Battle of Britain diary

[adt70hk]

Wednesday 2 October

Generally clear but with some broken cloud.

The cloud enabled single bombers or small groups to evade British defences and bomb targets mainly in the SE of England. Bombs were reported further afield, in Redditch and even in S Wales. For the most part these nuisance raids were ignored by Fighter Command. Some bombers were unlucky. The crew of Oberleutnant Hans Seidel’s ‘A1+CH’ from I./KG 53 was intercepted by P/O Irving Smith of No 151 Squadron. He had ineffectually bombed the Rolls-Royce factory before Smith shot him down.

An exception to this pattern was another raid by our old friends of Epgr 210 on Lympne aerodrome. Both Bf 110 Staffeln took off for the raid and reached Lympne unopposed. The station ORB recorded the result.

“One squadron of twin-engined enemy dive bombers approached from the south east having been turned by Anti-Aircraft fire in the Folkestone area. Enemy aircraft approached aerodrome in a shallow dive and dropped approximately two 500 pounders per machine, about 20 bombs in all, including a few incendiary. Bombs landed along the western side of the camp, demolishing several unoccupied shelters and destroying an Army lorry by fire. Four Army personnel in the lorry were injured, one slightly. Little other damage.”

The reference to one squadron and twenty bombs would imply that Eprg 210, whose own records show that two Staffeln took off for this raid, was suffering low serviceability and that the two staffeln could barely muster the strength of one Staffel between them.

Today also saw the beginning of the new fighter bomber attacks on London. The fighter bomber strategy was based on two false premises. The first was that Fighter Command was down to only three hundred serviceable fighters. The fighting on 30 September temporarily reduced the number of operational Spitfires and Hurricanes from 621 to 593, but it was still twice as many as the Germans thought. Secondly, the Germans assumed that if Fighter Command was drawn into combat with the German fighters, it would in some way automatically lead to the RAF coming off worst. This was a false premise that pre-dated the Battle. This was never the case, and the results of the fighter vs fighter combats over the last two months showed that both sides were fairly evenly matched. The Germans did not appreciate this due to their faulty intelligence.

As this ‘new’ offensive began the veterans of II.(S)/LG 2 were first in the action. One of its Staffels took off at 0.800 to fly to London, escorted by about forty Bf 109s from JG 54. Since the Bf 109s climbed to 6,000 metres before they flew out over the Channel, they were quickly detected by the British radar. Eight squadrons went up against them. When the Germans crossed the coast the Spitfire units were in a good position to attack, but when the RAF pilots reported only Bf 109s they were ordered not to engage. Some thirty Bf 109s from JG 54 stayed and began to orbit over Dover, while the fighter-bombers and the rest of the fighter escort continued towards London. Shortly afterwards, Dowding in Bentley Priory received a report that bombs were falling on London. It was too late for Fighter Command to intervene and at 09.20 the raid withdrew to France. There had been a failure somewhere in RAF reporting. The ability of the Bf 109 to carry a bomb had been known to the RAF since September 9 when a British report concluded that the presence of bomb carrying Bf 109s ‘now can be confirmed’. Why the possibility was discounted this morning we will never know.

The ‘Jabos’ posed a new problem for Fighter Command. Neither RDF, nor the Observer Corps could tell whether a formation of Bf 109s was carrying bombs or not. The only way to tell was by closer observation by fighters in the air. This would put an added strain on Fighter Command as it struggled to meet raids arriving at 30,000 feet. It took a Bf 109 just 17 minutes to cross the Channel to London, it took a Spitfire I 27 minutes to climb to 30,000 feet. The result was standing patrols, something Park had always sought to avoid. With them came added wear and tear on machines and pilots. The average daily operational flying for an 11 Group squadron increased from 45 to 60 hours.

The Germans still had flaws in their tactics to iron out, as the next raid would show.

III./JG 53 had appointed Oberleutnant Ernst-Gunther Heintze’s 8./JG 53* to be its ‘Jabo Staffel’. Escorted by forty other Bf 109s from JG 53, its bomb-laden planes passed the coast at Dungeness at 7,000 metres, about half an hour after II.(S)/LG 2 had flown back to France. The raid headed for London. The RAF fighter pilots had no difficulty in identifying the fighter bombers. The German fighter escort flew much higher, at 9,000 metres. The fighter-bombers could not fly so high because of their heavy load and were flying far below, leaving a gap that would be exploited by No 603 Squadron which attacked the heavily laden ‘Jabos’ unseen by the escorts, shooting down four Bf 109s. P/O P G Dexter would be shot down in the ensuing fight, baling out wounded in the leg.

Here is one of the 8./JG 53 ‘Jabos’ shot down today. It is the aircraft of Obltn Walter Fiel, who made a good forced landing at Addlested Farm in Kent. His was a cannon armed E-4, but of the four of this unit shot down today, two were E-1s, armed with just four machine guns. Fiel’s machine was displayed in London to a curious crowd. Often these aircraft were used for fund raising, you could usually sit in the cockpit for a shilling.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1133763[/ATTACH]

Fighter Command’s only operational loss today would be Dexter’s Spitfire. The Luftwaffe lost 4 Bf 109s with another damaged and 8 bombers with another damaged. Its new campaign had not got off to a flying start.

The Luftwaffe would fly 230 sorties against Britain tonight. The principal target was once again London as the Blitz continued. Manchester and neighbouring towns were also attacked. Bombs were also reported in Scotland.

Bomber Command dispatched 81 sorties tonight. The targets listed were nine targets in Germany, Eindhoven airfield, Channel ports and minelaying.

*Luftwaffe nomenclature, expanding a little on yesterday’s post:

At this time there were three Gruppen in a Geschwader. The Gruppen were numbered using Roman numbers, so I./JG 53, II./JG 53 and III./JG 53

Each Gruppe comprised a staff flight (loose translation) called the Stab, and then three Staffeln. The individual Staffeln were numbered in a similar way to the Gruppen but with Arabic numbers. 1./JG 53, 2./JG 53 and 3./JG 53 would make up I./JG 53, the first Gruppe.

Heintze was the Staffelkapitan (literally ‘squadron captain’, a position, NOT a rank) of 8./JG 53, one of the three Staffeln (7, 8 and 9) making up III./JG 53. His Staffel had been selected to be that Gruppe’s fighter bomber Staffel, in accordance with Goering’s order that one Staffel in every Gruppe should convert to this role.

Thanks Steve as always. The numbering system for German formations used to drive me crazy until I recently read a book by a former Wilde Sau JG pilot who flew later on the war.

ATB

Andrew

[Guest]

Now this reminiscence is not for the squeamish.

I was 3 my sister one. Mother used to put out scraps for the birds bits of bacon on the garden..

My sister & I played in the garden & like all good brothers I thought she should eat more.

I actually fed her with these bits of bacon & other bits (not telling). amazingly she survived.

Used to go into the garden every morning to search for shrapnel. over time I found two bits , quite large as well, which for a time were my pride & joy.
Not sure if they were from aircraft or the anti-aicraft gun shells.

[stona]

Thursday 3 October

Rain, cloud and fog blanketing the UK.

The bad weather precluded any high altitude ‘Jabo’ operations it was good for lone nuisance raiders, using the cloud as cover. A more or less continuous stream of Ju 88s began crossing the coast between 1,000 and 2,000 feet, in the murk, from about 12.00. These crews were trained in instrument flying and were among the most highly trained in the Luftwaffe. Fifteen airbases received German bombs. In most places the damage was limited, but at St. Eval two hangars were hit and two Spitfires from 222 Squadron and an Avro Anson were destroyed by two Do 17s from KG 606. Bombs were dropped at Bedford, Kettering, Daventry, Stafford, Banbury, Crewe and Worcester. The MECO factory at Worcester, which made surge drums for barrage balloons, was hit, causing considerable damage and killing seven workers. 18 year old D Clarke was working inside the factory when the bombs fell.

"I was working about ten yards from the canteen - after the explosion everything fell all over the place. All exits were blocked except one."

Also hit today was the de Havilland works at Hatfield. Four bombs were dropped on to the grass airfield, they bounced into the factory workshops, exploding and killing 21 men and seriously injuring many more. There were air raid shelters built within the factory to enable some form of immediate cover and dug outs below ground outside the factory, but the warning came too late for the men to take cover. The bomber was originally mistaken for a British aircraft. The de Havilland shop 94 was a direct hit, it was completely demolished along with 80 per cent of the materials already assembled for the new DH 98 Mosquito, the Technical School in an adjacent building was also destroyed. The scene found by rescue teams was described as being large fires, smoke, debris and lumps of concrete everywhere. A shelter inside the building, built of single brick walls supporting a concrete roof had collapsed killing all those inside. Others had sought shelter under work benches but to no avail. The attacking aircraft, a Ju 88 of Stab I./KG 77 flown by Obltn Siegward Fiebig, was shot down by Anti-Aircraft defences. It was the only Luftwaffe aircraft definitely shot down by British defences today. Fiebig had been tasked with attacking Reading aerodrome but could not find it in the bad weather and attacked the de Havilland factory by chance, as a target of opportunity. The CEAR on this aircraft noted that there was a ‘Tommy gun’ found in this aircraft, one wonders if this really was an American Thomson or some other sub-machine gun. Would an RAF Intelligence Officer recognise an MP 38 (or possibly even the new MP 40)?

Fighter Command flew numerous sorties today, but the appalling weather meant that no successful interceptions were made.

There was very little Luftwaffe activity tonight. After 19.01 no red warnings were given anywhere in the country north and west of Peterborough. London was released from warnings between 21.25 and 22.02 and then from 02.06 until 05.36 when a single raider was plotted approaching the capital. The terrible weather was certainly the reason for this lack of activity.

Bomber Command’s ORB states that no operations were flown tonight as the weather closed in. Other records suggest that just 9 sorties were flown against targets on the French coast. In either case, there was a minimal effort.

[stona]

Friday 4 October

The bad weather continued with heavy cloud and rain blanketing much of the country.

The poor visibility that had so severely curtailed operations last night did the same today. The Luftwaffe again took recourse to nuisance raids, as seen yesterday but today they were not as effective. London stayed under alert for five hours during the day and raiders penetrated inland across England. Bombs were reported falling indiscriminately on many small towns in East Anglia, Kent and Sussex.

Interception was very difficult in the conditions, but Fighter Command did manage to shoot down three Luftwaffe bombers, including a Ju 88 of I./KG 77 which was a victim of No 257 Squadron’s S/Ldr Tuck. The bomber went down in the sea off Southwold killing all the crew. Three other bombers were brought down by ground fire and several damaged.

The Luftwaffe lost or wrote off 9 bombers on operations against Britain with 3 more damaged. Several other aircraft were written off or damaged in accidents, largely due to the inclement weather. Fighter Command suffered just 1 operational loss today when F/Lt Ken Gillies, a long standing member of No 66 Squadron was shot down in combat with an He 111 off the East Coast. Ken Gillies's body would wash ashore on 21 October at Covehithe. 4 other British fighters made forced landings, suffering various damage, all as a result of the poor weather.

A large number of aircraft were reported raiding London in the early part of the night, but this was not sustained. The All Clear was given at 03.29, shortly after which all enemy air activity over Britain ceased.

Bomber Command carried out 30 ‘cloud cover’ sorties during the day, but tonight flew no sorties.

[Guest]

Hi I hope you don't mind me sharing this with you it's something written for the BBC by a mate of mine he is a fellow modeler and now a author he did 35 years as an Army Helicopter pilot but ended his career in Parklands Community Mental Hospital.

By Karl Tearney
I was honoured to write a poem to be used by the Royal Air Force and Breitling to mark the 100th anniversary year of the Royal Air Force.

[stona]

Very appropriate, plus anything with a Spitfire in it..... :thumb2:

[stona]

Saturday 5 October

The weather improved slightly today, though there was still extensive cloud.

The improved weather persuaded the Luftwaffe to resume its fighter bomber attacks and today 480 sorties were flown on or in support of five ‘Jabo’ operations.

The largest operation was made early in the afternoon with about 200 Messerschmitts from Luftflotte 2 flying towards London and various targets in Kent, while at the same time Luftflotte 3 sent thirty-eight Bf 110s from ZG 26 along with forty Bf 109s from JG 2 and seven from JG 53 on a fighter sweep up towards the Isle of Wight area. Fierce fighting ensued with seven squadrons scrambled to oppose this raid and six Bf 109s were shot down for the loss of four RAF fighters.

Today Helmut Wick, of interest to some here, made a number of claims. He had a total of 36 air victories on his account, five behind Galland and six behind Molders. He claimed two of No 607 Squadron’s Hurricanes with other pilots from JG 2 claiming nine more. This makes eleven claims, more than the total number of the seven Hurricanes flown on this operation by No 607 Squadron! Only one Hurricane was shot down, though three others were damaged. Wick then gave this account of the action as his unit retired.

“Having turned towards the base, I suddenly spotted three Spitfires above myself. They seemed to come from the sea. I saw them first, attacked, and soon I had shot down the first one. […] I gritted my teeth and made a new attack. Number two also plunged into the sea after just a few rounds. Now only one was left. Unfortunately, by then I had run out of cannon shells, so I was left with only the machine guns. After a while, he left a white trail behind, which presaged gasoline fire. By all accounts, the pilot was also hit, since the aircraft swerved off uncontrollably. However, after a while the pilot seemed to have regained control over the machine, so I have to give him the coup de grace. The Spitfire reeled over and splashed into the sea.”

The problem is that these Spitfires, these losses, simply do not match any British records. These aircraft did not exist. One wonders whether Wick may have been a little too keen to catch up with his rivals. His five claims today, only one of which can possibly be verified, put him level with Galland. Wick was not alone in his pursuit of numbers. Within the Luftwaffe men like him were said to be suffering a ‘sore throat’, a reference to the ‘Ritterkreuz’ which was worn around the neck. There was a feeling among Luftwaffe pilots that the fighter operations over England were not serving to defeat the RAF but to increase the scores of the ‘experten’ (sometimes called hawks) at the expense of the men protecting their rears. Most over claiming was the result of genuine mistakes, the result of the confusion of air fighting. There is more than a suspicion that some of the Luftwaffe ‘experten’ were making outright fraudulent claims. In some cases it was proven and in very rare cases action taken against the claimers. The case of the "Expert Schwarm" (composed of Vogel, Sawallisch, Bendert and Stigler) of 4./JG 27 in North Africa was one such rare case.

This raid may have served as cover for another attack by the two Bf 110 Staffeln of Epgr 210, which targeted the Becton gas works and West Malling airfield. The first Staffel never reached Becton. It was intercepted by No 303 (Polish) Squadron which was patrolling over Dungeness, with No 501 Squadron joining in. No 1 (Canadian) Squadron tangled with the Bf 109 escorts. Two of the Bf 110s were shot down. The acting Gruppenkommandeur, Oblt. Werner Weymann and his Bordfunker, Untoffizier Erwin Hubner were shot down into the Channel. At least three of the Poles, F/O Henneburg, F/O Feric and F/O Pisarck claimed this aircraft in an example of confusion rather than fraud. Feric reported.

“I noticed an Me 110 break away from the circle, and dive towards the sea, smoking slightly, but maintaining a very high speed. I chased E/A and catching up with him about seven miles from the coast fired a short burst from 20 yards into his cockpit. E/A immediately dived into the sea.”

Weymann was the fourth Gruppenkommandeur to be killed in action since 15 August.

A second Bf 110, that of Fw Fritz Duensing and Fw Helmut Krappatsch was also shot down, diving into the ground at high speed. The CEAR noted that

“…aircraft dived with engine on and exploded on impact, scattering wreckage over a wide area.”

What could be found of the two crew was buried in Hawkinge cemetery where they remain today, not having been reinterred at Cannock. They were victims either of Sgt Belc of No 303 Squadron or, more likely, No 501 Squadron’s S/Ldr Hogan who reported that he

“was able to attack an Me 110 with two short bursts. The Me 110 attempted to evade by diving and turning but I followed and as he went into a steep diving turn, I gave him one long burst and he rolled onto his back and went in, crashing two miles south of Ashford.”

This position exactly matches that of Kingsnorth, where Duensing and Krappatsch came down. One other 1st Staffel Bf 110 returned to France badly damaged.

The 2nd Staffel reached and bombed West Malling, but no serious damage was reported. They were intercepted, one Bf 110 being damaged but able to make it back to France.

In operations against Britain today the Luftwaffe had lost or written off 11 aircraft with 9 more damaged. The RAF had lost 6 of its fighters with another 8 damaged. Looking at the numbers over the last few days it is difficult to see what the Luftwaffe was hoping to achieve. It was suffering attrition at a greater rate than Fighter Command and was less able to sustain it. 250Kg bombs dropped indiscriminately by fighter bombers were never going to have anymore than a nuisance value. To me it seems that the Luftwaffe leadership, stymied at every turn, had simply run out of ideas. Dowding on the other hand knew exactly what he was doing.

It almost goes without saying that the Luftwaffe’s bombers were back tonight. 177 sorties were flown and raids were almost continuous through the night. In London a number of factories in the Woolwich area were hit. Many bombs were reported to have fallen across Essex, Sussex and Kent. Portland was bombed as was Holyhead. Bombs fell close to Ford aerodrome in an unsuccessful attack.

Bomber Command was back in action tonight attacking targets in Germany and Rotterdam. The Channel ports were no longer a priority as the invasion fleets were clearly dispersing. Oil and rail targets in Cologne, Gelsenkirchen, Hamm, Osnabruck and Soest were targeted by 20 Hampdens. 10 Hampdens went minelaying in the Elbe and 4 Wellingtons went to Rotterdam. 3 Hampdens were lost.

[adt70hk]

Hi I hope you don't mind me sharing this with you it's something written for the BBC by a mate of mine he is a fellow modeler and now a author he did 35 years as an Army Helicopter pilot but ended his career in Parklands Community Mental Hospital.

By Karl Tearney
I was honoured to write a poem to be used by the Royal Air Force and Breitling to mark the 100th anniversary year of the Royal Air Force.

Pete

Thanks for sharing. Very moving!

ATB

Andrew

[stona]

Sunday 6 October

Cloud and rain

The weather curtailed Luftwaffe operations today but the pattern for the month had already been set. Small formations of bombers, usually the faster Ju 88s, or single bombers made nuisance raids, often using the cloudy conditions as cover. On fairer days the bomb carrying ‘Jabo’ Bf 109s and their escorts would make high altitude raids, hoping to draw Fighter Command into combat. There would be just one more daylight raid by a bomber Gruppe, but that would come tomorrow.

Today, for example, individual Ju 88s from 4./KG 30 bombed the Northolt sector station, blowing up a taxying 303 Squadron Hurricane killing its Polish pilot, Sgt A Siudak, and damaging two more Hurricanes. No 72 Squadron also lost a Spitfire on the ground when a lone raider dropped bombs on Biggin Hill. That was about as good as it got for the Germans today. A feature noted in various reports today was that the bombers, often flying at low level, machine gunned various towns and villages.

Those above were the only combat losses to Fighter Command today, though a 64 Squadron Spitfire inexplicably crashed into the sea on a routine patrol, killing Sgt F F Vinyard and a No 229 Squadron Hurricane made a forced landing having run out of petrol.

The Luftwaffe lost four bombers on operations against Britain, only one of which was shot down by fighters. Several others were lost or damaged in accidents, probably caused by the bad weather over their home airfields.

One of the bombers lost today was a Ju 88 of 4./KG 30. It was seen by eye witnesses to be on fire before diving vertically into the ground at Netherstead in Bedfordshire. Here an Air Intelligence Officer surveys the resulting smoking hole and wonders what he will write in his report.



The weather seems to have limited operations tonight. The only reports of bombing came from Welwyn and Enfield. There were no air raid warnings between 22.38 and 05.01, which must have been a relief to the sleep deprived citizens of London.

For Bomber Command too, tonight was a wash out. No sorties were flown.

[stona]

Monday 7 October

Better weather, broken cloud over the Channel and southern England.

Between 09.30 and 15.40 the Luftwaffe sent a series of fighter sweeps and ‘Jabo’ attacks against targets in southern England.

These fighter bomber missions today cost 2./JG 51 a loss of three Bf 109s.

Things went far worse for JG 27, which was sent to escort II.(S)/LG 2 in its attacks against London and Biggin Hill airfield. The fighter bombers managed to carry out their attack undisturbed, but when the Germans turned back towards the coast, Hurricanes from 1 RCAF and 303 RAF (Polish) squadrons attacked them. The RAF fighters were in turn attacked by Bf 109s from II./JG 27 which had been lurking unseen at higher altitude, F/O Deane Nesbitt was badly damaged, but managed to nurse his Hurricane home. Now No 605 Squadron appeared on the scene and decisively turned the tables on the Germans. This squadron was led by the aggressive Squadron Leader Archie McKellar who shot down two Bf 109s during his first attack. Then he made a sharp turn and sent down a third 109. The Germans broke and ran for France. When they landed seven Bf 109s were missing. Four of these had been downed by Archie McKellar, the other three Bf 109s were shot down by pilots of No 303 (Polish) Squadron. The RAF’s total losses in the clash were confined to one damaged and one destroyed Hurricane.

The main action of the day was the final daylight attack by German bombers, in strength, of the Battle of Britain. It was not on the scale of the 30 September raids, but it was another attempt on the Westland Aircraft Factory at Yeovil. The factory had escaped damage on the 30th when KG 55 had mistakenly bombed Sherbourne. This time it was twenty Ju 88s of II./KG 51 which would make the attack, escorted by all three Gruppen of ZG 26, which managed to muster thirty-nine Bf 110s, and fifty nine Bf 109s from JG 2 and JG 53. The Bf 109s only participated to a limited extent, they seem to have forced to return to France due to lack of fuel before the ensuing combat reached its peak.

The raid was detected by RDF at 15.42 and 10 Group began scrambling its squadrons. First to engage were Nos 152 and 609 followed by the Hurricanes of No 238. P/O Richard Covington’s involvement was brief.

“I followed Bob Doe into attack, and I was going to have a go at this daisy chain of Me 110s that were milling about when an Me 109 got me from behind. I baled out – quickly.”

The Bf 110s were flying their defensive circle, a tactic by which they provided mutual support for one another. P/O Eric Marrs of No 152 Squadron gave a good explanation of this tactic and the way that he managed to exploit a weakness.

“This raid consisted of about 40–50 Junkers Ju 88’s and an equal number of Me 110’s. Some people say that there were also Me 109’s about, but I saw none. They crossed the coast and went North just to the East of Warmwell and then turned North-West and made for Yeovil. We attacked them just about as they turned North-West. The bombers were in loose formation at about 16,000 ft with their guard of Me 110s behind and above them. We were at 20,000 ft and to one side of the bombers. We all dived down on the latter to try to split them up thoroughly. I was not able to get in a good shot at them and pulled away to the right and up again. I then took stock of the position. I was in a bad position to go for the bombers again, so I thought I would have a crack at the fighters. These I found were going about in strings of about 10 aircraft sneaking along behind the bombers. From time to time the leader of each string would come round behind the last man in the ring to form a defensive circle. The leader would then break the circle again to catch up the bombers. After one or two attempts I found I was able to sneak up behind one of these strings and attach myself to the end of it for a short spell, shooting at the end machine in the line. Every time the leader came round to form a defensive circle I had to break away and wait till the circle broke up again. I was however, able to tack myself on again. In this way I was to make the end one of one of these lines stream glycol from one of its engines. I was not able to finish it off as the leader of this particular string was forming one of the defensive circles and was coming round behind me … I then drew away for a bit to take stock of the position. The Huns were now making for the coast again, and I saw a straggler all by himself. I swooped up on him from the starboard rear quarter. He saw me coming and opened up, but I was able to catch him up quite easily. I opened fire and his starboard engine streamed glycol. I switched on to the fuselage and then over to the port engine. I was by now overtaking him somewhat fast, so I drew out to his left. Suddenly the back half of his cockpit flew off and out jumped two men. Their parachutes streamed and opened and they began drifting slowly earthwards. Their aeroplane, left to itself, dived vertically into the sea, making a most wonderful sight and an enormous splash.”

As the British fighters and escorts fought it out the Ju 88s forced on to Yeovil. At 15.55 bombs began falling on Yeovil town centre. Not one bomb fell on the Westland works or airfield. In Yeovil, Burton’s outfitters was hit, killing eight people and a direct hit on the public shelter in Vicarage Street killed another four. Another four people were killed by bombs falling across Grove Avenue, Summerleaze Park and School and St Andrew’s Road. In all 16 were killed and 29 injured. The RAF pilots harassed the raid as it withdrew, the last casualty probably being P/O Herbert Ackroyd of No 152 Squadron who was shot down at about 16.30. His Spitfire crashed in flames at Shatcombe Farm near Dorchester, Ackroyd baled out but had suffered fatal burns, to which he sadly succumbed on the following day.

This final Gruppe strength bombing raid of the battle of Britain had followed a course similar to most of the others. A large number of fighters had managed to make interceptions, the Luftwaffe lost more aircraft than the RAF, including a precious bomber, and the bombing had been inaccurate and ineffective.

In its operations against Britain today the Luftwaffe had lost a total of 16 aircraft, 10 of which were Bf 109s. Another 4 aircraft returned damaged. In exchange the RAF had lost or written off 14 of its fighters, with a further 8 damaged.

Tonight, Luftwaffe bombers flew over London throughout the night. Bombing was widespread and some damage was caused to railways. Liverpool and Manchester were also bombed during a three hour period. Edinburgh and Swansea reported bombing. The most serious damage was the destruction of the gas works at Rochester.

The better weather also saw Bomber Command make a major effort. 140 sorties were flown tonight to targets in Germany and occupied countries. The biggest effort, by 42 Wellingtons and Whitleys was to twelve targets in Berlin. 1 Wellington was lost.

[stona]

Tuesday 8 October

Variable weather, squally with cloud cover.

The new Luftwaffe tactic now caused what amounted to a battle for altitude. Galland remembered,

“Because we always tried to stay above the opponent, air fighting took place at ever higher altitudes. My personal record was 8,200 metres, but you could see Me 109s and Spitfires engaged in dogfights at over 9,000 metres, close to the stratosphere’s lower limit. You could see their vapor trails against the dark blue sky.”

For his part, Park gave orders to, ‘when time permits’, allow the fighter planes to climb to high altitudes, Spitfires to 30,000 to 35,000 feet, individual Hurricane squadrons to 20,000 to 25,000 feet and Hurricane squadrons which operated in pairs to 18,000 to 22,000 feet, before they were sent against the German flight formations. This was rarely possible when squadrons were reacting to a raid but was possible with the use of standing patrols.

The Hawker Hurricane, for all its sterling service over the last year was hopelessly out classed at these elevated altitudes. This did not stop its pilots from trying. Sgt Peter Fox certainly gave it a go.

“I remember well the greatest altitude I ever managed to achieve in a Hurricane: 32,800 feet. I really had to nurse the aircraft up the last few hundred feet and I kept falling out of the sky in stalls.”

The day started with a notable victory for No 235 Squadron, which flew Blenheims. An He 59 was shot down off Cherbourg.

Four ‘Jabo’ attacks reached the capital throughout the day bombing from high altitude and escorted by other Bf 109s as high as 32,000 feet. There was no pretence at aiming at anything but Greater London in general. We have an account of a morning raid from a Oblt Werner Voigt, commanding 4./JG 3. The first bombs were reported falling on London at 09.15.

“As usual, the British fighters were waiting for us high above London. Our bomb-Staffel dropped its little “eggs” on London with the usual feeling of hopelessness, and then the Englishmen attacked. I tried to count how many they were, but gave up when I arrived at twenty, because time was becoming sparse. Then we all dived at the Kommandeur’s order towards a cloud cover at 3,000 metres’ altitude over London.”

The British fighters lost the Germans in the cloud cover.

Killed today was No 303 (Polish) Squadron’s Sergeant Josef Frantisek (who was a Czech), the most successful pilot in the RAF at the time. He had scored 17 victories in the RAF, plus possibly ten or eleven more during his time in the French Air Force. No 303 Squadron went up from Northolt for a patrol south of London at 09:50. The unit never made contact with the enemy, missing the thirty aircraft of III./JG 54 heading for London, probably due to the marginal weather. About twenty minutes later III./JG 54 did clash with British fighters. Lt Max-Hellmuth Ostermann, Obfw Max Clerico and Fw Fritz Oeltjen all made claims. At about the same time and in the same area a Hurricane crashed. The pilot, who was thrown out of the cockpit and killed, was Frantisek. For unknown reasons he had disappeared from No 303 Squadron’s formation during the patrol, and now he had crashed and been killed for reasons that have never been clarified.

The Luftwaffe had lost 7 aircraft in operations against Britain, with another 8 damaged. In a bizarre accident 2 Ju 87s were also lost in a mid-air collision. The RAF had lost 5 fighters including 2 to unexplained causes (Frantisek’s Hurricane and a No 264 Squadron Defiant).

The Luftwaffe made the biggest effort in the early part of the night. London was again the main target, with a number of bombs also falling on Reading and Tunbridge Wells.

Bomber Command dispatched 108 sorties tonight, to targets in Germany, France and Holland. 38 Blenheims raided the Channel ports. 17 Hampdens attempted an unsuccessful attack on Tirpitz which was in the dry dock at Wilhelmshaven.

[stona]

Wednesday 9 October

Overcast with squalls.

The poor weather enabled small numbers of ‘Jabos’ to evade Park’s standing patrols and attempted interceptions. Airfields in 11 Group suffered sporadic bombing and at least five raids dropped bombs on London.

At 16.00 F/O E H Thomas of No 222 Squadron shot down the Bf 109 of 7./JG 54s Fw F Schweser, who was captured by civilians after setting his aircraft on fire. No 41 Squadron’s Eric Lock made two more claims for Bf 109s destroyed.

An unusual casualty today was a Bf 109 of I./JG 77 flown by Lt Escherhaus. His dinghy accidentally inflated (at least he had one Fighter Command’s Spitfire and Hurricane pilots did not) causing him to lose control of his aircraft, crash landing at Vensons farm, Eastry at 07.45. Miraculously Escherhaus survived.

The Luftwaffe lost 6 aircraft in operations against Britain today, with several more written off or damaged in accidents in the marginal flying weather. Fighter Command lost 2 aircraft in action today, including a No 235 Squadron Blenheim, with 2 more damaged.

The Luftwaffe continued the London Blitz tonight, most heavy raiding was in the early part of the night, though the city remained under warning until after dawn. Bombs fell on St Paul’s Cathedral, the Royal Courts of Justice and in the Strand, with damage also reported to the railway network. Manchester was attacked and bombs fell on Falmouth and Newport in the South West. A few bombs were reported in Essex, Surrey, Buckinghamshire and Kent.

Bomber Command sent off 38 sorties tonight, attacking Cologne, Ludwigshafen and Dutch airfields. All the aircraft returned safely.

[adt70hk]

Steve

Thank you yet again for your efforts.

ATB

Andrew

[stona]

Thursday 10 October

The weather improved, cloud but with some breaks.

Today the pattern of high flying ‘Jabos’ and single nuisance raiders resumed. There was a larger raid in the evening when as many as 100 aircraft attempted to converge on London from several directions, but some elements were intercepted and driven back.

No 92 Squadron was unlucky to lose two of its top aces, Pilot Officer Desmond Williams and Flying Officer John Drummond, when they collided as they attacked Lt Walter Dilcher’s Do 17 of I./KG 2 over Tangmere. Drummond did manage to bale out, but too low for his parachute to operate. Sgt W T Ellis was also shot down by the rear gunner in Dilcher’s aircraft. This one action accounted for three of Fighter Command’s operational losses today. The Do 17 did not escape unscathed, though it returned to France just 10% damaged, Lt Dilcher had been killed.

Fighter Command had lost 6 aircraft on operations with two more damaged. The Luftwaffe had lost 8 aircraft with 6 more damaged on operations against Britain. More worrying for the Luftwaffe was the spiralling rate of losses to accidents. Today it lost 8 aircraft in accidents with 3 more damaged. The weather and fatigue were causing losses almost as heavy as those inflicted by the British.

One of the aircraft lost today was Hurricane L1928, flown by Sgt H H Allgood which crashed onto houses at Albion Place in Maidstone. I mentioned this crash in an earlier post, having a vague memory of it, probably related to the work done by the Kent Battle of Britain Museum at the site during redevelopment.

At 15.20 hrs nine Hurricanes of No.253 Squadron took off from RAF Kenley. Sergeant Allgood took up position as tail-end Charlie. Thirty minutes into the patrol with the squadron at approximately 20,000 feet over the eastern outskirts of Maidstone, Allgood’s aircraft went into a steep dive and crashed into Nos. 59 and 61 Albion Place, the aircraft immediately burst into flames. The pilot, two adults and six children were killed. The cause of the crash was never established, but it is likely that Allgood’s oxygen supply failed, causing him to lose control of his aircraft. The civilians, all killed at No. 61 Albion Place, were buried at Maidstone Municipal Borough Cemetery. The house belonged to Doris Woods, aged 29, (wife of Charles H. Woods) who was there with her seven month old baby, Patricia Audrey Woods. Her mother, Elizabeth Annie Wooding, aged 49, of 4 Astley Street, (wife of Arthur E. Wooding) was also staying at the house, having been forced out of her own home after it was severely damaged during an air raid on 2nd September. With her were also Mrs Woods’ five youngest siblings; Vera Margaret, aged 18, Brenda Naomi, aged 14, Mavis Patricia, aged 12, Sylvia, aged 10, and Brian, aged 6.

Arthur Wooding had lost not only his wife (Elizabeth) and six children (Doris, Vera, Brenda, Mavis, Sylvia and Brian) but also his granddaughter (Patricia). Two other adult children who were not at the house survived.

It is not just soldiers that die in war.

The Luftwaffe was back in force tonight, an estimated 150 aircraft attacked London which was under warning from 19.22 to 04.55. Bombing was as usual scattered but caused a few fires. There was a series of raids in the Manchester-Liverpool area and several places on Tyneside also reported bombing. Scarborough was bombed again. A few bombs were reported falling in the Midlands and South West, probably jettisoned by returning bombers that had failed to find their targets.

Bomber Command made a big effort in the improving weather, despatching 157 sorties to thirteen targets in Germany, to the Channel ports, Eindhoven airfield and on minelaying operations. There were no losses.

[stona]

Friday 11 October

A dull start but improving later in the day.

Much of the action was over South East England. The British estimated that 450 aircraft crossed the English coast during the day, most of them fighters.

JG 26 flew three different missions against England and it was during the third and final one that Galland and II./JG 26 would surprise the lone Spitfire of Sergeant Charles Ayling. This was a Spitfire II of No 421 Flight, flying one of the ‘Jim Crow’ patrols and Ayling would become the Flight’s first casualty. The German formation then tangled with Nos. 41 and 92 Squadrons, operating as a pair. The Germans claimed three Spitfires, one for Galland, and the British two Bf 109s, one each for British aces Flight Lieutenant Brian Kingcombe (92 Squadron) and Pilot Officer Eric Lock (41 Squadron). The British had lost three aircraft but two were due to a collision between F/O D H O’Neill, who was killed, and Sgt L R Carter who baled out unhurt.

Not all the action was confined to the South East. No 611 Squadron, based at Digby, was operating a Flight from Ternhill in Shropshire, with the intention of intercepting German reconnaissance aircraft attempting to assess damage to the Manchester-Liverpool area. ‘A’ Flight was patrolling Anglesey when it did just that, intercepting three Do 17s and shooting two down, damaging the third. In a bizarre series of events the wireless operator and flight engineer baled out of the third burning bomber, the latter being killed when his parachute failed. The pilot and observer subsequently extinguished the fire and managed to limp back to their base in France.

Later, the Squadron’s Blue Section would intercept another pair of Do 17s over Prestatyn, damaging both of them. It was following this action that Sgt Pattison became disorientated and lost in the fading light. He eventually attempted a forced landing at Cooksey Green in Worcestershire, but crashed, suffering severe injuries to which he succumbed two days later at Barnsley Hall Military Hospital, near Bromsgrove.

Today the Luftwaffe had lost 4 aircraft in operations against Britain with another 2 damaged. Fighter Command had lost 9 aircraft with a further 4 damaged.

The Luftwaffe was very active in the early part of the night. London was bombed again, and bombing was reported in the Home Counties and Dorset. An estimated forty aircraft attacked Manchester and Liverpool. A few bombs were reported falling as far afield as Scotland and in Wales. After midnight activity decreased and the warning period for London ended unusually early, at 02.26.

Tonight, Bomber Command sent off 86 aircraft. The principal targets were oil and shipbuilding targets in Germany. ‘Minor raids’, usually meaning single aircraft, went to the Channel ports.