In forging the "miracle" of the Dunkirk evacuation in late May 1940, the British Air Force made an immortal contribution. Throughout the campaign, a large number of British Spitfire and Hurricane fighters from the mainland tried their best to protect beachheads, landing points and anchorage ships to ensure that British fighter jets were always cruising over Dunkirk Beach. From 24 May to 4 June, the British Air Force flew 2,739 sorties of fighters, shooting down 140 German aircraft at the cost of 106 losses, effectively curbing german bombing and attacks on the retreating area.
Who would have thought, however, that just a few years earlier, the British Air Force would have been weakened by a shortage of funds, and would have been unable to stand up to such a powerful and ferocious opponent as Nazi Germany, let alone create a war miracle such as the Dunkirk evacuation. If you say who is behind the "reconstruction of the Royal Air Force" in the mid-to-late 1930s, it is estimated that everyone will not think of it - that is, the former British Prime Minister Chamberlain, who has been denounced by later generations as "aiding and abetting abuse".
After the end of World War I, the British high-level judged that there would be no major war in the next 10 years, so in 1919 they formulated a "10-year plan" to reduce the army at a rate of 10,000 people per day from that year. The British Air Force was worse off, almost canceled, and although it was retained, it suffered from a long period of lack of funds, and by 1931 it had 42 flying squadrons and about 400 front-line military aircraft, which was weaker than Japan and Italy.
After entering the 30s, the fascist forces in Germany, Italy, Japan and other countries have risen and taken power, the international situation has become increasingly tense, coupled with the rapid progress of tanks, aircraft and other new weapons has triggered a military technology revolution that swept the West, and the British high-level finally realized that the rise of the air force will make the marine barrier no longer exist, so it is changed to the navy and air force.
Chamberlain, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, had a strategic vision, focusing on building a strategic air force that would deter an adversary and be able to penetrate deep into the enemy in wartime to carry out large-scale bombing. In January 1936, the British launched a plan to expand the Air Force from 52 to 150 air force fighter squadrons, completely replacing light bombers with medium bombers and increasing the number to 1,022.
In May 1937, Chamberlain became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Soon after he came to power, the British Air Force had a huge plan to equip 12,000 aircraft, and by 1939 British military aircraft production had surged to 7,940, 18 times more than in 1932 (445). Compared with the one-sided approach of previous governments in simply pursuing the number of aircraft (especially bombers), Chamberlain paid more attention to creating a local air defense system that "integrated attack and defense". After he took office, he shifted the focus of the development of the Air Force to the production of new fighters and the construction of radar stations, anti-aircraft artillery units and air defense guard posts, and even cut off a large amount of army and navy funds for this purpose.
After Chamberlain's efforts, by the outbreak of World War II, there were 1760 British front-line combat aircraft, of which about 550 were new Spitfire and Hurricane fighters, most of which were converted into medium or even 4-round heavy bombers, and the 1-ton "Mosquito" light bomber flew as fast as the fighter, and the bombing radius was as far as Berlin. In other words, the British Air Force of The Chamberlain era not only had a relatively complete home air defense system, but also had the strategic strike capability to burn the war into the heart of the Nazis.
During Chamberlain's reign, at the end of 1938, Britain and France also established a joint intelligence agency under the cover of commercial companies to hire Austrian pilots (Austria was then part of Nazi Germany) to conduct aerial reconnaissance of Germany. On November 18, 1938, Britain put in the latest "Spitfire" fighter for reconnaissance of Germany, and successfully took a clear picture of the German combat readiness from an altitude of 10,000 meters. The air reconnaissance of Europe, initiated during the Chamberlain era, became an important means for Britain to obtain Axis intelligence throughout World War II. Relying on aerial reconnaissance, the British won the North African campaign and mastered the deployment of german troops on the Atlantic coast, laying the foundation for victory for the later Normandy landings.
People today can't look at and observe Britain 80 years ago with their own eyes. In fact, not only the British high-level at that time, but even Hitler was not clear enough about the prospects of an Anglo-German war, so that he later did a "bastard" to stop the attack on Dunkirk. But history does not assume that as soon as the Western Front war broke out, Chamberlain became the "scapegoat" of the "peace-loving" British people of the past, and no one ever remembered who raised the "eagle over London" for them. On November 9, 1940, Chamberlain, who had stepped down, died depressed at the age of 71.