One of the key supporting elements to the aircraft and pilots of RAF Fighter Command during the battle, was the airfields. Whether they were main sector stations (central to daily operations), satellite airstrips or forward landing bases (often flights or squadrons would detach to such an airfield in the morning and return to their main operating base in the evening), the fact remains that keeping them operational during the early stages of the conflict enabled the Hurricanes & Spitfires to be, more often than not, in the right place at the right time.

History has proved that the importance of the airfields (like that of radar) was neglected by the Luftwaffe commanders. Had they concentrated their attacks on these targets instead of spreading the conflict on a much wider scale, Dowding and Fighter Command would have had to use their stretched resources to defend them. The outcome of the battle, therefore, may well have been very different.

Fighter Command was divided up, geographically, into areas known as Groups (see map below), of which there were four. Each Group was subsequently split into Sectors with control from a main “sector station”, from which daily operations and scrambles were co-ordinated to other airfields. The sector station received the information relating to German raids via the radar and Observer Corps networks. For example, two well-known sector stations were Biggin Hill (11 Group) and Duxford (12 Group)

Click on a Group to view Airfield Statistics

The following Groups detail the airfields used during the Battle of Britain, the squadrons that operated from them in date order and the aircraft type flown. Many of the squadrons operated from different airfields throughout the campaign within the four Groups