Second World War

Air Forces of World War Two

Our aim is to portray the various air forces of the World War Two, their uniforms and flying equipment. We also have a collection of aircraft display models to include in any displays.

Royal Air Force

Formed on the 1st April 1918 from the merger of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service the RAF became a truly independent arm of the United Kingdom. The RAF faced its toughest test at the start of World War Two. New aircraft like the Spitfire and Hurricane were reaching the squadrons yet other obsolete types were still being used out of necessity like the Fairey Battle and Gloster Gladiator. For the offensive arm of the RAF there were no four engined bombers yet. Twin engined bombers included the redoubtable Vickers Wellington, the Whitley and Hampden. The RAF reflected the ‘world war’ in that it had foreign personnel in its squadrons. These included American (the Eagle Squadron before the USA entered the war), the Canadians, Polish, Czech and Free French.

From July to September 1940 the Luftwaffe losses amounted to 1636 aircraft with 1184 of those due to enemy action.

The RAF losses amounted to 1250 aircraft which included 1017 fighters.

At the start of the conflict the RAF had only 37 operational fighter squadrons. Between 1939 and 1941 Fighter Command lost over 1,000 aircrew.

Bomber Command suffered 46% losses during the conflict out of a total of 125,000 airmen 57,205 were killed. A total of 8,403 were wounded in action and 9,838 became prisoners of war. Due to high losses in daylight raids the RAF switched to bombing at night. Equipped with only twin engined bombers at the start it wasn’t until later that the four engined bombers with a greater range came into service. The first of these was the Short Stirling aircraft followed by the Lancaster and Halifax.

The rescue of downed pilots in the sea was initially not effectively carried out by the RAF while the German had a better organised recuse service. It was only later that the famous Air Sea Rescue launches, manned by RAF personnel, were involved in the rescue of pilots.

Luftwaffe

The German air force or Luftwaffe was developed secretly during the 1930s under the guise of gliding clubs and commercial airlines. Tested in the Spanish Civil War in which Germany assisted the regime of General Franco the experience helped to fine tune tactics that would later be used in Poland, France and other countries. With world class fighter aircraft at the start of the war they developed rocket and jet propelled aircraft as well as the famous V1 and V2 rockets. The disadvantage of the bomber arm of the Luftwaffe is that it was envisaged as largely a tactical weapon in support of armies. It lacked any successful long range aircraft which limited its ability to extend its reach.

At the start of the war the Luftwaffe had a core of vastly experienced aircrew to call upon and their effectiveness was obvious in combat. As the war progressed this core was reduced due to losses in combat and the quality of the training of replacement pilots was inadequate, mainly due to shortage of fuel for training flights.

US Army Air Force

The US entered the war in December 1941 and they agreed with Britain that Germany would be the main target. Consequently the US Army Air Force established its staff in Britain later followed the aircraft, aircrew and ground crew. The main aircraft for the bombing campaign was the B17 Flying Fortress, later joined by the B24 Liberator and medium bombers such as the B25 Mitchell. Reliant upon tight formation keeping and numerous .50 calibre machine guns it was felt that the bombers would be successful in reaching their target in daylight. The Luftwaffe adapted to this new threat and losses began to mount because of the limited range of any escorting fighter aircraft. It wasn’t until later that the arrival of the Mustang fighter aircraft fitted with a Rolls Royce engine enabled the bombers to be escorted to and from the target.

Another famous US aircraft that had a major impact upon the war was the Dakota transport aircraft used for freight and paratroopers.