THE SKIES OF THE BATTLE OF

BRITAIN

Written by Callan Wintle

Narrated by Violet Mathew

Henley College
Creative Media
The scene starts with the light humming of the Dornier as the
credits roll. In a starry night background, the camera will then
pan underneath the bomber to see the bomb being carried as the
screen turns to black.

Narrator:
By the 25th of June 1940, Nazi Germany had made its way through most
of eastern Europe with the help of Communist Russia and had in six
weeks done what the Germans in World War One never could, invade and
conquer France. By using new tactics such as Blitzkrieg the Germans
had conquered far more quickly and efficiently than even they
anticipated.

This will all be shot on 2D maps and with some stock footage showing
the Germans advance with Blitzkrieg.

Narrator:

Germany hoped after this crushing success over France that Britain
would sue for peace, they had already knocked out over 1000 of
Britain’s Planes and greatly weakened their Army during their
support of France and subsequent evacuation of Dunkirk. However, the
British had an extra weapon, the 34 Km stretch of water that
separated the two opposing armies and guarding this channel was the
Royal Navy, at the time the largest navy in the World.

The map will then turn 3D to show this new angle and will reveal a
diagram showing the largest Navies in the world, especially the
Germans. Stock footage, maybe of the destruction or live action
shots of destroyed planes or raging fires to represent the British
and French defeat.

Narrator:
The German plan was simple, knock out the Royal Air Force by bombing
the British airfields allowing the Luftwaffe (the German air force)
control over the skies of Britain. They would use this airborne
superiority to bomb the British navy from above, then with the Royal
Navy supressed the seaborne landing of the English coast could
begin.

This will be told via some more 3D maps and maybe If I have time
build some miniature airfields to be destroyed by mini Pyrotechnics.
Stock footage of Royal Navy.
 Narrator:
However, this plan revolved on 3 main concepts, firstly have Aerial
control over the skies. Secondly, stopping Britain’s large
manufacturing sector from creating more planes and finally have the
German Navy build enough boats for the landing to take place,
ideally in August or September. The German plan needed good
communication channels as well as good planning from their leaders.
However, during the start of the battle Hitler had decided to have a
holiday in the Alps and never really gave to much attention to the
war. His main focus was on the planned invasion of Russia. The
Germans Airforce Commander wasn’t much better, his subordinates
often relayed inflated figures of enemy losses and bent the truth to
satisfy their commander.
That being said, Britain wasn’t doing much better. Winston Churchill
had only recently become Prime Minister and much of his Cabernet
wanted to accept Hitler’s Peace Deal which would spare the United
Kingdom and its colonies as long as the UK didn’t try to stop the
German advance. Churchill however, despite recommendations from his
cabinet, rejected the peace offering. So, Hitler reluctantly ordered
the Invasion of the Great Britain.
This will be shown through more maps, Stock footage as well as
newspaper cuttings showing the commanders at the time and the state
of the British and German Governments.

Narrator:
The Germans used three main bombers, the Heinkel HE 111, Junkers Ju
88 and this (Model of Dornier) the Dornier DO 17 also known as the
flying pencil due to its thin fuselage. It wasn’t a particularly
good bomber in that it was slow, short ranged and offered low
protection against enemy fighters. However, despite all this it was
popular with aircrew and German commanders alike due to its
reliability and manoeuvrability. It was also structurally strong
and could take more hits than other bombers of its size.

The Heinkel HE 111 was once a formidable bomber, however by the

Battle of Britain it was starting to show its age. Despite being
heavily armoured and well-armed it was very under-powered and was
slow and difficult to manoeuvre. The Junkers JU88 was Germanies most
recent bomber and the battle of Britain would see its first use on a
large scale. It was arguably the best bomber of the war and a
formidable enemy for the British. It was fast, versatile and had a
superb range, making it the RAF’s most feared Bomber.
The Germans at the start of the war also had the Stuka Dive Bomber.
This was a single engine, short ranged bomber which had been very
effective in the previous Blitzkrieg campaigns, where Germany ruled
 the skies but during the Battle of Britain its lack of speed and
manoeuvrability meant it was easy prey for British fighters. They
would be withdrawn from the battle early after over 300 had been
lost or destroyed.

All to be shot with diagrams and models with the main emphasis being
the Dornier. The end of the shot will fall back on the Dornier then
being set ablaze by a spitfire coming in from behind, the next
section will be focused on the Allies aircraft.

Narration:
The British had this… [Spitfire comes into shot] arguably the most
recognisable and famous plane of the war, the Supermarine Spitfire.
It was one of the first next generation fighter planes being made of
metal rather than wood and fabric. Its skin was constructed by
melting stretched metal around the skeleton of the aircraft. It was
maximised for speed so had a 1030 horse power, Rolls Royce Merlin
engine. The wings were extremely thin but their iconic shape helped
them stay strong even in a tight turn. The new manufacturing
techniques needed to manufacture the plane were a problem in a war
zone environment and production of spitfires was painfully slow.
Only 1/3 of British fighter aircraft in the war would be Spitfires.
In the hands of a good pilot, the spitfire could be deadly but the
plane was notoriously difficult to fly and land in the hands of
beginners. The aircraft also wasn’t fuel injected so could not go
upside down or dive without the plane stalling due to a lack of fuel
in the cylinders. This was especially problematic if the plane
entered a spin and it would almost always prove fatal.

This will be the models with computer generated labels to help back
up what the Narrator is saying.

Narration:
The real work horse for the RAF was the Hawker Hurricane. It was far
simpler than the Spitfire made from wood and fabric around a metal
frame. Despite this, it was still an effective weapon due to its
ability to be built in large numbers. This was due to simpler
construction methods and so made up 2/3 of RAF fighter aircraft. The
plane was also fitted with the same Merlin Engine as the spitfire as
well as a similar propeller. The Hurricane however was arguably
safer for pilots as it had armour behind the pilot and between him
and the engine. It was favoured more by beginner pilots as it was
easier to fly, land and was quick to repair.
This will be shown with stock footage and a diagram however some of
it may be cut depending on how long this section goes on for. It
will then cut back to the spitfire flying as it gets shot down by a
109.

Narrator:
The job given to protect the German bombers went to this… [109 come
into view] the Messerschmitt BF 109E. It was matched pretty well to
the Spitfire and in many ways had a lot of advantages over British
Aircraft. For one, the 109 was fuel injected so wouldn’t stall in a
dive or a loop. However, its wings weren’t as strong compared to the
Spitfire so it couldn’t turn as tightly, its biggest failure though,
was landing. Due to its short wheel base, 5% of all 109s built
would be destroyed in landing accidents.

This will also be demonstrated in the same way the spitfire was
maybe even with a mini dog fight shown if there is time to shoot.

Narrator:
The first main bombing raids began on the 10th of July 1940, with
small collections of German bombers hitting strategic shipping
lanes. In theory the RAF had the advantage as it was easier to
shoot down bombers in clear skies. However, the RAF was trying to
preserve fighters and crew for the defence of the mainland so only a
small collection of fighters would intercept, giving the Luftwaffe
clear runs at their targets. Most of these early battles resulted in
a worrying trend for the RAF, the Luftwaffe were generally coming
out of most engagements on top with the RAF suffering relatively
high casualties. This success was being repeated on the ground. In
the first 6 weeks of the battle over 40,000 tonnes of Allied
shipping were destroyed.
This will be shown through maps and model shots.

Narrator:
These attacks would pale in comparison to what the Luftwaffe had
planned next. On July the 18th they started bombing on a scale never
before seen. 100 bombers took off from France and set course towards
Britain’s airfields and factories. This attack like many others was
conducted at night which was great for concealing their actions
against Anti-aircraft fire and fighter aircraft but terrible for
precision bombing of targets. Sometimes they wouldn’t even find the
right location missing the target altogether.
This will be shown by 3D maps and stock footage

Narrator:
The Germans realised that Britain had a secret weapon, radar. During
the 1930’s Britain had set up an experimental new radar system code
named ‘Chain Home’. It comprised of radar stations along the East,
South and West coasts of the United Kingdom. These gathered
information on incoming aircraft which was passed straight to
fighter command HQ at Bentley Priory where they could determine
where the Luftwaffe were approaching from and how many bombers were
incoming. This Information was then passed on to Fighter Command
who would work out how many fighters were needed to intercept and
which of the 4 fighter command groups in the UK would be chosen to
incept. Each of these fighter command stations would decide which of
the airfields within in its command would be scrambled. The Long-
range radar could detect planes 150 miles away, which included some
land over France and Belgium, however these could not detect low
flying aircraft. So, a second array of short-range Radar stations
would detect these low flyers, but they were greatly reduced in
range to only about 50 miles. The Germans knew the British had this
technology partly because they had it themselves but they didn’t
have it on the same scale or have such an efficient network to
convey this information. The Germans realized if they could destroy
this radar system it would cause havoc in the British ranks and
allow a far easier entry for German bombers.

Despite 96 bombers, 16 of which were specialised, being sent over

to destroy the radar stations on the morning of August the 12th, only
minimal damage was sustained and the British had all but 1 of the
stations back up and running by the next day. So, when the German
bomber fleet arrived the following day they were surprised to be
intercepted by the RAF. The raid hadn’t been a success. Of the over
1000 Luftwaffe Aircraft sent over that day, 49 were shot down or
crashed, while the British only lost 18 fighters with only 3 of
those pilots being killed. Surprisingly low losses for both sides.

This will be shown through stock footage and the 3D maps and maybe a
clock to show the passing of time.

Narrator:
Despite all the action taking place down South, the North of Britain
had remained relatively untouched. The Germans took a gamble when
they assumed that there were no radar stations in the North and no
fighters. They thought these would have been directed down south.
This theory was tested on the 15th of August, as 151 aircraft took
off from Norway and Denmark. The British did in fact have radar up
north and still had a fleet of mostly Hurricanes on standby. This
fleet engaged the Luftwaffe over the North Sea and over 20 Luftwaffe
aircraft were destroyed. This would be the first and only day-time
raid over the north.

This will be shot with models and maps again

Narrator:
Despite this success the strain of the relentless bombing of British
airfields was starting to take its toll. By the 1st of September
many airfields only had a handful of experienced pilots. New pilots
were only getting 9-10 hours flying time in modern planes before
being sent into battle. Production of planes had now, for the first
time, been outstripped by aircraft losses. The Germans were also
struggling to retain their advantage, so far 229 German pilots had
been killed or captured with another 264 missing, so confidence was
starting to run thin within its ranks.

This will all be shown by diagram and stock footage.

Narrator:
Luck was about to change for the RAF. On the 24th of August a handful
of German bombers accidentally bombed London. In retaliation, what
was left of Britain’s Bomber force had been instructed to hit the
German heartland, Berlin. 11 raids were made on the German Capital
and although the casualties and damage were relatively low, Hitler
was outraged. [Clip of Hitler declaring he was going to bomb
Civilian targets]. Hitler personally ordered that raids of London
would commence to avenge the Berlin attacks.
On September the 7th these attack plans came to fruition as over
1,200 German aircraft descended onto London’s Docks setting fire to
flammable warehouses, ships and neighbourhoods, resulting in the
deaths of 448 civilians and dealing a crippling blow to British
Moral.

This will be shown via stock footage of Hitler and Berlin and
London, models and maps.
 Narrator:
After continued attacks on the Capital and other large cities it
became evident to the RAF that the German strategy had changed.
Despite taking a massive toll on the occupants of London it was
brilliant news for the RAF. This respite and non-bombing of
airfields allowed time for the repair of aircraft, airfields and
gave the pilots and ground crew time to recover. Hitler had just
shot himself in the foot, this would be the turning point for the
Battle of Britain.
Stock footage with an ending shot of spitfires coming out of the
clouds representing the turning point.

Narrator:
The last final push for the Germans would come on September 15th.
This attack was designed to crush British moral and force them into
surrendering. German intelligence reckoned that the RAF must be down
to its last 150 fighter aircraft. They were wrong, the RAF met every
single wave of German bombers resulting in some bombers leaving the
battle early and heading back for France, emptying their loads over
the Channel. It was the beginning of the end of the Battle of
Britain. This battle ended up being known as “Battle of Britain Day”
and many argue that this was Germanies last real attempt at victory.
68 Luftwaffe aircraft were lost, destroyed or crash landed. In
comparison the RAF lost exactly half that amount, 34 RAF aircraft
were lost or destroyed.
This will be shot with stock footage and diagrams.

Narrator:
2 days after the failure of this attack Hitler declared the German
Invasion of Britain, would be postponed… indefinitely. German
Bombing of London however, continued for another 8 months till May
1941. These bombing raids destroyed one third of London, 32,000
civilians were killed as 21,000 tons of Bombs were dropped in an
attempt to destroy British Morale. It was hoped the British people
would petition the Government to surrender, this surrender never
came. There is a slight irony to the Blitz because the British and
Americans by 1945 had dropped 45,000 tons of bombs onto Berlin,
double the amount of the London Blitz using the same bombing tactics
the German had used just 3 years earlier.

During the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe lost 1733 aircraft, 40%
of their fighters. Over 2,600 German pilots were killed or reported
missing. For the RAF 746 British fighters were lost and 520 pilots
 reported killed or missing. 4 years later on the 6th of June 1944
Britain would be used as a springboard for the Allied invasion of
France and resulting in the subsequent surrender of Nazi Germany on
May 7, 1945. Hitler would commit suicide on 30th April 1945 marking
the final blow for the Nazi party.
This section may not be included and will only be used as a time
filler, if the Program is under 8 minutes. It will use either stock
footage or more models depending on how much time is left and if I
can get the Lancaster Bomber Model working in time. It may also use
diagrams to explain the amount of dead, injured and bombs.