When the Luftwaffe was tasked with destroying Britain's ability to resist invasion in 1940, the He 111 formed almost half of the Gruppen employed by Luftflotte 2 and Luftflotte 3. When the Luftwaffe switched to attacking cities and industrial sites the Heinkel 111 was widely employed, with raids against targets such as London, Coventry, Bristol, Birmingham and Liverpool.

In this selection of unrivaled images collected over many years, the operations of this famous aircraft in the early years of the war - particularly the invasion of Poland, the Blitzkrieg in the West, the Battle of Britain and the very early stages of the Blitz - are portrayed and brought to life.