Friday Morning Talks: Air Power and the evacuation of Dunkirk: The RAF and Luftwaffe during Operation Dynamo – With Dr Harry Raffal

Join us for our Friday morning talk, where RAF Museum Head of Collections and Research Dr Harry Raffal will be taking us through the use of airpower during the evacuation of Dunkirk, Operation Dynamo.

Taking place on the 83rd anniversary of the first day of the evacuation, Harry will draw on the research presented in his book ‘Air Power and the evacuation of Dunkirk’, to examine how the evacuation of Dunkirk has been immortalised in books, prints and films, narrated as a story of an outnumbered, inexperienced RAF defeating the battle-hardened Luftwaffe and protecting the evacuation. This book revives the historiography by analysing the air operations during the evacuation. Harry draws from German and English sources, many for the first time in the context of Operation DYNAMO, to argue that both sides suffered a defeat over Dunkirk. . This work examines the resources and tactics of both sides during DYNAMO and challenges the traditional view that the Luftwaffe held the advantage. The success that the Luftwaffe achieved during DYNAMO, including halting daylight evacuations on 1 June, is evaluated and the supporting role of RAF Bomber and Coastal Command is explored in detail for the first time. Concluding that the RAF was not responsible for the Luftwaffe’s failure to prevent the evacuation, Harry demonstrates that the reasons lay elsewhere.

This talk will take place onsite in the Museum’s Learning Centre and is included in Museum admission or Annual Membership.

Advance booking required – please reserve your seat via the link below.

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