Battle of Britain

The Battle of Britain took place during World War II between Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Luftwaffe, Nazi Germany’s air force. From July 10 through October 31, 1940, pilots and support crews on both sides took to the skies and battled for control of airspace over Great Britain, Germany and the English Channel. It was the first battle in history fought solely in the air. The powerful, combat-experienced Luftwaffe hoped to conquer Britain easily, but the small RAF, later celebrated by Winston Churchill as "the few" proved a formidable enemy.

"The Darkest Hour" was a phrase coined by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to describe the period of World War II between the Fall of France in June 1940 and the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, when the British Empire and Commonwealth stood virtually alone against the Axis Powers in Europe.

On September 7, 1940, 300 German bombers raided London in what would be the first of 57 consecutive nights of bombing. This "blitzkrieg" would continue until May 1941.