1940- The Battle of Britain
611 (West Lancashire) Squadron of the Auxiliary Air Force was formed at Hendon, London, England on 10 February 1936. By May 1936 it was based in Speke, just outside of Liverpool, Initially it was a bomber squadron, but was redesignated as a fighter squadron on January 1st, 1939 and equipped with Hawker Hinds. In May 1939 it was outfitted with Spitfire I's, then the cutting edge of fighter technology.
The squadron moved to Duxford in August 1939 for the annual training camp, and were there when war was declared, at which point the squadron was called up. 611 was active throughout WW2 and in the post-War era (apart from a period between 15th August 1945 and 10th May 1946 when the Squadron was temporarily disbanded) continued as an Auxiliary Air Squadron until finally disbanded on 10th March 1957.
The intention of this presentation is to provide a portrait of the activity of a Squadron during the Battle of Britain, a topical period, and arguably the most crucial event of the air War. The format will be akin to an end-of-day briefing of the day's events- some days things will be quiet, others will be eventful. It is impossible to clearly define when the "Battle of Britain" started and ended, so I will use the definition generally accepted by the RAF - 10th July to 31st October 1940.
(Incidentally, most of the content of this presentation is current to the period. Subsequent research may have proved that things did not happen, or could not have happened in this way. That is now, but this is then, as it appeared, or was made to appear, sixty years ago.)
This Page was launched on 5th June 2000. 60 years ago Britain was starting to realise the implications of the withdrawal from Dunkirk, and could see the German armies amassing across the English Channel. It was a time of build-up and frantic preparation. Likewise with this Page. The link below will activate on 10th July, to retell of the Battle of Britain, 61 years ago to the day. You must have Javascript enabled for this to work!
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