Battle of Britain

DISTANCE: Paris to London 213 miles/343 km

Stretching from July 10 to Oct. 31, 1940, the battle for air supremacy over Britain may not have decided the fate of the war in western Europe, but the British owed to the relatively few pilots of RAF Fighter Command. At the outset of the battle the British mustered scarcely 1,100 fighter pilots. More than 500 died in action.