Aviation in World War II were struggling to re-equip with similarly modern types and to train up aircrew. Early German successes, with the notable assistance of the Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka" dive-bomber, overran Europe and left Britain open to attack. During the ensuing Battle of Britain, the British fighter squadrons had to quickly relearn the old tactical lessons from the first war. Initially the RAF fighters flew in a tight three-fighter arrowhead formation, soon changing to the looser four-aircraft arrangement which the Germans called the "finger-four." They soon also relearned the value of climbing above your opponent before attacking. At the same time, the development
Hugo Junkers in Dessau. The iron wings were patented one year later. Junkers had a wind tunnel built and invented a hydraulic brake. He had far-sighted ideas of metal aeroplanes and flying wings, but the necessities of the war held him back. During World War I, the government forced him to focus on aircraft production. In 1915, he developed the world's first practical all-metal aircraft design, the Junkers J 1 "Blechesel" (Sheetmetal Donkey), which survived on display in Deutsches Museum in Munich until World War II. His firm's first military production design in 1916–17 was the armored-fuselage, two-seat, all-metal sesquiplane known by