The Battle of Britain

The battle begins, summer 1940
The battle begins, summer 1940

After defeating France in June 1940, Hitler assumed Britain would sue for peace but ordered his armed forces to prepare for invasion. Hermann Goering assured him that a sustained air assault would destroy the RAF, winning the air superiority needed.
A Heinkel He 111 bomber flying over London, September 1940
A Heinkel He 111 bomber flying over London, September 1940

July 1940 saw German planes target shipping in the Channel, drawing the RAF into combat, before radar stations, communications centres and airfields faced round-the-clock bombing in August. The battle reached a climax with attacks on London in September.
The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF)
The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF)

Joan 'Elizabeth' Mortimer, Elspeth Henderson and Helen Turner of the WAAF. All three received the Military Medal for courageous conduct during attacks on Biggin Hill airfield. Biggin Hill suffered a total of ten major attacks between 30 Aug and 5 Sept.
Non-British personnel in the RAF
Non-British personnel in the RAF

A group of pilots of No. 303 (Polish) Squadron RAF return from a sortie. The first Polish squadrons were formed in the summer of 1940. Pilots came from several other countries, including Australia, Canada, Czechoslovakia, New Zealand and the USA.
Sector 'G' Operations Room at RAF Duxford
Sector 'G' Operations Room at RAF Duxford

RAF Duxford was a Sector Station in 12 Group, responsible for defending the Midlands and East Anglia. As the fighting intensified, Duxford's squadrons were called on to support 11 Group's defence of London and the south-east.
Hawker Hurricane Mk Is of No. 85 Squadron RAF
Hawker Hurricane Mk Is of No. 85 Squadron RAF

Despite incessant attacks, the RAF's defences held. The Luftwaffe could not continue, and in the autumn switched to 'nuisance' raids and night operations. The failure to defeat the RAF convinced Hitler to postpone his invasion plans indefinitely.

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Collections search

VE DAY CELEBRATIONS IN LONDON, 8 MAY 1945
part of "MINISTRY OF INFORMATION SECOND WORLD WAR PRESS AGENCY PRINT COLLECTION" (photographs)
A truck of revellers passing through the Strand, London
VE DAY STREET PARTY, 1945
part of "MINISTRY OF INFORMATION SECOND WORLD WAR PRESS AGENCY PRINT COLLECTION" (photographs)
The Victory bonfire burns at night.
Private Papers of Miss P M Donald
(private papers) Made by: Donald, P M
An ms diary (29pp), with ts transcript (9pp), written by a thirteen year old schoolgirl evacuated to Tunbridge Wells, 13 August - 14 September 1940, recording her experiences during the Blitz including the effects of the German air raids on and around...
Private Papers of Miss D M F Byrne
(private papers) Made by: Byrne, D M F
Ms journal (39pp) kept by a member of the Women's Land Army January 1944 - December 1945 (with non contemporary alterations and marginalia) recording her farming activities on the Surrey/Sussex border, her daily routine and off duty recreation with good...
Private Papers of D Y Davis
(private papers) Made by: Davis, D Y
Wordprocessed memoir (76pp), written in the 1990s in an entertaining if somewhat anecdotal style, covering his voluntary enlistment as a driver in the RASC in May 1940, training in the United Kingdom and troopship voyage via the Cape to Egypt, and...
Private Papers of Miss J W West
(private papers) Made by: West, J W
Extracts (pp 72-94 only) from an undated ts memoir written by the daughter, aged nineteen in 1939, of a GP in a Nottinghamshire village describing her family's preparations for the outbreak of war (August - September 1939), her continuing employment as...
Private Papers of R J Miller
(private papers) Made by: Miller, R J
Interesting and well-researched ts memoir (28pp), written in 1995, of his childhood in Bexleyheath, Kent, during the Second World War, describing his impressions of the war as a young child, the air raids on London and its suburbs (including details of...
Private Papers of Miss B J Fisher
(private papers) Made by: Fisher, B J
Ts account (4pp) of her life as a young girl during the Second World War with useful descriptions of Croydon during the Blitz where she worked as a hairdresser prior to joining the Women's Land Army in 1942 and being employed on gang work in East Sussex...
Private Papers of Miss M C Charlton
(private papers) Made by: Charlton, M C
Ms notebook (25pp) containing a training diary kept while attending the Cheshire School of Agriculture, Reaseheath, Cheshire (September - October 1942) including notes on dairy farming, horticulture, poultry, kitchen gardens, arable crops and livestock;...
Private Papers of Professor D N Baron
(private papers) Made by: Baron, D N
Ms forces letter (3pp), dated 10 May 1945, from a medical student at the Middlesex Hospital to a friend serving in the RAF in South East Asia describing how rumours and news about the end of the war in Europe were received in London, giving a very...