Tomahawks in the Battle of Britain

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Curtiss Tomahawk Mk.IA - No.264 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, September 1940

No.264 squadron of RAF Fighter Command re-formed on October 30th 1939 with the Boulton Paul Defiant Mk.I "turret fighter" but did not commence operations until March 1940 when the squadron started convoy patrols over the English Channel. With no forward firing guns the Defiant crews worked out suitable tactics for air-to-air fighting but after some initial successes, the Luftwaffe soon discovered the Defiant's weaknesses and the squadron suffered such heavy losses that at the end of May 1940 the squadron was withdrawn from Southern RAF Pembrey in South Wales.

In early July 1940 the squadron began to re-equip with the Curtis Tomahawk Mk.IA which had just started to enter service. The Tomahawks were from a large Armée de l'Air order for the Hawk 81A-1 export model but the defeat of France meant that the aircraft were diverted to the RAF in late June 1940 and although testing had shown that the Tomahawk did not have the medium to high altitude performance needed for use as a front-line fighter the Air Ministry simply did not have enough Hurricanes and Spitfires to go around all of Fighter Command's day fighter squadrons. After some teething problems with their new fighter the squadron was declared fully operational at the end of July 1940 but were kept in reserve for most of the frantic month of August. Sharing RAF Pembrey with the Spitfires of No.92 squadron the pilots of No.264 squadron were increasingly frustrated that all emergency scrambles in the western sector of 10 Group were tasked to the Spitfires of No.92 squadron.

However all that changed in late August when, following a raid on Berlin by RAF Bomber Command, Hitler gave the go-ahead to a revenge bombing offensive on London and several other British cities. For RAF Fighter Command the break from Luftwaffe attacks on their airfields allowed them to recover somewhat. On August 31st, 1940 No.264 squadron were transferred to 11 Group moving into RAF Stapleford Tawney in Essex. After a few uneventful days they were in action on September 7th when the Luftwaffe launched a massive series of raids on the East End of London involving nearly four hundred bombers and more than six hundred fighters. No.264 squadron shot down two He-111's but were then engaged by Me-109E's losing two Tomahawks but both pilots parachuted safely. On September 15th, in a decisive action that would later be viewed as being the climax of the Battle of Britain, two massive waves of Luftwaffe attacks were repulsed by Fighter Command with 62 Luftwaffe aircraft being shot down for the loss of 28 RAF aircraft. For No.264 squadron it was another two-all draw with two more He-111's being knocked down for the loss of two Tomahawks to Me-109E's. Two days later Hitler postponed his preparations for the invasion of Britain and agreed to a shift from daylight bombing raids to night bombing. Ironically, this would lead to No.264 squadron converting back to their Boulton Paul Defiant Mk.I's in November 1940 and eventually receiving the improved Defiant Mk.II model fitted with AI Mk. IV radar and the Merlin XX engine in September 1941.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Skin Credit: Charles

 

[+ext]

Now that is nice!  Hope you release the Tomahawk Mk IA

[+Wrench]

search engine not working, brother??

https://combatace.com/files/category/691-p-40/

all of Raven's Tomahawks & Kittyhawks here

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17 minutes ago, Wrench said:

search engine not working, brother??

https://combatace.com/files/category/691-p-40/

all of Raven's Tomahawks & Kittyhawks here

Fully aware of that thanks Kevin. Indeed, I have released one as an IDF bird.

[+Wrench]

that was actually for ext; i thought your IDF one was quite clever!

[+ext]

Yep have all of  Raven's Tomahawks.  Thought the skin would make a great what if. Thanks for the reminder you never know what i could have missed!

[+guuruu]

Well, UK got US fuel and  propellers, Luftwaffe only Russian fuel. Question of balance.

[+Gepard]

9 hours ago, guuruu said:

Well, UK got US fuel and  propellers, Luftwaffe only Russian fuel. Question of balance.

Petrol for the Luftwaffe was not made in Russia. It was made in Germany, by coal liquefaction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_liquefaction

It was high quality petrol. The next technological step is making petrol from carbondioxyd of the air. Today it is possible to do this. What means, that Tesla and other eco waste is not necessary to save the planet.