35. Air Power over Dunkirk

Today we have Dr Harry Raffal on the show to tell us all about the role of air power during Operation Dynamo, more commonly known as the evacuation from Dunkirk, in 1940. Harry is the resident historian at the RAF museum, and did his PhD on this very subject.

The role of the merchant navy rescuing the trapped soldiers has become the defining image of Dunkirk, for obvious reasons. But air power played an important, yet somewhat forgotten, role. So we'll be asking Harry how both the Royal Air Force and Luftwaffe were used during the operation, the challenges of employing air power in northern France, and the effect that air power had for both British and German forces in May 1940.