Monday 23 September
Generally fine weather across the UK
The day dawned bright and fine, not what the men of Fighter Command wanted to see. The Battle did not end on Battle of Britain day. With hindsight we know that it had been the decisive day as far as any chance of an invasion in 1940 was concerned, but the fighting continued. The improvement in the weather today allowed for more flying.
By 09.00 a large build up of enemy aircraft was seen by RDF over the Calais area. Park reacted in force, dispatching no less than 24 squadrons to meet the raid. The raid was made up entirely of fighters, more than 200 Bf 109s, which had quickly crossed the Channel, meaning that most of the British fighters did not have time to climb to the altitude at which the Germans arrived. Nos 92 and 72 Squadrons from Biggin Hill, both flying Spitfires were two of those that made the initial interception from an advantageous height. F/Lt Brian Kingcombe and P/O Drummond shot down one Bf 109 each. Oberfw Grzymalla, who baled out and Fw Kuepper, who force landed in a duck pond, both from to III./JG 26, ended up in British captivity. Next, the Spitfires from 41 Squadron attacked and shot down four Bf 109s from I.(J)/LG 2 (one of which staggered back to France, making an emergency landing at its own airfield) without any losses to themselves. Pilot Officer George ‘Ben’ Bennions, an ace from 41 Squadron with 11 victories, said,
“I eventually sighted enemy aircraft slightly below on our starboard side. I ordered line astern and turned in to attack and a series of dogfights ensued in the course of which I succeeded in shooting down one Me 109 which landed on the sea N. of Dover; about one mile from the shore, and nosed in – the tail remained visible for approximately 3 minutes and had a yellow strip down the rudder at its extremity.”
This Bf 109 is often said to have been flown by a twenty-year old Fahnrich Hans-Joachim Marseille, who after 20 minutes in the cold water was rescued by an He 59
. Another Bf 109 shot down today was that of Uffz Frederich Dilthey of JG 2, who crashed into the sea off Folkestone pier. I know that Folkestone is south and west of Dover, but there is a remarkable sequence of images taken of this event, one of which shows the Bf 109 feet above the waves with a Spitfire above. F/Lt Cosby and Sgt Glew of No 72 Squadron are credited with this victory, but some of the images exactly match Bennions’ description.
Anyway, you pays your money and you takes your pick. If Bennions didn’t shoot down Marseille, then obviously someone else did
The Hurricane squadrons did not do so well. No 73 Squadron had a bad start to the day when, according to the squadron diary.
“In spite of the bright sunny morning our spirits sagged – and our stomachs revolted – when we had our breakfast placed before us. It purported to be mince, but it gave us all many unpleasant thoughts and even the most hardened stomachs decided to go breakfastless. If our breakfast was bad, worse and infinitely more tragic hours awaited us…
While patrolling at 20,000 feet the Squadron was ordered to 10,000 feet. Smithy, who was leading, promptly and wisely questioned this, but the order was confirmed, so being left no option he began to go down. Disaster then came among us. At 12,000 feet when 17 Squadron had left the tail completely uncovered, Me109s and He113s hurtled down from the sun and the formations went over like nine pins.”
There were of course no ‘He 113s’, just the Bf 109s of JG 26, led by Adolf Galland. The squadron lost four of its Hurricanes. Sgt Maurice Leng and Sgt Frederick Perkin baled out and survived. P/O Neville Langham-Hobart ended up badly burned in the Thames Estuary near Lightship 93 and drifted around there until a boat spotted him; P/O Douglas Kinder was rescued from the Channel severely burned. No. 257 Squadron was also hit by JG 26. Sergeant Donald Aslin abandoned his Hurricane and was rescued, badly burned, from the Channel. He had arrived at the squadron the previous day. His Squadron Leader, Bob Stanford-Tuck returned to Debden in a dark mood. Two of the pilots in his Flight had simply turned and fled from the scene when the Bf 109s appeared, leaving Tuck and another pilot in the lurch
A remarkable fight took place between III./JG 3’s commander, Hauptmann Wilhelm Balthasar, the most successful German ace in the Battle of France and P/O Terence Kane, who had served in the RAF since July 1938, and now flew a Spitfire from 234 Squadron.
Kane chased Balthasar all the way to the French coast before the Luftwaffe expert finally turned the tables on him.
“Wait, my friend, I thought, you must return soon, and then I will be the hunter. Cap Gris Nez loomed up in front, and I skimmed over it one metre above. Suddenly the Tommy pulled up steeply and slowed down…. At once I turned my Me 109 and zoomed up in a tight bank, engine howling, straight at him. I fired one burst from close range, I nearly rammed him and the Spitfire went straight into the sea. He flew fantastically!”
Kane survived to become a PoW. He remembered rather more soberly,
“I turned the aircraft on its back, jettisoned the hood and started to climb out. Then I realised the radio unit and oxygen supply were still fastened to the plane and to me, so I climbed back in and unfastened them. The aircraft decided it didn’t like being on its back and went on its side, so I had to turn it on its back again and climb out. I reached for the parachute ripcord – and couldn’t find it. Panic began to set in. I was falling through cloud and at the very moment I got the chute open I broke cloud and there was the Channel 500 feet below. If I had been three seconds later pulling the ripcord I would not be here now. The Germans fished me out and I spent the rest of the War as a prisoner of war.”
Fighter Command also lost another ace, 152 Squadron’s Pilot Officer William Beaumont, who had a tally of seven victories. He set off to intercept a lone bomber and was shot down and killed. Beaumont was probably killed in combat with a Ju 88 flown by Leutnant Elmar Hauer from the reconnaissance unit 3.(F)/123, which was also recorded as missing over the English Channel.
Fighter Command and the Luftwaffe lost 11 fighters each in these exchanges. I./JG 54 had suffered further losses and would be withdrawn from the Channel. Its 3rd Staffel had been particularly badly mauled. The Geschwader Kommodore, Hannes Trauttoft would write.
“The 3. Staffel began its operations against England with 17 pilots. Since then, 15 of them have been killed, written off as missing, ended up in captivity or wounded.”
This was no way to win a battle.
Tonight 261 German bombers dropped 300 tons of bombs on London. The cities anti-aircraft artillery and Blenheim and Defiant night fighters did their best, but without success. Bombs fell mainly on southern and eastern districts of the capital. Bomber Command raided Berlin at the same time, for the second night in a row. This time 129 Whitleys, Wellingtons and Hampden bombers attacked seventeen targets in the German capital. 112 aircraft reported having bombed over a three hour period, three were lost, one of each type. The Channel ports were not ignored, 71 aircraft were sent to these targets.