Today in History

Seems like today is quite the date in history, not only did IKB contemplate his last engineering wonder back in 1859 but in 1940 today was the day that Hitler threw everything at the RAF and lost the Battle of Britain. A staggering 1500 aircraft took part in the battle, the largest attack against London, and it lasted until evening. In the end the low cloud base called an end to proceedings but over the course of the day the RAF lost 29 aircraft and the Germans 58 with some 500 bombers unable to inflict serious damage on London. 

After the 15th of September 1940, the Luftwaffe switched to night raids and continued to pummel our beloved capital until May the following year. The losses that day (around 100 airmen) seem small compared to, say, the great battles of the first world war, like the Somme or the D-Day landings etc. but such is the power of air superiority that this one engagement was sufficient for the Nazi's to call off their planned invasion of the UK (Operation Sea Lion) and, although by no means finished, the course of the war was shifted in our favour. 

On a related note, I watched the 2020 film "Greyhound" last night, starring Tom Hanks as the captain of an American WWII warship protecting the Atlantic conveys, it's a good flic and illustrates the power of air support. During the film the convey has to pass through an area of the North Atlantic called the "Black Pit", which meant it was too far from either landmass to receive air cover, this is where the German U-Boat wolf packs lurked and reeked havoc on the merchant ships. Anyway, I won't spoil the plot but suffice to say that after much nail biting action, the good ship Greyhound manages to beat the odds in the end and make it to the UK.