighter pilots allowed those

few to maintain their needed operational status to combat the Luftwaffe. By the time of

the Battle of Britain, it's estimated that each RAF pilot was supported by at least 100

people, even more if one looked further behind the exciting planes and young faces. But

in mid-1940, the majority of the populace was not in an active role in the war, not yet.

Those working for the war effort were doing all they could and they needed to be. The army

was practically defenseless, the navy desperately preparing for an invasion, and the RAF was as

edgy and uncertain as everyone else mentioned so far. Compared to their enemy, the British

could have used more planes and pilots, but as it was, fighter command had been preparing

for this war for years. And the British people had belief in themselves, if little hope,

surely Hitler would come, like he had to so many countries before. In many ways, the

pages of the Battle of Britain were already written, at least in its broad strokes, by

fortune's hand. Many critical issues have been worked on and over since the mid-1930s by

fighter command, but also by civilian organizations. For example, the type 300, designed by RJ

Mitchell, which would later be named the Spitfire, was a private venture. The hurricane as well.

Both companies kept the air ministry informed of their development, but they saw the writing

on the wall in Europe and wanted Britain to have the appropriate defense. In short, the government

was kept out and found itself writing its officially desired specifications, along the already

produced fighter planes. Had the two developers built a plane along the air ministry specs as they

were, the resulting products would not have come even close to offering effective combat to the

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