If it hadn't been for Dowding, the Battle of Britain would have been lost. It was Dowding who pushed the development of radar (Prof. Lindemann was opposed to it), it was Dowding who pushed the development and acquisition of the eight-gun fighter. It was Dowding who established the command and control structure which was so crucial to the Battle, and it was Dowding who protested vehemently against denuding Fighter Command in the Battle of France. And it was Dowding who formulated the strategy (ably executed by Keith Park) which resulted in success. There were, howver, some senior people who were opposed to Dowding and he went on and off the retired list a couple of times before the Battle. During the Battle, there were strong differences of opinion between Park at 11 Group and Leigh-Mallory (George Mallory of Everest fame's younger brother) at 12 Group. Leigh-Mallory was successful in his behind-the-scenes politicking with Air Staff and political figures. Al Deere probably put it best: Dowding and Park won the Battle of Britain, but they lost the battle of words that followed..." Dowding and Park were sand-bagged by Portal, Sholto Douglas and Leigh-Mallory. Both were treated very badly. What did Churchill have to do with it? Difficult to say. Dowding saw Churchill and Churchill said he was surprised at what happened. It is very difficult to imagine it could have happened without Churchill's knowledge and approval, BUT, as we well know, Churchill always insisted on every thing in writing and there's nothing on this. So - good question. No answer.
Jonathan Hayes --- On Fri, 4/1/11, Daniel Ibarra <[email protected]> wrote: From: Daniel Ibarra <[email protected]> Subject: [ChurchillChat] Churchill x Dowding To: "Churchill Chat" <[email protected]> Date: Friday, April 1, 2011, 1:15 PM Coleagues from Churchill Chat, In the dawn of the Battle of Britain Churchill "fired" Dowding from his post. I have seem some people considering this act of Churchill as a betrayal or a movement to get attention of the victory in the battle just for him, what I do not believe. Can you pls help me to tell why Churchill fired Dowding on that moment? Thank you Daniel -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/churchillchat?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/churchillchat?hl=en.
