Slough Museum :: The Second World War

The Battle of Britain

In August 1940 the German air force began mass bombing attacks on British airfields, harbours , aircraft factories and radar stations. Over the next three months the Royal Air Force (RAF) lost 792 planes and over 500 pilots were killed.

This period is known as the Battle of Britain. The Luftwaffe (German air force) tried to destroy the RAF. The Hurricane and Spitfire aircrafts were invaluable to the RAF during the Battle of Britain. In total 15,000 Hurricanes were made, a lot of these were made in Langley.

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	Brain Kneebone remembers the Battle of Britain
"I remember watching the Battle of Britain. I could clearly see the dog fights. I could clearly see planes being hit and going down.....I was not squeamish......You just accepted everything."

John Daniel remembers the Battle of Britain

" During the War we lived near Northolt which had Hurricanes. A couple of the squadrons were Polish.

During the Battle of Britain a Heinkel soared over our house and I ran to the back door to watch it. It was so low that I could actually see the pilot in the cockpit. I heard the rat-a-tat of the guns as a Hurricane raced across the front of the Heinkel about 100 yards away. My mother then grabbed me & put me under the table. The Heinkel was brought down on the borders of Yeading & Greenford"