Often disadvantaged by having to fight at the extremity of the fighter’s limited range, sometimes allowing them no more than 10 minutes of actual combat, the Bf109 pilots fought with an impressive array of battle-hardened tactics honed in Spain, the battles of Poland and France, and undisputed courage. They were, however, stymied in their actions by Goering, who liked to blame his fighter pilots for his own shortcomings. To their frustration, at the beginning of September he’d ordered the fighters to stick close to the bombers, but in doing so he squandered the Bf109s main assets – speed and manoeuvrability.