Battle of France Youtube

[BeauBrummie]

Hello Chaps,

whilst browsing for decent Blenheim footage, I came across this Battle of France (RAF footage). Some nice shots of early day spitfires and hurricanes, also to be seen are the fairy battle and the bristol blenheims. It also has an example of the most outrageous jingoistic commentary I've heard so far, especially the claim of allied kills.

Enjoy

Beau


[youtube]x9tp0reMR6Q[/youtube]

 

[thedude247]

I didn't think the RAF had the Spitfire at the time of the Battle of France????

I did know that they had the Hurricane.

 

[Nonato]

I didn't think the RAF had the Spitfire at the time of the Battle of France????

I did know that they had the Hurricane.

But they had Spitfires in continental Europe by them. Not many of them, mostly in northern France, I guess. Maybe the on call spitfire experts around here will provide you with much more information.

"From 10 May, Spitfire squadrons were authorised to carry out offensive patrols across the Channel. Spitfires first met Bf-109s and Bf-110s on 23 May: two of each type of Messerschmitt were lost, as were three Spitfires of 92 Squadron. Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, head of Fighter Command, successfully resisted pressure from the highest levels to reinforce the fighters in France with Spitfire squadrons, thus preserving the Spitfire force for the forthcoming sterner battles in defence of Britain. Despite this, 67 Spitfires were lost during the Battle of France and the Dunkirk evacuation. Some of the RAF squadron commanders learned valuable lessons from these experiences, including the realisation that the Luftwaffe's tactical formation of the 'finger four' was superior to the RAF's traditional vic of three aircraft and that it was advantageous to harmonise the fire of the guns to converge at 250 yards rather than 400. All benefited from the replacement of 87 octane petrol with 100 octane, which increased the Spitfire's speed by 25 mph (40 km/h) at sea level and by 34 mph (55 km/h) at 10,000 feet." http://www.deltaweb.co.uk/spitfire/survival.htm

 

[thedude247]

"From 10 May, Spitfire squadrons were authorised to carry out offensive patrols across the Channel. Spitfires first met Bf-109s and Bf-110s on 23 May: two of each type of Messerschmitt were lost, as were three Spitfires of 92 Squadron. Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, head of Fighter Command, successfully resisted pressure from the highest levels to reinforce the fighters in France with Spitfire squadrons, thus preserving the Spitfire force for the forthcoming sterner battles in defence of Britain. Despite this, 67 Spitfires were lost during the Battle of France and the Dunkirk evacuation. Some of the RAF squadron commanders learned valuable lessons from these experiences, including the realisation that the Luftwaffe's tactical formation of the 'finger four' was superior to the RAF's traditional vic of three aircraft and that it was advantageous to harmonise the fire of the guns to converge at 250 yards rather than 400. All benefited from the replacement of 87 octane petrol with 100 octane, which increased the Spitfire's speed by 25 mph (40 km/h) at sea level and by 34 mph (55 km/h) at 10,000 feet." http://www.deltaweb.co.uk/spitfire/survival.htm

This I was aware of before, I'm just not yet up to full throttle on the Battle of France. I fell I need to.

Thanks for recap though.:ernae:

 

[Pat Pattle]

Interesting find Jeff!

I'm not aware of any Spits operating from French soil in 1940 other than one or two PR's btw.

 

[ndicki]

No Spitfire fighters were based in France. The odd one or two did stay overnight, such as when Chamberlain visited Daladier in May 1940, but they were only passing through. Home-based Spitfires did operate over the French mainland in May-June, although they were severely hampered by their lack of range.