The fate of the victors — Air Ministry, November 1940
Air Chief Marshal and the commander of , , have just won the Battle of Britain. But at the Air Ministry in London, their methods are now being challenged by their own peers.
The opposition is led by , head of , and Air Marshal , advocates of the Big Wing tactic — massing several squadrons before interception, contrary to the fragmented, rapid riposte practised by Park. A meeting at the Air Ministry on 17 October 1940, chaired by , turns into a trial of Park's methods.
To this is added the quarrel over night interception, as the Blitz intensifies. Dowding is working on guidance by radar and instruments, an idea approved by Churchill but judged fanciful by and by . When Dowding receives the 18-point report of the Salmond commission — created by , Minister of Aircraft Production — he strikes out 9 points and marks 5 others with a question mark, in a tone that irritates his superiors.
Dowding believes himself immovable since Churchill's public support during the summer. It remains to be seen what the top of the Air Ministry will decide about the fate of the 2 architects of the victory.
At the top of the Air Ministry, what is to be done with the two architects of victory?
The Air Ministry chose to relieve Dowding and Park of their commands despite their victory. Summoned before what Beaverbrook would call a band of "bloody Air Marshals", Dowding and Park were cast aside. Dowding left Fighter Command on 24 November 1940, replaced by ; Park was relieved of in early December — his successor being Leigh-Mallory — and posted to Training Command, officially to "rest". The irony was cruel: on 19 November, the pilot shot down a Junkers Ju 88 using airborne radar, validating precisely Dowding's idea on night interception. Too late. The 2 men most responsible for Britain's survival were dismissed at the moment of their triumph; their rehabilitation would come decades later.
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