Wednesday October 30
The autumn weather returned. A belt of heavy rain moved slowly eastwards across the country. Anyone looking out of their windows over the last couple of weeks will have seen weather not dissimilar to that in which the Battle of Britain staggered towards its conclusion.
Most raiding was done by single aircraft and most bombing was confined to the south east of England. A few raiders managed to reach London and bombs fell on some suburbs. Some of the Luftwaffe fighter commanders had enough of fighter-bombing raids and decided to mount true ‘Freiejagd’, fighter sweeps, over southern England. One such was Major Trautloft, who recorded in his diary
“As the Tommies proved quite aggressive towards our Jabos the past few days, we take off without any bombs for a real free hunting mission”.
Of the 150 Bf 109s from JG 26 and JG 54 which flew in over England at noon, only ten were carrying bombs. Park scrambled ten squadrons to meet this raid. Southeast of London six Spitfires from No. 222 Squadron’s ‘A’ Flight dived on thirty Bf 109s of JG 26. Six other Spitfires from ‘B’ Flight remained higher up, and even higher up 41 Squadron lay and waited. One Bf 109 was hit and exploded but P/ O Alfred Davies from 222 Squadron was shot down and killed.
III./JG 51 clashed with No 249 Squadron. Australian ace P/O William Millington, with 10 victories, was shot down and killed by Feldwebel Werner Bielefeld. JG 51 escaped unscathed.
A similar intrusion, again with about 150 Bf 109s was made in the evening. This time No. 602 Squadron tangled with JG 26 losing P/O Douglas Gage and Canadian Sergeant William Smith in exchange for one of its Bf 109s.
Sending out more fighters and fewer fighter-bombers proved to be a good tactic for the Luftwaffe’s fighter units, but it is difficult to see how this would change the course of events.
A significant loss today was that of a Ju 88 of 8./LG1, which made a forced landing at near Ely in Cambridgeshire at about 14.50. Two of the crew had baled out, the other two remained aboard. The cause of the crash was not clear, but .303 strikes on the aircraft showed that it had been attacked by British fighters and one engine was seized. None of this is remarkable. Remarkable were the documents found in the aircraft, which included a diary which gave the position of the transmitters and frequencies of the ‘Knickebein’ VHF directional beams. RAF Intelligence Officers gleaned a lot of information from documents, letters etc. found on Luftwaffe crew and in their aircraft. Luftwaffe discipline was very poor in this respect. A lot of documents that should never have been carried over enemy territory were routinely taken, but this was a valuable and unexpected bonus.
The Luftwaffe had lost 5 aircraft in operations against Britain today, with another 3 damaged. Fighter Command had lost 6 of its aircraft with another 5 damaged. Several aircraft on both sides were damaged or written off following accidents, many caused by the increasingly bad weather.
Tonight the weather had taken a turn for the worse. Visibility was very bad and the erratic courses of aircraft tracked over the Midlands reflected their struggles to find their targets. No more than sixty aircraft flew against Britain tonight and about forty of these attacked London. Enemy activity decreased after 22.00, a reflection of the deteriorating weather.
Bomber Command’s operations were also curtailed by the weather. 28 sorties were despatched, to targets in Germany, Belgium and Holland. Most failed to find their targets but all returned safely.
The autumn weather returned. A belt of heavy rain moved slowly eastwards across the country. Anyone looking out of their windows over the last couple of weeks will have seen weather not dissimilar to that in which the Battle of Britain staggered towards its conclusion.
Most raiding was done by single aircraft and most bombing was confined to the south east of England. A few raiders managed to reach London and bombs fell on some suburbs. Some of the Luftwaffe fighter commanders had enough of fighter-bombing raids and decided to mount true ‘Freiejagd’, fighter sweeps, over southern England. One such was Major Trautloft, who recorded in his diary
“As the Tommies proved quite aggressive towards our Jabos the past few days, we take off without any bombs for a real free hunting mission”.
Of the 150 Bf 109s from JG 26 and JG 54 which flew in over England at noon, only ten were carrying bombs. Park scrambled ten squadrons to meet this raid. Southeast of London six Spitfires from No. 222 Squadron’s ‘A’ Flight dived on thirty Bf 109s of JG 26. Six other Spitfires from ‘B’ Flight remained higher up, and even higher up 41 Squadron lay and waited. One Bf 109 was hit and exploded but P/ O Alfred Davies from 222 Squadron was shot down and killed.
III./JG 51 clashed with No 249 Squadron. Australian ace P/O William Millington, with 10 victories, was shot down and killed by Feldwebel Werner Bielefeld. JG 51 escaped unscathed.
A similar intrusion, again with about 150 Bf 109s was made in the evening. This time No. 602 Squadron tangled with JG 26 losing P/O Douglas Gage and Canadian Sergeant William Smith in exchange for one of its Bf 109s.
Sending out more fighters and fewer fighter-bombers proved to be a good tactic for the Luftwaffe’s fighter units, but it is difficult to see how this would change the course of events.
A significant loss today was that of a Ju 88 of 8./LG1, which made a forced landing at near Ely in Cambridgeshire at about 14.50. Two of the crew had baled out, the other two remained aboard. The cause of the crash was not clear, but .303 strikes on the aircraft showed that it had been attacked by British fighters and one engine was seized. None of this is remarkable. Remarkable were the documents found in the aircraft, which included a diary which gave the position of the transmitters and frequencies of the ‘Knickebein’ VHF directional beams. RAF Intelligence Officers gleaned a lot of information from documents, letters etc. found on Luftwaffe crew and in their aircraft. Luftwaffe discipline was very poor in this respect. A lot of documents that should never have been carried over enemy territory were routinely taken, but this was a valuable and unexpected bonus.
The Luftwaffe had lost 5 aircraft in operations against Britain today, with another 3 damaged. Fighter Command had lost 6 of its aircraft with another 5 damaged. Several aircraft on both sides were damaged or written off following accidents, many caused by the increasingly bad weather.
Tonight the weather had taken a turn for the worse. Visibility was very bad and the erratic courses of aircraft tracked over the Midlands reflected their struggles to find their targets. No more than sixty aircraft flew against Britain tonight and about forty of these attacked London. Enemy activity decreased after 22.00, a reflection of the deteriorating weather.
Bomber Command’s operations were also curtailed by the weather. 28 sorties were despatched, to targets in Germany, Belgium and Holland. Most failed to find their targets but all returned safely.
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