Those were important factors but I think it is a bit of an overstatement to say that all tactical factors favored the RAF. The Germans had around 4-5 times more aircraft and pilots, better trained and more combat experienced pilots and momentum on their side. Radar was indeed very helpful, as was the much superior British C&C system. And then of course the Germans had Goring and Hitler.
Those were important factors but I think it is a bit of an overstatement to say that all tactical factors favored the RAF. The Germans had around 4-5 times more aircraft and pilots, better trained and more combat experienced pilots and momentum on their side. Radar was indeed very helpful, as was the much superior British C&C system. And then of course the Germans had Goring and Hitler.
No the number is simply offense versus defense but the British bomber numbers wouldn't have raised it to anything approaching good odds, although they were indeed helpful. As it was, many bomber pilots were being borrowed for fighter duty so they had little if any reserve.
Those were important factors but I think it is a bit of an overstatement to say that all tactical factors favored the RAF. The Germans had around 4-5 times more aircraft and pilots, better trained and more combat experienced pilots and momentum on their side. Radar was indeed very helpful, as was the much superior British C&C system. And then of course the Germans had Goring and Hitler.
Mitch I have nothing but respect, as I hope you can tell from my last post, for those RAF pilots who fought in the BoB. The fact that I trained as a fighter pilot and flew aircraft in combat makes me all the more appreciative of the vastly more challenging experience they had in the BoB. It also means I have some real world idea of how fighter combat worked then and now. That does not mean that the impressions of those who were interviewed for that one documentary are more accurate than all the other data available. Moreover, you have suggested nothing specific about those comments that would cause them to supersede the factual comparisons that can be made, the tests flown by test pilots and ex aces since then and the competing observations made then by many RAF and even biased German aces. It is not as though all ex BoB pilots say one thing and everyone else the other. All this makes what I take as your characterization of my conclusion as a simplistic reliance on befuddled minds rather unfathomable. As I have said numerous times, I don't mind what you chose to believe, I am merely offering some reasons why that belief may not be as well founded as suggested.
Assuming those numbers are accurate, I think 3:1 is a valid conclusion. The Hurricanes were mostly tasked to attack the bombers and were outnumbered there alone 1.5:1. Add the twin engine fighters and it is near 2:1. Also, it typically did take more that one fighter to bring down a bomber so even conservatively, that is a 2:1 deficiency. That leaves the remaining 334 Spitfires against 805 German single engine fighters, the majority of which were 109Es. Couple that with the fact that the Hurricanes and Spitfires were scattered around the UK and only about 1/2 available to counter usual southern oriented BoB attacks and I think 3:1 is pretty conservative practical number. I also think the RAF servicability numbers got relatively worse before the BoB was over and when you add availability of experienced pilots, it looks more like an effective ratio of 4:1 for defense versus offense to me.
But Rob, I thought it was "the end of the beginning."
Understood mate, the sun is not yet below the ole yard arm here.