Tangmere attack 26/8/40

"Ahead of this weekend’s Battle of Britain commemoration day at Tangmere Military Aviation Museum, Curator David Coxon tells the dramtic story of August 16 1940 when Ju 87 Stukas of the Luftwaffe attacked RAF Tangmere."
Guest Article: The Attack on RAF Tangmere August 16 2010 | Culture24

 

This seems a good excuse to post this pic of a relic in my collection ; it's a crankshaft bearing from the engine of a Ju87, the wreckage of which was raised from the sea just off the Sussex coast some years ago. Although no identification plates were found, the aircraft is believed to be one of those shot down while attacking Tangmere....

 

I think you''ll find there were also Scottish & Welsh pilots in the RAF, rather than 'English'!
The problem for the LW was that needed a 4/1 kill/loss rate, to establish supremacy, and still have fighters to give cover for the invasion beaches.
Whereas the times when they achieved overall success, was with low intensity, when high no's of aircraft were involved the RAF higher kill/loss rate.

 

They won because of their preparedness in the short time before ww2. The ground communi9cations and setup, radar of chain high sites, the ROC setup, the sector ops and Gp ops interoprability, the comms links urgently initiated and the teleprinter network installed hurridly, and the post office who worked like buggers to tie up all damaged lines and I mean thousands of copper strands that gangs of post office engineers attended to without any real acclaim for their part. The fighter boys did their bit. But if the infrastructure of 1940 RAF communications had not been in place together with the combat plans of the groups and command structure then they would have bee flying blind and missing most of their targets.

 

Not to mention Poles, Canadians, etc ... even a "Yank" or two.