I suggest everyone read the book The Most Dangerous Enemy by Stephen Bungay.
The best post war appraisal of the Battle of Britain, by far.
An interesting fact is that the Luftwaffe was sustaining irreplaceable/unacceptable losses during the period before August 1940, but failed to understand so because of the rampant over claiming by the Luftwaffe fighter squadrons at that time. Simply put, the German aircraft industry was not keeping up, while the British aircraft industry ramped up production the entire time.
It was never the "close run" thing that has become the myth of it over time. The Luftwaffe never had a chance in hell of winning.
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Personally speaking, the P-40 could contend on an equal footing with all the types of Messerschmitts, almost to the end of 1943.
~Nikolay Gerasimovitch Golodnikov
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