THE LINE UP - How did the opposing forces compare ? This section
attempts to show what each side had available to do battle. It is
possible to go into great detail, especially on the German side,
but some condensing of information has been done here to save
space.

As a very general summary, the following table will suffice,
followed by more detailed breakdown of forces.


	ROYAL AIR FORCE		July 1st. 1940

	Aircraft in Fighter Command squadrons.

	Spitfires                                       286
	Hurricanes                                      463
	Defiants                                        37
	Blenheims ( Twin Engine'd Fighters)             114
	                                                ___

                                                    900


	LUFTWAFFE			July 20 th. 1940

	Aircraft in Airfleets 2, 3 and 5

	Fighters.

		Bf109  ( Single Engine )                   844
		Bf110  ( Twin Engine )                     250

	Bombers

		Ju87   ( Single engine )                   280
		Do17,He11,Ju88 ( Twin Engine )           1,330

	Long Range Reconnaissance                       80
                                                 _____

                                                 2,784


Considering all types, and that, on the British side, bombers
could be discounted from the battle, then the Germans had a
potential 3 to 1 advantage.


                        *******************


Lets have a look in more detail, taking the order of battle on
Adler Tag, August 13 th. as a suitable date to consider.


THE BRITISH.

Fighter Command was based at Stanmore in Middlesex and  4 fighter
groups were involved - 10, based at Rudloe Manor, Box, Wilts - 11
at Uxbridge in Middlesex - 12 at Watnall, Notts - and 13 at
Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Each Group was divided into sectors for control purposes, and
each sector was named after one of it's stations. Some famous
names come to light here. To look at a few, there was Middle
Wallop in 10 Group sector with one squadron each of Spitfires,
Hurricanes and Blenheims.

11 Group had Tangmere, with 2 squadrons of Hurricanes. 

Kenley, with 2 Hurricane and one Spitfire squadron. 

Biggin Hill, with 1 squadron of Spitfires and 1 of Hurricanes. 
Hornchurch, with 1 squadron of Spitfires and a night fighting
Blenheim section. 

Northolt, with 3 squadrons of Hurricanes - the Poles were here ! 

12 Group had Duxford with 1 squadron of Spitfires and 1 of
Hurricanes. ( Czech )

Coltishall, with 1 each of Spitfires and Hurricanes.

Wittering with Hurricanes

Kirton-in-Lindsey, with 1 squadron of Spitfires and 1 of
Defiants.

Church Fenton, with 3 Hurricane squadrons - one of Poles.

13 Group had Catterick with a squadron of Spitfires and one of
Blenheims. There were a number of less well known stations in
this area, and, whilst battles were fought in the North East, the
main attacks were all in the South.


THE GERMANS.....

The Germans prepared for the assault with 3 air fleets,
Luftflotte 2, 3 and 5. Each of these was a complete air force in
it's own right.


Luftflotte 2, with headquarters in Brussels, consisted of 4
sections. I Fliegerkorps HQ at Beauvais consisted of He111, Do17
in the main, with Ju87 and Ju88 and some Bf110.

II Fliegerkorps at Ghent, Belgium, consisted of a large
proportion of Do17, followed by He111's. There were 2 Gruppe of
Ju87 and a number of fighter 'staffel' with Bf109 and Bf110. The
St. Omer base was in this area.				

IX Fleigerdivision HQ was at Soesterberg in Holland, and
consisted of He111 and some Ju88. This division also had maritime
duties with Focke-Wulf Fw200 - the Condor - and Heinkel He115 and
Dornier Do18 as minelayers. The latter aircraft are not covered
here.

Jagdfliegerfuher 2 HQ was at Wissant, NE France. These were the
fighters and consisted, in the main, of Bf109E at airfields close
to the coast to decrease required operational range. The German
single engined fighters had a very limited time over target due
to fuel requirements. Thus, the more action forced on them, the
less effective they could be in protecting the bombers.

There were also 5 Gruppe of Bf110 twin engine fighters in this
area. Famous stations here are Abbeville and St. Omer again.


Luftflotte 3, with HQ in Paris, also consisted of 4 sections.

IV Fliegerkorps were at Compiegne with forward HQ at Dinard.
Aircraft consisted, almost equally, of Ju88 and He111 with some
Do17.

V Fliegerkorps at Villacoublay was again split between Ju88 and
He111, with a leaning towards Ju88. No other aircraft were in
this section.

VIII Fliegerkorps at Deauville were a mixed bunch. Most of the
short lived Ju87's were stationed in this area along with a
number of Do17 and a few Ju88 and Bf110. Again, a couple of well
known airfields are i this sector, Le Bourget, Caen and St. Malo.

Jagdfliegerfuhrer 3 HQ - the fighter element - were at Cherbourg,
Northern France and consisted, once more, almost entirely of
Bf109E aircraft - 9 gruppe - with a couple of Gruppe of Bf110.


Luftflotte 5 was based at Stavanger in Norway for assaults on
Northern England and played a smaller part in the battle.

They had just X Fliegerkorps with mixed aircraft of all major
types other than Ju87. He11 and Ju88 were in the majority with
some He115 minelayers and Do17 and Do215's. A Gruppe each of
Bf110C and Bf109E complete the line up.