I Our Needs
A helping of luck comes in handy when shaping one’s defences against a potential enemy of unknown speed, agility, ceiling, range and navigation skills. After the Geddes Axe in 1923 ludicrously reduced our fighter squadrons the Air Staff sat down to decide how they could defend the United Kingdom from air attack. Germany was disarmed therefore, logically, the only country close enough to attack us from the air was France. A line of fighter airfields across southern and eastern England to defend London, Portsmouth, Chatham and the south coast was just about affordable. This was done with grass airfields and biplane fighters patrolling in daylight. None who made that decision foresaw Dunkirk or an air battle above southern Britain fought against a victorious Luftwaffe based along the French coast. Thanks to a perverse whim of that fickle mythical lady, when summer 1940…
