Following the success of their Blitzkrieg campaign that had steamrollered France and the Low Countries into defeat, by June 1940 the Nazi forces were poised on the Channel coast ready to invade England. In their way stood the heavily outnumbered squadrons of the RAF which they believed would quickly fall when confronted by the might of Goring's Luftwaffe. But they were wrong. In the desperate air battles that followed, the few of the RAF succeeded in defeating a numerically superior Luftwaffe, thereby preventing the invastion of England by German forces. This picture-led narrative account of the Battle of Britain, draws on a range of private and museum sources to illustrate the course of the legendary battle, The author includes coverage of the Luftwaffe's viewpoint, the contributions made by Bomber and Coastal Commands, and the British aircraft industry's efforts to supply the RAF with desperately needed fighter aircraft.