The Cost
The ill-fated air effort in France and the Low Countries, particularly in the last few weeks, cost the RAF dearly.
Vapour trails from the aerial dogfights over 
In the six days of Dunkirk operations alone, Fighter Command lost 100 aircraft and 80 pilots. 320 pilots had been lost in France and a further 115 taken prisoner of war. A total of 915 aircrew were lost in the chaotic six-week operation.
24 of the men lost were New Zealanders; four for each week of the campaign. In comparison, 20 New Zealanders would be lost in the whole Battle of Britain, just over one each week.
The French pleas for more fighter squadrons to be deployed from England had depleted the available squadrons for home defence down to only 24 to 30 squadrons, less than the minimum required. Had the Air Officer Commanding Fighter Command, Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, not stood his ground forcibly, even more squadrons would have been sent leaving Britain unable to adequately defend herself. Had this happened, the result of the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940 would have been quite different. As it was, by July 1940, the scene was set for desperate battles over the skies of southern England which would ultimately decide Britain’s fate.
