Reappraising the Royal Air Force Contribution to the Defense of Crete, 1941

This paper examines how fighter aircraft shortages affected the Royal Air Force’s ability to contest control of the air over the island of Crete in 1941. It shows how dysfunctional personal relations and extended lines of communication combined to obscure decisions, and it unpicks the claim that the loss of Crete was a function of the British army’s inability to protect the airfields required to sustain viable fighter defenses. Instead, it shows that the key decision-makers in London knew that the fighter aircraft destined for the region would arrive too late to affect the course of events.