ABSTRACT
The history of Fighter Command during the first nine months of war revolves round the clash between the air defence needs of Great Britain itself and those of the BEF in France, of the naval bases in Scotland and of the Merchant shipping that plied along the East coast of the United Kingdom. The CAS, Air Chief Marshal Sir Edward Ellington, admitted that the air threat to Britain would be reduced if the security of the Low Countries could be guaranteed and if France was our ally, but he believed that air forces could and would be used in large-scale independent bombing operations. The official Air Council letter of December made it clear that the transfer was only a temporary measure which would apply until enemy activity ceased to be concentrated on the North Sea or until Fighter Command was capable of assuming control over all fighter operations based on the United Kingdom.
