Rolls Royce 1949 tribute to the pilots who flew in the Battle of Britain. The inscription reads: "This window commemorates the Pilots of the Royal Air Force who in the Battle of Britain turned the work of our hands into the salvation of our Country."

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. --Winston Churchill

About the Battle of Britain

Battle of Britain is the name given to the strategic effort by the German Luftwaffe during the Second World War to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force (RAF) derived from an 18 June 1940 speech in the House of Commons by Prime Minister Winston Churchill, "The Battle of France is over. I expect the Battle of Britain is about to begin. ...Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war... Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth lasts for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'"

Had it been successful, planned amphibious assault and airborne landings in Britain would have followed (Operation Sealion). The Battle of Britain was the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces. It was the largest and most sustained bombing campaign attempted to date and the first real test of the strategic bombing[citation needed] theories developed since the First World War. The failure of Nazi Germany to destroy Britain's air defence or to break British morale is considered the Third Reich's first major defeat.

Neither Hitler or the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) believed it possible to carry out a successful amphibious assault on the British Isles until the RAF had been neutralized. Secondary objectives were to destroy aircraft production and ground infrastructure, to attack areas of political significance, and to terrorize the British people into seeking an armistice or surrender. Some historians have argued no invasion could have succeeded, asserting the massive superiority of the Royal Navy over the Kriegsmarine would have made Sealion a disaster. They argue the Luftwaffe would have been unable to prevent decisive intervention by British cruisers and destroyers, even with air superiority.

British historians date the battle from 10 July to 31 October 1940, which represented the most intense period of daylight bombing. German historians usually place the beginning of the battle in mid-August 1940 and end it in May 1941, on the withdrawal of the bomber units in preparation for the attack on the USSR.