Big Wing Controversy
During the Battle of Britain there was a difference of opinion between two rival British commanders as to the strength of the interceptors used. After the central question of whether the German associations should be attacked with individual squadrons or larger associations ( big wings ), this dispute was referred to as the Big Wing controversy .
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On August 30, 1940, 12 aircraft of the squadron under the leadership of Douglas Bader attacked a German unit of 30 bombers and fighters and were able to shoot down 12 of them. In the debriefing on this success, Bader remarked that the success would have been far greater had they been able to attack with three times as many aircraft. In this phase of the Battle of Britain, however, a strategy was pursued that stipulated units the strength of a squadron, i.e. 12 aircraft, as the largest jointly commanded attack unit among the fighters.
This was due to the concern that a larger association would be too inflexible and that there was a risk of sacrificing too many reserves at once. An important advocate of this view was the commander of the 11th Fighter Group Air Vice Marshal Keith Park , which carried the brunt of the defense of southern England in the critical phase. Its methodology, however, inevitably meant numerical inferiority in the air.
But Bader's squadron was subordinate to the 12th Fighter Group, which was led by Air Vice Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory . Leigh-Mallory was immediately enthusiastic about the idea and first brought three, then five squadrons together to form a "Fighter Wing", which in terms of numbers roughly corresponded to the group of a fighter wing of the Luftwaffe . The federation came to be known as the "Duxford Wing" and was led into battle by Douglas Bader. By the end of 1940, the Duxford Wing had over 150 kills and lost 30 pilots. The controversy between Park and Leigh-Mallory as to whether or not this was correct was fueled and never entirely resolved.
Hugh Dowding as a mediator
Hugh Dowding, as the responsible superior, largely left it to his commanders to master the task according to their assessment, and as a result came under criticism from the Ministry of Aviation and also from some of the pilots of the 12th group who were impatiently waiting for the mission.
Dowding also had intelligence from intelligence sources obtained from decrypted radio messages, the ultra intercepts . This made it clear that the Air Force hoped to challenge the RAF to a large-scale operation in which the reserves would also be thrown into the fight and decimated. Dowding was not about to comply, and so shared Park's strategy.
The way in which this difference of opinion was carried out in public had the result that the Aviation Department feared a loss of confidence and Dowding was removed from his command in October 1940 after a one-on-one conversation with the Minister for Aviation, Sir Archibald Sinclair recalled.
As early as 1941, extensive analyzes ( sandpit games ) proved Dowding's position to be factually correct. The tactical possibilities of a large, slow to build up and difficult to lead in the air association in a defensive role would have been presented too optimistically.
At this point Keith Park and Hugh Dowding had already been replaced. Trafford Leigh-Mallory initially took over the 11th group from Keith Park. In 1942 he succeeded Sholto Douglas as Commander in Chief of Fighter Command , who had succeeded Dowding. When Leigh-Mallory was to take command of the entire Allied air force in Southeast Asia in 1944, he had a fatal accident when his plane crashed over the Alps in bad weather. In his place, his former rival Keith Park took the high post in Southeast Asia.
After the end of the Second World War, Dowding expressed himself with increasing bitterness about the development of his career with the Royal Air Force . Compared to his biographer Wright, he accused Bader of insubordination , Leigh-Mallory and Sholto Douglas of conspiracy.
Alan Al Deere, well-known squadron commander and highly decorated pilot in the Battle of Britain, comments: "Dowding and Park won the Battle of England , but lost the battle of words that followed."