Many are familiar with the famous air war known as the “Battle of Britain” that pitted German air forces against British defenders over British skies in 1940. Winston Churchill acknowledged the brave British pilots by his words “never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few”. But the story behind how the aircraft, radar systems, and communications network performed so perfectly at the right moment is even more fascinating. Dan Heath’s 2020 book “Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen” drives home the point to not only focus on solving current problems but to also address potential problems. We will focus on how over a decade, key elements came together under great technical uncertainty and opposition just in time to defeat the German Air Force.