<i>The Strategic Air Offensive Against Germany 1939-1945</i><br>
Fairey Battles of No 218 Squadron, Royal Air Force on patrol in France. These aircraft were regarded as being advanced when they first went into service in 1937, but in May 1940 they were too slow and lightly armoured and consequently suffered heavy losses in the Battle for France.
Devon S, Royal Air Force official photographer
between 1939 and 1945 <div style="display: none;">date QS:P,+1950-00-00T00:00:00Z/7,P1319,+1939-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1326,+1945-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div>
<p><a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://media.iwm.org.uk/iwm/mediaLib//21/media-21360/large.jpg">http://media.iwm.org.uk/iwm/mediaLib//21/media-21360/large.jpg</a> (cropped)
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<table style="width:100%; border:1px solid black; background:#E0E0E0; padding:0; text-align:center;"><tbody><tr><td align="left"><img alt="IWMLondonThumbnail.jpg" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/IWMLondonThumbnail.jpg" decoding="async" width="80" height="54" data-file-width="80" data-file-height="54"></td>
<td>This photograph <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205125375">C 454</a> comes from the collections of the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.iwm.org.uk/">Imperial War Museums</a>.
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<td align="right"><img alt="Flag of the United Kingdom (3-5).svg" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom_%283-5%29.svg/80px-Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom_%283-5%29.svg.png" decoding="async" width="80" height="48" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom_%283-5%29.svg/120px-Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom_%283-5%29.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom_%283-5%29.svg/160px-Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom_%283-5%29.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="177" data-file-height="106"></td></tr></tbody></table></div>