insty66 (#136),
Don't quite see the relevance of General Arnold to the Battle of Britain - Air Marshal Dowding was the man. But we should be eternally grateful to "Hap" Arnold (Chief of the Air Corps 1938-41), for the introduction of the "Arnold Scheme", and the "British Flying Training Schools" in the US, which trained thousands of pilots for the RAF (including me) from summer 1941 (when the US was still "neutral" (?)
Have Posted on this Thread at #55; #67; #87; and #100, among others. A young man of 18, I lived through that fateful summer of 1940. You are right: in May of that year we were on the point of surrender (the Chamberlain/Halifax Government was ready to throw in the towel). Two things saved Britain: Churchill's magnificent oratory as he took over the Government and rallied the people, and the deathless performance of his "Few" over the next few months.
By Christmas Britain was back in the fight - and the young man had, with thousands of others from all over the Empire and the occupied lands of Europe, (and the US ! - the "Eagle Squadron"), practically gone down on his knees at the Recruiting Office, begging for admittance to that glorious company of men.
IMHO, the Battle of Britain was a "Score Draw", but one that was far more advantageous to one side than the other. Hitler planned to invade Britain, he failed. The RAF (all we had left, really) alone stood in his way, determined he should not. They succeeded. It was enough !
Our "Meeja" seem to have forgotten all about 15 September (the turning point) this year, but that is another matter.
Danny.