On 19 August 1942, while Canadian soldiers died on the shingle beaches of Dieppe, the sky above them filled with more fighters than anyone had seen over France. By nightfall the Royal Air Force and its Allied squadrons had lost about 106 aircraft, more than on any other single day of the war, according to Veterans Affairs Canada.

The air battle over Dieppe is often described as the largest single-day air battle of the Second World War. It was also a reckoning with a German fighter the RAF had badly underestimated: the Focke-Wulf Fw 190.

A thousand aircraft over one port

The raid's air commander was Trafford Leigh-Mallory, head of No. 11 Group, who ran the battle from RAF Uxbridge. He committed about 74 squadrons and roughly 1,000 aircraft: some 48 squadrons of Spitfire, Hurricane fighter-bombers, Mustang Mk I army-cooperation squadrons, and Boston and Blenheim light bombers laying smoke and attacking gun positions. Fighter Command flew about 2,500 sorties in the day.

The plan was partly a trap. Fighter Command wanted to draw the Luftwaffe into a decisive battle over France, and for once the Germans came up in force. About 120 serviceable German fighters, mostly Fw 190As of Jagdgeschwader 2 and 26, rose to meet them, along with Dornier Do 217 bombers sent against the invasion fleet.

The Butcher Bird problem

Most RAF squadrons that day flew the Spitfire Mk V. An RAF comparison carried out in 1942, after a German pilot landed an intact Fw 190A in Britain by mistake, found the German fighter faster at all heights and better in the climb, dive and roll. The Spitfire could still out-turn it, but the German pilots could choose when and how to fight. Dieppe was the first big action for the new Spitfire Mk IX, which could meet the Fw 190 on equal terms, but only a few squadrons had it.

Mark Felton on the Dieppe raid, from the beaches to the air battle above them.

Counting the cost

Of the roughly 106 Allied aircraft lost, about 91 were shot down, and at least 32 losses were caused by anti-aircraft fire or accidents. Sixty-four fighter pilots were lost, 47 killed and 17 taken prisoner. The Luftwaffe lost about 48 aircraft destroyed and around 24 damaged, many of them bombers attacking the ships. German fighter losses, mostly Fw 190s, are estimated at roughly 20 to 25.

Both sides believed they had done far better. RAF intelligence claimed 96 German aircraft destroyed at the time, about double the real figure. Canadian historian Terry Copp concludes that Fighter Command did keep the Luftwaffe off the beaches and the ships, but only just, and that the Luftwaffe in France was back at full strength within days.

The Canadians in the sky

The ground assault was overwhelmingly Canadian, and so was a large part of the air effort. The Royal Canadian Air Force sent eight or nine squadrons, flying Spitfires, Mustangs for reconnaissance and Bostons, and many more Canadians flew in RAF units. The RCAF lost 13 or 14 aircraft and nine or ten pilots. No. 401 Squadron flew three sorties, including an escort for American B-17s bombing Abbeville airfield.

One of its pilots, Flight Sergeant "Zip" Zobell, came back with a wound to the forehead and a Spitfire full of cannon-shell holes. The medical officer grounded him for the rest of the day.

On the ground, of 4,963 Canadians who embarked, only 2,210 came back. The air battle was the one part of Dieppe the Allies could call a qualified success, and even that was bought at the RAF's highest single-day price of the war.

Legion Magazine's film on the Dieppe Raid, narrated by Alex Trebek.

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 against Supermarine Spitfire: how the two fighters compared.

Sources: Veterans Affairs Canada, Department of National Defence / RCAF, The Canadian Encyclopedia, Terry Copp, Canadians at Arms, HistoryHit, Wikipedia