Indeed to both, no disrespect intended to either side but I'm rather glad the Luftwaffe lost. Not that any potential Sea Lion wouldn't have run into a whole herd of difficulties which would have buggered up any plans for Barbarossa.
But yes, Hitler and Goring, and heck, most of the Nazi high command were key factors in the loss of not only the Battle of Britain but the entire war.
It was close in late August, before the Blitz began, not so much in terms of pilots and aircraft, the factories were churning out Spits and Hurris nine to the dozen, and pilots, admittedly inexperienced ones, were coming online at a growing rate (particularly when the Poles and other nationalities were allowed to join in), however it was the availability of airfields that lead Park to want to move the aircraft north of London, and if he had done that, it would have given less time to scramble and intercept and put more reliance on standing patrols.
Perhaps another thing which influenced the German decision that Operation Sea Lion was not worth it was the possible incursion at Shingle Street in August 1940 which was beaten back by shore based infantry and the flaming sea technique. However, whether this incursion actually happened is another thing entirely, there are eyewitness reports that say it did but the government says that it didn't and the information about it is classified until 2021.
http://www.shford.fslife.co.uk/Shing...etail=overview
TLDR? (or perhaps that should be TDDR [Too Drunk Didn't Read]?)
Yes and yes to your statement.
