How did the Royal Air Force protect the Dunkirk evacuation?

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Nazi leaders in Paris — Battle of France Adolf Hitler (center) in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris shortly after signing an armistice with France, June 1940.

During the Dunkirk evacuation, the British Royal Air Force (RAF) played a critical role in protecting the retreating Allied forces by intercepting German bombers above the beaches.1

While the evacuation—codenamed Operation Dynamo—relied on a massive fleet of naval vessels and civilian craft to transport over 338,000 British and French troops to safety, the air cover provided by the RAF was essential to the operation's success. By engaging the Luftwaffe in the skies over Dunkirk, the RAF helped mitigate the threat of aerial attacks on the vulnerable troops waiting on the shore and the rescue ships operating in the area.12