Shortly after 0800 hours,...

history · 28 August 1940 · 84 years ago

Shortly after 0800 hours, German bomber formations were detected above Calais, France; the incoming 33 bombers and 120 Bf 109 fighters would drop 100 bombs on RAF Eastchurch in southeastern Britain, but failed to disable the RAF airfield. At 1235 hours, 30 German fighters attacked RAF Rochford, which received 30 bombs. Two additional raids would reach airfields in southern England in the afternoon. During the day, the Germans lost 14 Bf 109 fighters, 8 modern bombers, and 1 WW1-era Gotha biplane bomber; the British lost 15 fighters; despite the fighter losses, after Winston Churchill's tour of some airfields, he was much more concerned about the German ability to damage runways, which could seriously disrupt fighter operations, thus he ordered more manpower to be assigned to the RAF for airfield repairs. Overnight, Birmingham, Coventry, Derby, Sheffield, Manchester, and South Yorkshire were bombed. 

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