Like Hitler, Churchill had experienced war. This was in both the Boer war in South Africa and in the Great War of 1914-1918. Even in South Africa in 1899 as a war correspondent he was an organizer. "I told Buller on the advance at Spion Kop that he was headed for disaster and if he had done as I suggested it would have been just a little easier. But he was but a General and I only a correspondent".

Churchill returned from South Africa in 1900 and immediately stood as a conservative candidate for the seat of Oldham and in the General Election won the second seat from the Liberals with only a slender majority. He was critical of his own party from the very beginning and in the House of Commons and in 1903 gave praise to the Liberal opposition on the matter of Free Trade and by 1904 he joined the Liberal party after much criticism with the Conservatives.

In 1911 he was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty and it became his task to prepare the Royal Navy for the possibility of war. This position was given to him because of his great showing of leadership, his natural instinct as a tactician and his unique approach to organisation in the field as well as from behind a desk. In 1914, at the outbreak of the First World War Churchill's Naval Fleet showed the greatest assembly of Naval power ever seen by Britain, he showed that the Fleet was ready and prepared for war. But in 1915, after a disagreement regarding Naval strategy with the First Sea Lord John Fisher, Churchill resigned his post just as the Conservatives formed a Coalition Government.

He applied and was accepted into the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich in 1899, the same year that Winston Churchill departed for South Africa and the Boer War. Dowding wanted to become an engineer, but failed in his bid and was accepted as a gunner instead. After spending some ten years with various garrisons around the world, he returned to England and took flying lessons at Brooklands. His father heard about it and instructed him not to fly again because it was too dangerous. Dowding, who respected his fathers Victorian ways obeyed and gave up flying even though he passed his flying tests and gained his wings.

But being 'grounded' did not last long, in a matter of weeks England was at war with Germany and Dowding now as a qualified pilot was called up into the Royal Flying Corps. Promotion came quickly, in 1915 he was a squadron commander and by 1918 after seeing the war through became a Brigadier. Britain was now reforming its air power and the new Royal Air Force came into being to which Dowding was transferred. He made his presence felt immediately with his ideas, and with the Spitfire and the Hurricane undertaking prototype testing he could see that tactics would have to change with the newer more manoeuvrable and faster aircraft, and being the Air Member for Supply and Research which he accepted in 1930 he was transferred from planning the technology of air defence to that of commanding Britain's fighters in the field.

He took up office at Bentley Priory in 1936 with a residence close by. Hugh Dowding was not a man that made friends easily, he was a difficult sort of man, arrogant to many, a very self-opinionated man who was a loner and described by many as rather eccentric. But it was his determination and his knowledge of air warfare, his ability as a tactician that having the rank of Air Chief Marshal was given the task of being the Commander-in- Chief of Fighter Command at the outbreak of the Second World War. He chose Keith Park as the AOC of 11 Group which was to be Britain's front line of defence, Dowding chose Park because he knew that this was the man that would get things done.

Even though Dowding was respected by both ground control and the aircrews, there was often bitter feelings with other leaders and those in authority. When France requested assistance from Britain, it was Dowding who refused to commit additional fighter squadrons be sent saying 'I cannot allow squadrons to be based in France because losses would seriously deplete our fighting strength, a strength that would be needed to defend itself from the enemy'. See the famous letter that he wrote to Prime Minister Winston Churchill refusing Churchill's request for more fighter aircraft to be sent to France in [ Document-7 ]

It was during the evacuation of troops from Dunkirk that Keith Park organised the air protection, shuttling his fighters back and forth across the English Channel and intercepting the Luftwaffe before they could attack the tired and exhausted British troops on the beaches. Park had limited aircraft that could be deployed on these missions, and what aircraft did take part could only spend limited time over the battle area before they were left with only enough fuel to return to base.

Members of the British Expeditionary Force greatly criticised the Royal Air Force for not doing enough and providing greater cover for them, and further placed much of the blame for the number of casualties sustained on the beaches to the RAF. After the evacuation, it was not safe for a pilot of the RAF to mingle or be seen near any members of the Army, he was either spat at, assaulted or verbally abused. It was not until the resounding success of the Battle of Britain did the RAF get the respect that they deserved and even then, many soldiers could still not forgive the RAF for what happened at Dunkirk. Park later stated that, under the circumstances he done his best with what was made available to him, and that he sympathised with those that had turned against him, but the experiences that our fighter pilots had over Dunkirk placed them in high stead, and gave them the experience that they needed for the Battle of Britain that was to follow.

Dowding agreed with Park, but there was always the constant argument that the new pilots were too 'green', and Park made no bones about it. "I have pilots here that are still thinking they are turning left and right, they have no idea what port and starboard are. There are pilots who think that the radio is for idle chit-chat, they have no radio knowledge at all. Fourteen to twenty hours in a Spit and they are given their wings.....it's downright ridiculous". Dowding sympathised, "I know" his voice was solemn, which for Dowding was normal, "but we must be prepared, London could be attacked at any time, and we must be ready. These boys are young, keen and they're trying, they are intelligent enough that after two sorties they will have all the experience they need".

In 1937, he had visions of becoming the commander of 11 Group a position that he wanted and a position that many expected him to get, but Hugh Dowding gave the prestigious position to Keith Park and assigning Leigh-Mallory to 12 Group, a decision that Leigh- Mallory resented and throughout the Battle of Britain period considerable bitterness was shown between the three.

One of Leigh-Mallory's squadron commanders was Douglas Bader, 'tin legs' as he became known, and both Bader and Leigh-Mallory were firm believers of the 'Big Wing' where fighters could attack in large formations, in fact the 'Big Wing' theory was developed by Bader, but Dowding was not in favour if this, believing that too many aircraft would take too long to disperse and large formations of fighters would get in each others way. But it was not until towards the end of the battle where Dowding agreed, and the 'Big Wing' theory was responsible for many of the enemy aircraft shot down over London. Dowding would remember this when 12 Group was called upon to assist and protect the northern fighter bases of 11 Group, Leigh-Mallory employed the 'Big Wing' theory and it proved to be a failure.

Prior to 1940, all aircraft were maintained and repaired by the Royal Air Force. By 1938, the Air Ministry believed that the creation of a repair and salvage organisation was needed, and that a group within the RAF staffed by service men and women be instituted. When war was declared in September 1939, the Air Ministry soon realized that service personnel could not be spared on the venture because all available manpower would be required near the front line. Lord Nuffield, head of Morris Motors was given the job of creating a civilian organisation that would be known as the Civilian Repair Organisation, and its task was to do all the repair and salvage work for the RAF.

Lord Nuffield created a chain of repair shops on RAF airfields, civil aerodromes, garages and by taking over a number of large factory areas across the length and breadth of Great Britain. Most of the engineers had to learn from the basics making the transition from motor cars to aircraft. The headquarters for the CRO was at Merton College in Oxford. Automotive engineers and bodywork repairers not only repaired damaged aircraft, but they would attempt to make one good aircraft out of the pieces of two or three "write offs", it was to become a challenge that was to pay off.

On May 14th 1940, the Ministry of Aircraft Production was created, the Civilian Repair Organisation was incorporated into it from the Air Ministry and Lord Nuffield resigned his position. The man that was to replace Lord Nuffield was Lord Beaverbrook. The task of the ministry was not only for the production of new aircraft, but had now taken control of the established Civilian Repair Organisation (CRO).

Beaverbrook gave himself total control over aircraft production. He would decide as to which aircraft would be produced, he would decide as to which proportionate numbers they would be produced and it was his decision that with the threat of a German invasion possible at any time, fighter production should be given the utmost priority even at the expense of bomber production. He instigated scrap metal drives amongst the British peoples, posters were printed requesting everybody to save their old pots, pans and kettles and donate them to the government.

Newspapers ran advertisements asking that people hand in any old metal appliances because their contribution will build the planes that will fly against Hitler. The system worked, even though in reality, very little of the scrap was ever used in aircraft construction, but it gave the British people the satisfaction that all the people were pulling together and 'doing their bit' for their country. Overall it boosted their morale, it was another phase that the government were getting the people involved. By 1940, what was once a faltering British aircraft industry, Beaverbrook had the aircraft factories churning out some 500 Spitfires and Hurricanes each month which was considerably more than the Germans were producing at the time. In fact so many aircraft were being produced, Britain could now boast that they had more fighter aircraft than they had pilots to fly them.

New aircraft rolled off the production lines, new aircraft were coming out of the Civilian Repair Organisation workshops to compliment the all new production aircraft. The CRO were undertaking repairs at a phenomenal rate. Often, when a repair could be done within twenty-four hours, the pilot would wait for it and fly it back to base almost the same day. These were to be known as the "Fly In" repairs and it became a regular occurrence during the Battle of Britain that pilots with a damaged aircraft would fly in, wait for the repair then fly out and into the battle once again. This became known as the "Out-patients department".

The Versailles Treaty made a mockery out of the German military regime, the German people were at their lowest ebb with no jobs, no money and no pride. Hitler promised his people he would restore everything that they had taken away from them despite the conditions of the treaty. He took the young children off the streets and organised a Hitler Youth Movement, he reorganised the military and by forming such organisations as the SS, the SD and the Gestapo he then set about to take control of the whole of Northern Europe. One by one countries fell to him, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Poland, Holland, Belgium and finally France. By now he had restored faith to the German people, he had shown them that Germany was a power, a power that will make the world take notice.

The next step was Britain, and with Italy entering the war and taking the side of Germany, Hitler announced to Field Marshal von Rundstedt that an invasion of Britain may not be necessary because they should by now be willing to make peace. Later, knowing that Churchill was not going to be intimidated by backing down Hitler wrote '.....I can see we are dealing with a fool......and will fight on until those in power on Britain and in France are prepared to respect the rights of our two peoples to exist.'

He was a hero in the first World War having shot down twenty-two aircraft. He received the Blue Max, Germany's highest award for valour, he took over the role previously played by Baron Von Richtofen (the Red Baron) and it was not until 1922 that he joined the Nazis at a time when the party was fighting for power. He was a politically motivated man and displayed great loyalty to his leader Adolf Hitler for which he was immediately adorned with medals, titles and a promise of comfortable living. He immediately rose to the rank of Second in Command only to Hitler himself, and this gave him considerable power. In 1933, Goering created the police organisation that was to become known as 'The Gestapo' an organisation to which many Germans themselves did not feel safe from. Goering also played an important part in the establishment of the concentration camps and finally he was given the power to form the most powerful air force in the world despite the restrictions that had been placed on Germany at the Versailles Treaty.

Hitler was not a man that liked to be humiliated, and when Goering's Luftwaffe failed to destroy and stop the British withdrawal at Dunkirk Goering fell out of favour with Hitler. Many promises were made by Goering which Adolf Hitler expected to be kept, but most of these promises turned to failure. Goering promised to smash the RAF airfields in southern England and destroy the Royal Air Force on the ground. This did not happen, the RAF engaged in serious dogfights over the southern countryside and although many airfields were badly damaged, none were completely put out of action. When London was accidentally bombed, it was Goering's decision to continue bombing London, but figures show that on every occasion, the Luftwaffe lost more aircraft than did the RAF.

"I learnt the art of flying to fly planes" he retorted, "not to sit at a damn desk and listen about others that were doing the job that I prepared myself for". He constantly pleaded and pestered his superiors about getting back in the air, for a while his requests fell on deaf ears but just prior to the outbreak of the Second World War he was transferred to a ground support unit flying out-dated and dilapidated biplanes. While other squadrons were flying the now established Messerschmitt Bf109, Galland was keen to fly these faster and exciting machines and he managed to enrol the services of a physician who was to fabricate his medical records that in the interests of his health it was not advisable that he should continue flying in aircraft with open cockpits. He was immediately transferred to JG27 a Bf109 squadron in eastern France but to his disappointment he was made adjutant and once again found himself involved only with mountains of paperwork with very little time set aside for flying. On his very first combat assignment he shot down a Hurricane of the Belgian Air Force, then later in the day he shot down two others saying, "....there was nothing special about it, I had not felt any excitement and I was certainly not elated at my success".

With the onset of the Battle of Britain and engaging in many more combat duties his total number of 'kills' mounted quickly. During the Battle of Britain, Adolf Galland was credited with 37 'kills' while up to the end of 1940 he increased this to a massive 58. When Werner Molders, who was General of Fighters of the Luftwaffe was killed in November 1941, Adolf Galland was promoted to command the Luftwaffe fighter arm which he done most effectively. But probably the most notable remark that Galland made was when, at the stage when the Luftwaffe was sustaining heavy losses to the RAF. Göering asked of him that if he could beat the RAF he (Galland) could have anything that he wanted, he only had to name it, to which Galland replied "Then give me a squadron of Spitfires". Göering, was not impressed.

General Galland was to survive the war and held no animosity towards his RAF enemy. He always stated that his duty, like that of the British flyer was that of a professional soldier. He respected the courage and the dedication of the pilots of the RAF and honour's them as his friends. One of those great friendships was with Britain's own legend, Bob Stanford-Tuck. Many times Adolf Galland invited Stanford-Tuck to his Bavarian hunting lodge where they enjoyed the sport of hunting, this time not the enemy, but the deer of the forests.

One department that Germany was allowed to have was a Defence Ministry. A General von Seeckt was of firm belief that the role of air power in a future defence system was of vital importance and was eager to see Germany build a new a strong Air Force. In 1921 the General was to induce three men into the Reichswehr Ministry in Berlin, who he thought were of sound background and had all the qualities of leadership. Unknown at the time, they were to hold positions of high office in the Second World War, and well known names during the Battle of Britain. One was Albert Kesselring, another was Hans Jurgen Stumpff while the third was Hugo Sperle. All three became commanders of three of the Air Fleets that were closest to Britain that were to impose the greatest threats during the air attacks on Great Britain. Stumpff commanded Luftflotte (Air Fleet) 5 in Norway. Kesselring commanded Luftflotte 2 from Eastern France, Belgium, Holland, Germany and Denmark, while Sperle was commander of Luftflotte 3 from Western and Central France.

On returning to Germany after fighting in Spain, Hugo Sperrle took up his position with Luftflotte 3 in the south of Germany and rose to the rank of General. The squadrons under his command took place in the conquest of Western Europe and later the area of the Luftflotte 3 was increased to take in the centre and the western areas of France when that country surrendered in June 1940. Sperrle made his headquarters in the City of Paris and he was given a life of luxury after taking over the Palais du Luxembourg where he would conduct his operations from, with a large contingent of non-commissioned officers to wait on him and to provide him with all his needs. Like Goering, he loved the life of luxury and came to appreciate old masters paintings which adorned the prestigious building.