stona
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Sunday 21 July
Weather very much as today. Bright with broken cloud in the morning with some thundery showers developing around lunchtime. Cloudy afternoon but with sunny spells.
Better weather meant that the RAF flew 190 patrols with 596 aircraft.
Of note was a reconnaissance mission by a Bf 110 of 4(F)14. This Bf 110 encountered and shot down two RAF aircraft both from 1SFTS undertaking training missions. The first was a Hawker Hart, K6854, which was shot down near Winterbourne Dautsey, Wiltshire, killing Acting Leading Airman J A Seed*. The second was a Fairey Battle which force landed near Stockbridge with the crew safe. The Bf 110 was then itself shot down by Hurricanes of No. 238 Squadron, coming down after a long running combat at Goodwood Home Farm in West Sussex. Obltn Friederich-Karl Lunde and his radio operator/gunner Fw Willi Baden became PoWs.
The largest action of the day was an attack on a convoy off the Isle of Wight by a large force comprising about 40 Do 17s, escorted by 20 Bf 109s and 20 Bf 110s. 6 Hurricanes of No. 43 Squadron and 3 of No. 258 Squadron attempted to fend off the attack, but were hopelessly outnumbered. 43 Squadron’s P/O R A de Mancha (who had an Italian father) was killed when he collided with the Bf 109 0f Lt Kroker, who also perished. S/Ldr J V C Badger was lucky to get home with an aileron jammed by a hit from a cannon shell. The Bf 110 of Fw Horst Wurgatsch and Uffz Willi Harder crashed on landing at Theville, killing both men.
*The report on Seed’s death noted, controversially, that
“A/L/A Seed jumped from about 500 feet, and was later found about 25 yards from the hart aircraft, which then burst into flames. The ripcord had been pulled and the parachute was fully opened [meaning it had deployed, nobody say Seed under a developed canopy], but A/L/A Seed suffered multiple injuries, so that it seems the parachute did not operate fully to check the fall. Gun shot wounds in the body indicate that some of them must have been received after the pilot had left the aircraft, it being the Medical Officer’s opinion, he could not otherwise have abandoned his aircraft.”
Weather very much as today. Bright with broken cloud in the morning with some thundery showers developing around lunchtime. Cloudy afternoon but with sunny spells.
Better weather meant that the RAF flew 190 patrols with 596 aircraft.
Of note was a reconnaissance mission by a Bf 110 of 4(F)14. This Bf 110 encountered and shot down two RAF aircraft both from 1SFTS undertaking training missions. The first was a Hawker Hart, K6854, which was shot down near Winterbourne Dautsey, Wiltshire, killing Acting Leading Airman J A Seed*. The second was a Fairey Battle which force landed near Stockbridge with the crew safe. The Bf 110 was then itself shot down by Hurricanes of No. 238 Squadron, coming down after a long running combat at Goodwood Home Farm in West Sussex. Obltn Friederich-Karl Lunde and his radio operator/gunner Fw Willi Baden became PoWs.
The largest action of the day was an attack on a convoy off the Isle of Wight by a large force comprising about 40 Do 17s, escorted by 20 Bf 109s and 20 Bf 110s. 6 Hurricanes of No. 43 Squadron and 3 of No. 258 Squadron attempted to fend off the attack, but were hopelessly outnumbered. 43 Squadron’s P/O R A de Mancha (who had an Italian father) was killed when he collided with the Bf 109 0f Lt Kroker, who also perished. S/Ldr J V C Badger was lucky to get home with an aileron jammed by a hit from a cannon shell. The Bf 110 of Fw Horst Wurgatsch and Uffz Willi Harder crashed on landing at Theville, killing both men.
*The report on Seed’s death noted, controversially, that
“A/L/A Seed jumped from about 500 feet, and was later found about 25 yards from the hart aircraft, which then burst into flames. The ripcord had been pulled and the parachute was fully opened [meaning it had deployed, nobody say Seed under a developed canopy], but A/L/A Seed suffered multiple injuries, so that it seems the parachute did not operate fully to check the fall. Gun shot wounds in the body indicate that some of them must have been received after the pilot had left the aircraft, it being the Medical Officer’s opinion, he could not otherwise have abandoned his aircraft.”