German factory workers build Heinkel He 111 medium bombers. The Luftwaffe depended on twin-engine bombers during the Battle of Britain
Image: Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-774-0011-34 / Hubmann, Hanns / CC-BY-SA 3.0
Historians
generally agree that the seeds of Nazi Germany’s defeat in the World War II were sown during the Battle of Britain. Royal Air Force fighters and anti-aircraft weapons downed so many black-crossed Luftwaffe planes that the Germans ended their bid for mastery of the air over the English Channel and the British Isles. Operation Sea Lion, the invasion of Britain, was shelved and never resurrected.