Big Wing - Did The Big Wing Work?

Did The Big Wing Work?

After the Battle of Britain Leigh-Mallory never really had a chance to use the Big Wing defensively again. The Big Wing quickly mutated from a defensive to an offensive formation, Douglas Bader would eventually lead one of these new wings on massive fighter sweeps over France. To this day there is debate over the effectiveness of the 'Big Wing' as it was used during the Battle.

On the one hand, although Leigh-Mallory and Bader claimed it was a great success, post-war analysis suggests the actual number of German aircraft shot down by the wing was probably a fraction of those claimed (The claims for the Big Wing were never credible even at the time. Some senior people like Leigh-Mallory and Sholto Douglas wanted to believe these claims so that they could use the Big Wing as a political tool against Dowding). This would seem to support the idea that, for a 'Big Wing', there were "not enough enemy to go around". In other words, the Wing had too high a concentration of aircraft in the same air space looking for targets.

It could be argued that 12 Group had more time to get fighters into position but even then it failed to do so. As a consequence when 11 Group was stretched to its limits and required support, due to the delay imposed by 12 Group, 11 Group airfields were left undefended. This was due not only to time wasted in forming up the big wing but also due to 12 Group commanders not following 11 Group's instructions and arriving in the wrong place. Not only did 12 Group fail to support 11 Group they left their own airfields undefended, a large portion of UK airspace was left undefended while Leigh-Mallory and Bader tested their Big Wing theory. The time taken to form a big wing also wasted fuel and combined with the limited range of the fighters reduced time over the combat zone. When 10 Group was asked to provide cover for 11 Group in similar circumstances it was provided and the relevant 11 Group airfields were defended.

On the other hand, casualties for the 'Big Wing' were significantly lower than in the smaller formations - suggesting that they did indeed benefit from protection in numbers. The 'Big Wing' invariably joined combat with the enemy over Northern London, where the German fighter escort was at the very limit of its range and therefore effectiveness. The Big Wing also made very few interceptions, as a result lower casualties would be expected - on both sides.

Certainly Park's tactics (which had included the occasional use of two and three-squadron wings) were correct for the conditions he had to fight under. The most powerful argument against the Big Wing's use in the Battle of Britain is that without a clear idea of a raid's target as it assembled over France, it was impossible for the Big Wing to get airborne and form up in time to meet the enemy.

Another argument against the use of the Duxford Big Wing was that it was never a serious tactical proposition. It was formed after a telephone discussion between Leigh Mallory and Bader, there was no planning, protocols for its operation nor discussion (let alone agreement) within Fighter Command. Leigh-Mallory did not question Bader's claims nor critically assess the Big Wing's results. For a senior commander to take the word of an inexperienced junior officer and commit to such a poorly planned experiment at a critical time is very questionable.

The successful interceptions by the Big Wing only occurred over a short period of time in September when the Luftwaffe switched from military targets and airfields to daylight raids on London. The Luftwaffe bombers were at their most vulnerable when they were at the limit of the escorting Bf 109's range and many German fighters had already expended their fuel in combat with 11 Group aircraft over Kent.

When encountered by the Luftwaffe on 15 September the Big Wing had a psychological impact. Having been told that the RAF was down to its last 50 fighters by their leaders the Luftwaffe aircrew were continuously attacked on the run over Kent only to be confronted by a further formation of 60 RAF aircraft over London just as their escort reached the limit of their range. One reason for this level of surprise was that a recent large Luftwaffe fighter-only sweep had encountered little resistance, confirming the Luftwaffe leaders' belief that there were few RAF fighters left; in fact Park had recognised this fighter sweep as a ruse to get his fighters into the air, but with no threat of bombing he had kept his fighters on the ground on this occasion.

While not effective as a fighting tactic the Big Wing, along with some blatant manipulation of statistics, worked as a political tool for those against Dowding. Dowding had clashed with Hugh Trenchard (founder of the RAF) while both were RFC commanders during World War I. Hugh Trenchard was retired by World War II but was a Marshall of the RAF and still had heavy influence at the highest level in the RAF. He supported the theory of the "knock out blow" where air attack was fought by counterattack with bombers, not defense by fighters, and this view was shared by many senior RAF and Air Ministry people. Despite this RAF policy Dowding got enough political support to build up Fighter Command in to a very effective weapon, the weapon that won the Battle of Britain. In 1940 (and arguably the whole war) Bomber Command was in no way capable of delivering a knock out blow to Germany so the pro bomber advocates were severely embarrassed by Fighter Command's success. Hugh Dowding's "stuffy" personality and unwillingness to fight this political battle also contributed to his downfall. The Big Wing debacle was merely a smokescreen manipulated by his political enemies to bring him down. It is understandable that Dowding did not fight back given the stress he had been under for the best part of a year, first to conserve Fighter Command then to oversee the long battle of attrition against the Luftwaffe.