The Allies knew that the Normandy landings would be an era defining moment. Succeed and victory in the war was surely theirs. Fail, and the consequences could be catastrophic. Thus, well before DDay took place, the Allies planned to use their Air Power to the set the stage for the landings.

In the last episode of our DDay series we covered the fighting at Sea. This time IWM curator Hattie Hearn looks at the aerial battle for Normandy. How did the Allies win air superiority? Where was the German response to DDay? And how did Allied air power affect the fighting on the ground?

DDay events:

IWM Lecture Day: DDay https://www.iwm.org.uk/events/iwmlec...
IWM Presents: The Longest Day https://www.iwm.org.uk/events/duxford...
DDay and the Aerial battle for Normandy Tour https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/dday...

Find out more:

What happened after DDay: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/whath...
10 Facts you need to know about DDay: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the10...
The 78th Fighter Group at Duxford: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/dday...
The lies that made DDay possible: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/theli...

Explore and licence the film clips used in this video from IWM Film:
https://film.iwmcollections.org.uk/co...

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