Britains secret weapon during the Battle of Britain
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Hanging off the end of a thread
Posts: 33,073
Received 2,941 Likes
on
1,253 Posts
Britains secret weapon during the Battle of Britain
"Mildly" Eccentric Stardriver
One of my base captains once said that sitting in a Chippie and opening the throttle was like being in a Spitfire.... for the first half-second.
That's what you get when you forget to turn the gas down.
Chipfires
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Hanging off the end of a thread
Posts: 33,073
Received 2,941 Likes
on
1,253 Posts
The men took to the skies in Spitfires, Hurricanes, Blenheims, Beaufighters and Defiants in the summer of 1940 to fend off the Nazis. They shot down plane after plane to hold off an invasion and provide a platform for the Allies to win the war
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Often in Jersey, but mainly in the past.
Age: 79
Posts: 7,813
Received 141 Likes
on
65 Posts
I always thought (inevitably) that the Secret Weapon was Radar ... and the C&R system ...
... we have two secret weapons, Radar and C&R and indominatble courage ...
... we have three secret weapons, and we are BRITISH!
... and Free French, and Polish, and Czech, and Aussie, and Kiwi, and Canuck ...
Who do you think you are, Mister Hitler ... ?
... we have two secret weapons, Radar and C&R and indominatble courage ...
... we have three secret weapons, and we are BRITISH!
... and Free French, and Polish, and Czech, and Aussie, and Kiwi, and Canuck ...
Who do you think you are, Mister Hitler ... ?
Guest
Posts: n/a
pettinger93 (#93),
The DH Chipmunk did not come into service until 1946 [Wiki]. Our (not-so-secret) weapon was the Chain Home System, without which the BoB could not have been successfully fought.
..."Chain Home proved decisive during the Battle of Britain in 1940"... [Wiki]
The DH Chipmunk did not come into service until 1946 [Wiki]. Our (not-so-secret) weapon was the Chain Home System, without which the BoB could not have been successfully fought.
..."Chain Home proved decisive during the Battle of Britain in 1940"... [Wiki]
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Often in Jersey, but mainly in the past.
Age: 79
Posts: 7,813
Received 141 Likes
on
65 Posts
Thank you, Danny42C, even though you were excusably late on parade for that particular event 
Last edited by MPN11; 6th Nov 2017 at 19:28.
Guest
Posts: n/a
MPN11 (#13),
Sadly true - but it spurred me (and just about every red-blooded young man in Britain and the Empire) to scurry round to the nearest Recruiting Office and beg, on bended knee, for admission to the RAF to train as a pilot !
Would do it again (in the circs).
Danny.
Sadly true - but it spurred me (and just about every red-blooded young man in Britain and the Empire) to scurry round to the nearest Recruiting Office and beg, on bended knee, for admission to the RAF to train as a pilot !
Would do it again (in the circs).
Danny.
Our secret weapon was the Royal Observer Corps.
The Chain Home radar system only looked out to sea. Once the enemy aircraft had crossed the British coastline it was useless.
Only the ROC (or the Observer Corps as it was in 1940) could track both enemy and friendly aircraft and pass that information to the Fighter Command plotters.
The Chain Home radar system only looked out to sea. Once the enemy aircraft had crossed the British coastline it was useless.
Only the ROC (or the Observer Corps as it was in 1940) could track both enemy and friendly aircraft and pass that information to the Fighter Command plotters.
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Often in Jersey, but mainly in the past.
Age: 79
Posts: 7,813
Received 141 Likes
on
65 Posts
Worked briefly with the ROC at HQ11Gp before they were binned ... a great history! I was able to acquire [where I do not recall] a mountain of ROC Journals covering the war period which I donated to them ... undoubtedly lost to history now.
Guest
Posts: n/a
diginagain (#15),
From the "Battle of the Atlantic" [Wiki]:
and.."
I believe that at this time, the Navy had its back to the wall, as tonnage was being sunk faster than it could be replaced...
Any notion that the Navy could divert ships to combat a cross channel invasion without air supremacy is fanciful, Later experience (Malaya ?) showed what happens when surface vessels without air support come within range of a land based enemy air force.
None of this diminishes the heroism of the RN, and of the merchant seamen, which (IMHO) has never been properly acknowledged.
Danny..
From the "Battle of the Atlantic" [Wiki]:
..."In essence, the Battle of the Atlantic was a tonnage war: the Allied struggle to supply Britain and the Axis attempt to stem the flow of merchant shipping that enabled Britain to keep fighting"...
and.."
From June until October 1940, over 270 Allied ships were sunk: this period was referred to by U-boat crews as "the Happy Time" ("Die Glückliche Zeit").[29] Churchill would later write: "...the only thing that ever frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril"...
I believe that at this time, the Navy had its back to the wall, as tonnage was being sunk faster than it could be replaced...
Any notion that the Navy could divert ships to combat a cross channel invasion without air supremacy is fanciful, Later experience (Malaya ?) showed what happens when surface vessels without air support come within range of a land based enemy air force.
None of this diminishes the heroism of the RN, and of the merchant seamen, which (IMHO) has never been properly acknowledged.
Danny..