THE SKIES OF THE BATTLE OF

BRITAIN

Written by Callan Wintle

Narrated by Violet Matthew

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:
On the 1st September 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland. On the 3rd
September 1939, in support of their Polish ally, France and Britain
declared war on Germany. So began the Second World War.
On the 10th May 1940, Germany invaded Holland, Belgium and France. In
a brilliantly planned offensive, they cut off much of the French
army and most of the British Expeditionary force, trapping them at
Dunkirk. Only a miraculous rescue saved the Expeditionary force from
annihilation.
By using new tactics such as Blitzkrieg the Germans had conquered
far more quickly and efficiently than they had anticipated. They
achieved in six weeks what they had been unable to in the whole of
World War One, invade and conquer France.

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 her Army during their support
of France and the subsequent evacuation of Dunkirk. Hitler’s Deal
offered to spare the United Kingdom and her colonies as long as they
didn’t try to stop further German advances.
Many in the British cabinet wanted to accept this but the new Prime
Minister, Winston Churchill, rejected the peace offering. So, Hitler
reluctantly ordered the Invasion of the Great Britain.
The British did have one major advantage; 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. It will also use stock footage of Winston
Churchill.
The German plan was simple: Knock out the Royal Air Force allowing
the Luftwaffe, the German air force, to gain 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:
This plan depended on achieving 3 objectives. Firstly, gain 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. The
invasion was provisionally planned for some time in mid-September
but was subject to achieving air superiority.
The German plan needed good communication channels as well as good
planning from their leaders. However, Hitler was not whole heartedly
behind the operation as his main focus was on his plans to invade
Russia. As a result, he left much of the operational work to Herman
Goering and his Luftwaffe.
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 had three main bombers available to them: The Heinkel HE
111, The Junker 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
only offered its crew 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 Germany’s 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 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 had ruled the skies.
However, 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 on 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 10 th 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 and stock footage of
allied shipping.

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:
From early on in the Battle of Britain, the Germans became aware of
how effectively the British used 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 about 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 determine how many fighters were needed to
intercept and which of the 4 fighter command groups these planes
would come from. Each of these Fighter Command Stations would then
decide which of the airfields within its command needed to be
scrambled.
The Long-range radar could detect planes 150 miles away, which
included some areas over France and Belgium, however these could not
detect low flying aircraft. A second array of short-range Radar
stations would detect these low flyers, but they only had a range of
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. The Germans realized
if they could destroy this radar system it would cause havoc in the
British command structure and allow a far easier entry for German
bombers.
On the morning of August 12th, 96 bombers were sent over to destroy
some of the radar stations. However only minimal damage was
sustained and the British had all but 1 of the stations back up and
running by the following day. So, when the German bomber fleet
arrived the following day, they were surprised to be intercepted by
the RAF. The raid wasn’t 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 in the South of England, the
North of the country had remained relatively untouched. The Germans
assumed that there were no radar stations in the North and that any
fighters originally stationed there had been sent South to cover
losses. This theory was tested on the 15th of August, as 151
unescorted bombers took off from Norway and Denmark. However, the
British did in fact have radar and also several squadrons of mostly
Hurricanes on standby. These 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 Sea.

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 1 st 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. 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,
Britain’s Bomber force had been instructed to hit the German
Capital, Berlin. 11 raids were made 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 climax of the Battle of Britain came on the 15 th September. The
attack was designed to crush British moral and prepare the way for
an invasion. German intelligence reckoned that the RAF must be down
to its last 150 fighter aircraft. They were wrong, the RAF met every
single German attack resulting in some bombers leaving the field of
battle early and heading back for France, emptying their loads over
the Channel as they went. 68 Luftwaffe aircraft were lost, destroyed
or crash landed. In comparison the RAF lost only half that amount,
34 aircraft lost or destroyed. It was a comprehensive victory for
the RAF and the 15th September is now commemorated as ‘Battle of
Britain Day’.

This will be shot with stock footage and diagrams.

Narrator:
2 days later, Hitler declared that the Invasion of Britain would be
postponed… indefinitely. However, German Bombing of London continued
for another 8 months until 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. Many of
Britain’s other cities were also bombed. 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 by 1945,
the British and Americans 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 a few 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.

Britain remained in the fight and 4 years later, on the 6 th of June

1944, would be used as a springboard for the Allied invasion of
France. This opened up the second land front and led to the
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.

From here it will move onto the interview with Geoffrey Wellum which
will be re-edited and have the miniatures re-enact the dog fight he
is describing.