Text: Jan Bobek

Illustration: Piotr Forkasiewicz

Cat. No. 8209

The Battle of Britain is one of a long list of legendary milestones that defined World War Two, though it’s the only one that played out exclusively in the air. Between August 8 and October 31, 1940, the Luftwaffe paid for the Battle of Britain with the loss of 221 Bf 110s, either destroyed outright or heavily damaged. Approximately four hundred of their airmen were either killed in action, captured, or seriously injured. German airmen including Bf 110 and bomber crews claimed 2,169 victories.

The RAF experienced Bf 110 crews created a defensive circle (Abwehrkreis), but this was not always a strictly defensive manoeuvre. Bf 110 airmen often used it as a decoy to attract the attention of the enemy and allow their bomber colleagues to escape.

However, if a Bf 110 crew had the freedom to choose the tactical situation, the advantages of their aircraft could be used with great success against Spitfires and Hurricanes, such as concentrated firepower, long range, better initial acceleration in a dive, better rate of climb and a higher operational altitude.

But when Bf 110 crews were forced to provide direct escort to the bombers, they could get into trouble because of the lower speed of bombers. If they wished to retain their speed advantage, the German fighters were forced to manoeuvre around the bomber formation. In a way, they were like dogs on a chain. This was the situation that RAF fighters observed when defending against the air raid of September 3, 1940, re-created in artwork by Piotr Forkasiewicz.

The Luftwaffe sent 73 bombers escorted by nearly 500 fighters to the targets near London. The bombers were divided into several groups. A formation of thirty Do 17s from II./KG 2 hit the North Weald airfield, escorted by Bf 110s from I./ZG 2 and III./ZG 26 and Bf 109s from JG 26.

On departure, the Germans got into a dogfight with Hurricanes from No. 17 Sqn RAF and Czechoslovak No. 310 Sq as well as Spitfires from No. 19, 54 and 222 Sqn RAF. A total of five Bf 110s from I./ZG 2 went down. Off the English coast, I./ZG 26 joined the defence. One Bf 110 was lost by I./ZG 26 another one by II./ZG 26 (plus one damaged) and two had to be written off by III./ZG 26.

Al Deere of No. 54 Sqn RAF was trying to get into a firing position behind one Bf 110 of ZG 26 when his target was unexpectedly attacked by Colin Gray in a vertical dive. To Deere's surprise and considerable displeasure, the enemy aircraft burst into flames under the fire of his colleague. He had to admit, however, that Gray had performed an incredible feat of marksmanship. But to boost the artillery men's morale the victory was eventually credited to the AA unit, to the chagrin of all the airmen.

The Germans lost only one Dornier 17. The Bf 110s crews scored some 20 victories and, according to British records, can be credited with about nine RAF fighters shot down and seven damaged. Five RAF pilots were killed and six suffered injuries. Although the Bf 110 were chained to the bombers like dogs, they could bite to death.

The machine “3U+GT”, which is depicted in Piotr’s artwork, belonged to 9./ZG 26 that emerged successfully from the battle. Two Spitfires were claimed by Ofhr. Lugger, one Spitfire and one Hurricane were claimed by Lt. Sidow while Lt. Grisslich and Ofw. Hott each shot down a Spitfire. The crew of the badly damaged “3U+GT” made an emergency landing at Wissant without injury, but their machine had to be written off.

How successful was the Bf 110 in the role of fighter in the Battle of Britain? There are well documented victories and losses of Spitfire, Hurricane and Bf 109 units, giving their kill/loss ratios as 1.7, 1.2 and 1.5 respectively. The Bf 110 units are a bit enigmatic due to missing detailed records about their victories. Only 216 aerial victories are documented in detail between August 8 and October 31, 1940. However, this figure is based on records of only three Zerstörergruppen, while details of four others are completely missing!

However, from the data of the higher Luftwaffe command, it is known that during the abovementioned period, Bf 110 and bomber crews claimed almost 600 victories. If we accept the estimate that 75 % of this figure was achieved by Bf 110 airmen, then we get an unexpected champion of the Battle of Britain. The kill/loss ratio for the Bf 110 would be 2! Despite this achievement, the battle ended with the first German failure since the beginning of the war.