Sea Lion, the Isle of Wight and Britain's 1940 aircraft

Could Germany have taken the Isle of Wight as a forward air base because British aircraft were ineffective in 1940?

The proposal is rejected, and the Wellington is offered against the claim that Britain lacked good bombers. British early-war equipment is judged in its contemporary setting.

Taking the Isle of Wight as a forward Luftwaffe base is rejected as a solution to Operation Sea Lion. The Wellington provides the counterexample to the accompanying claim that Britain lacked good bombers in 1940. Early-war British aircraft were less capable than their 1944-45 successors, but the assessment here is that they were suitable for their own period. The RAF had problems without suffering the Luftwaffe's eventual collapse. The island proposal receives a brief rejection rather than a detailed operational analysis.