News came through that on Monday September 4th 1939, Blenheims and Wellington bombers had attacked Wilhelmshaven Harbour where the German warships Admiral Scheer, Admiral Hipper and the Emden were docked. No damage was done to the ships, many of the bombs failing to explode, but the first British casualties of the was had been sustained. 17 officers and NCO's of Bomber Command had been killed on these raids. At many of the British airfields of Bomber Command, the sound of bombers taking off from Bomber Command airfields started to become a regular occurrence. Most of the sorties were leaflet drops, but to the average Englishman wandering the countryside and seeing squadrons of bombers roaring into the sky, suddenly realized that his country was at war in earnest. [2]

But the period up until early April 1940 was to be dubbed by the Americans as 'The Phoney War', or what we might term today as 'The Clayton's War'.....the war you have when your not having a war. Everybody had visions of German bombers coming over the Channel and demolishing British cities and towns, of German tanks, infantry and paratroopers dropping out of the sky. The action at this time was still in Europe. Hitler and his armies were still busy taking Poland and marching on Warsaw, which they could do uninterrupted because, although Britain and France stated that they would stand by Poland in the event of any invasion by Germany, they done nothing. Nothing was done to assist the Polish in any way, a disgrace? maybe, but we should remember, that although Britain had declared war on Germany, it was really not prepared for war at that time. The RAF was not strong enough both in manpower or in aircraft, the Army was not a trained fighting force and lacked numbers to launch any form of attack. The only strong force, was the Royal Navy as it had always been, but, you cannot fight a war on land with a Navy. This 'Phoney War' gave Britain the time needed to strengthen its military forces, and prepare the situation on the Home Front.....at the expense of Poland.

Although many plans and precautions had been laid out prior to the outbreak of war, none had been brought in to affect the British peoples prior to the declaration of the war. Immediately after 3rd September 1939, most of these basic plans would now be brought into service and tested. The people were now to feel the effects of all these precautionary measures, yet still were not to experience any form of war over England for some months. The rationing of food, clothing and petrol [ Document-3 ] became a reality, prices began to change, [ Document-3a ] and then there was protection from bombing raids were by way of air raid shelters [ Document-4 ], the Anderson shelter was supplied by local councils while solid brick and concrete shelters were built in roadways. The government arranged the mass evacuation of children [ Document-5 ], women and the elderly.

At this time, different people had many and varied views as to how the war would come, but for the first few months at least, just  about everybody was allowed to go about their business as they had done in the many months beforehand. In fact, if it were not for the number of precautionary measures that Britain was now implementing, one would not think that there was a war on at all.

As far as action was concerned, Hitler was still continuing with his Blitzkrieg (Lightning Strike) of Poland and moving closer to Warsaw, then he took the Polish corridor between Germany and East Prussia and claimed the important seaport of Danzig. Still Britain and France who by agreement did nothing to assist Poland. Germany continued the Blitzkrieg into Denmark and the way was clear for his further push north for the steel mines, industrial centres and seaports of Scandinavia. It was only when the Nazi Regimental Forces started their move through Norway on April 8th 1940 did Great Britain become involved and we shall see later how the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force suffered the first defeat of the war at the hands of the Germans.

Seven months had passed by the time of the Norwegian invasion and still Germany had shown no sign of aggression towards Great Britain. In fact the first bombs to fall on Britain was on May 9th 1940 in a wood near Canterbury (Kent) [1] During the Blitzkrieg on Poland, the Luftwaffe suffered many losses and over the next few months would have time to replenish its stocks of aircraft, bombs and spare parts. As far as administration was concerned, it remained very much the same prior to the outbreak of war as it did now, but it was a different story with the Royal Air Force. It had been way back in 1936 that the Air Defence System that had been originated just after the First World War had been reorganised. The Royal Air Force was divided into four commands, each one having a different function. These were Fighter Command, Bomber Command, Coastal Command and Training Command. Each command was given a high ranking officer that would take control of his respective Command. In July of 1936, Air Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding was appointed the Commander-in-Chief of Fighter Command. Dowding had to organise Fighter Command into a powerful yet functional means of defence of Britain. Radar was high on his list of priorities, Dowding had great faith in this, he had to organise Fighter Command in a way that it could work as a highly successful defence force, so he divided Fighter Command into four groups with a group commander in charge of each group.

The number of squadrons available to the RAF had been a much debated point since 1934 when news came through of Hitler's rise to power, Japan had departed from the League of Nations as did Germany who also walked out of the Disarmament Conference. Britain became aware of the fact that Germany was producing large numbers of civil aircraft and that a secret air force was being formed. [2]

During the 1930's, the aircraft used by the Royal Air Force were slow, cumbersome and were really only ideally suited to the conditions of WWI. Aircraft such as the Bristol Bulldog (1930), Hawker Hart (1930), Hawker Demon (1932), Gloster Gauntlet (1934), Hawker Fury (1936) and the Gloster Gladiator (1936) and now their was a need for improved aircraft to match those in operation by the Luftwaffe.

"Germany is already well on her way to become, and must become, incomparably the most heavily armed nation in the world and the nation most completely ready for war........We cannot have any anxieties comparable to the anxiety caused by German rearmament."
Winston Churchill to the House of Commons 21st October 1933

Spending on the RAF in 1938 when it was apparent that an involvement could be possible in Europe was £73.5 million, which was a great deal more than the £17.5 million that was spent in 1934.[3] Although most was to be spent on aircraft production, (considerable amounts were spent on land acquisition, radar, defence installations and administration buildings) new aircraft were designed that would be faster, more agile and better armed. Some were to prove successful in the years to come, while others, especially in combat duties were to prove inadequate.

The Boulton-Paul Defiant first prototype was flown on August 11th 1937, Bristol Blenheim, the first prototype being flown in early 1938 and delivered to RAF squadrons later that same year, Bristol Beaufighter, the first prototype flying on July 17th 1939 and being cleared for RAF service on July 26th 1940, De Havilland Mosquito, the first prototype flying on March 1st 1940 and entered service with the RAF in March 1942, Hawker Hurricane first prototype being flown on November 6th 1935 the initial delivery of the first Hurricanes were delivered on October 6th 1937 to 111 Squadron, and the Supermarine Spitfire which first flew on March 5th 1936 and the first series of these aircraft began flying on May 14th 1938 although they did not enter service until July 1938, the first Spitfires going to 19 Squadron at Duxford. [4] [5]