Between July 10th and October 31, 1940 the RAF listed 915 aircraft lost or missing. Between the
period of of August 24th and September 3, 1940 Fighter Command in this fortnight lost 103 pilots killed
and 128 wounded, with 466 Spitfires and Hurricanes lost. It was during this period that the air battle
tilted in favor of the Luftwaffe, Nearly a quarter of the RAF's pilots were lost. Pilot training was cut
from six months to an astonishing two weeks Pilots were sent up to intercept wave after wave of enemy aircraft forming over the French coast engaging in a deadly dance in the sky often ending in death to a lad as young as eighteen. On September 15th the Luftwaffe turned from bombing Britain's airfields and
engaging the RAF to bombing London and other English cities, this gave the RAF a much needed rest
period to recoup its losses, and was the turning point in the Battle in favor of Britain. The Luftwaffe
strategy was shifted to night bombing of cities and became known as the Blitz. Never again would
England worry about Hitler's hoards crossing the channel as Operation Sea Lion was canceled.