On Sun, 07 Mar 2010 11:36:22 -0600, Dan wrote:

Ray O'Hara wrote:
"Alan Dicey" wrote in message
o.uk...
Paul Saccani wrote:
wrote:
British aerial victory claims are vastly exagerated in the BoB.
Indeed, to say the least.
*Were* exaggerated, at the time, because of confusion (even though both
sides were quite rigorous in their verification) and to help morale.

We still won.

The Germans also overclaimed - their intelligence system several times
reported that the RAF was down to its last few aircraft. It's one reason
why the appearance of the formed-up Big Wing on September 15th was such a
shock.

"Here they come again, the last 20 Spitfires..."


won? the British bombing German cities causing retaliation against London
"won" the battle.



Check your history.

He's right. The Luftwaffe acidently bombed London, so the British
carried out a larger strikes against German cities. This enraged a
certain vegetarian nut case into ordering the main effort against
London, instead of Fighter Command and aircraft factories.

If that had not of happened, Fighter Command was on the verge of
collapse (in their own assessments), the Germans would have achieved
air superiority, perhaps even air dominance, and the UK's production
capability and war fighting potential would have been greatly
effected. Though the Germans would have received a hiding if they
attempted an invasion.

AFAIK, Sea Lion was always a high level deception against Russia in
any case.

Cheers,

Paul Saccani,
Perth,
Western Australia