Wednesday 27 September
Fair in the south, but with cloud in the Channel.
Today would see a level of fighting not seen since Battle of Britain Day. It would be another decisive day in the battle, arguably one of the three most important of the Battle. This entry will again have to be split into several sections, covering the three major actions of the day.
After the successes of the last two days the Luftwaffe would make a large effort today. The Bristol works at Filton would be targeted again, a sensible follow up raid to ensure that production was further disrupted or halted, but London would also be the target for two daylight raids. It would be the first time a significant force had been sent in daylight, against London, for many days.
The day started badly for the Luftwaffe when a Ju 88 reconnaissance plane from 2.(F)/123 which had been sent out to reconnoitre before the main attack was intercepted and shot down by a Spitfire. P/O Eric Marrs of No 152 Squadron was the victorious British pilot.
“I set the ball rolling by finding a lone Ju 88 at 23,000 ft. I had a long running fight during which we came down to 50ft and skimmed the hills of Devon. I did continuous quarter attacks aiming at his engines and was able to hit both of them. Glycol streamed forth and I hovered around waiting. As I expected, both engines soon stopped. He made for the South coast of the Bristol Channel and landed about 20 yds from the beach. I circled around and watched the crew get out. They waved to me and I waved back and then hordes of civilians came rushing up. I watched the crew taken prisoner, beat up the beach and then climbed away.”
First attack on London:
In the morning the Germans dispatched twenty-nine bombers against London, divided into several smaller bomber formations, Ju 88s from II./KG 76, escorted by JG 52 and JG 54, Ju 88s of KG 77 and He 111s from KG 53. Fighter Command countered them with twenty squadrons with over two hundred Spitfires and Hurricanes. The majority of these were concentrated against the fifteen Ju 88s from I./KG 77. These had been provided with a close escort of twenty-three Bf 110s from V.(Z)/LG 1 and ZG 76. Forty Bf 109s from JG 27 flew ‘extended escort’. Twelve Hurricanes from No 213 Squadron were the first to attack. They got past the Bf 109s and went for the Ju 88s at full speed. The Bf 110s, however, caught them and shot down one of the British machines. In the confusion that arose, the ten Bf 110s from V.(Z)/LG 1 lost contact with the bombers and the other Zerstorers and flew northwest instead of towards London. This had disastrous consequences. V.(Z)/LG 1 immediately drew the attention of the RAF air controllers who ordered several squadrons against them. In the ensuing battle one of the Bf 110s would be shot down, No 303 Squadron would lose three of its Hurricanes. ZG 76, heading towards London further east, was attacked by twenty three Spitfires from 72 and 92 squadrons but managed to shoot down one of the attackers without any losses. Then the Spitfire pilots got into a difficult battle with the Bf 109s from JG 27 and JG 54. Both sides lost fighters, JG 27 two of its Bf 109s, JG 54 one. Nos 253 and 602 Squadrons, each with ten Hurricanes and Spitfires, also had joined the attacks on this formation when a second Bf 110 from V.(Z)/LG 1 was shot down. At Redhill, twenty-four more Hurricanes from 17 and 249 squadrons came in to attack the Bf 110s. Shortly afterwards, near Biggin Hill, another two dozen Spitfires and Hurricanes from 66 and 605 squadrons turned on the last seven Bf 110s of V.(Z)/LG 1. Several of them chased the Bf 110 which was flown by the commander of 15./LG 1, Oberleutnant Ulrich Freiherr von Gravenreuth. The German pilot flew low to escape his pursuers and did not notice he was coming in over Gatwick airfield, where several anti-aircraft guns and machine guns hit his Bf 110 with devastating effect. The Messerschmitt exploded, and the burning wreckage rained over the airfield.
The Bf 109s, with their limited endurance now began to turn for home with dwindling fuel loads, and there was not much that II./ZG 76 could do to rescue the remaining crews from V.(Z)/LG 1. Oberstleutnant Walter Grabmann, the commander of ZG 76, said,
“Over London we came under concentrated attacks by superior numbers of enemy fighters, which separated us from the bombers. The thirteen aircraft in ZG 76, I led the formation, flew in a defensive circle over London for more than twenty minutes.”
The aircraft of ZG 76 were pinned down by twenty-four Hurricanes from Nos 73 and 501 Squadrons which reported combat with ‘30-40 Me 110s flying in circles at 18,000ft over London’. In this protracted clash three Hurricanes and a Bf 110 were shot down. No 303 Squadron’s pilots launched an attack on the Ju 88s, which then broke off and turned southwards, four were shot down along with another Bf 110. Spitfire pilots from 602 Squadron who had taken off from Westhampnett, joined in and also attacked the bombers. None of the German units was in as much trouble as V.(Z)/LG 1 which finally turned and fled back towards the coast, it had been almost annihilated, with only three Bf 110s remaining. One of the pilots, Unteroffizier Peter Voelskow said,
“I did the only possible thing: low-level flight at a few metres over willows, hedges and the occasional houses. As I did so I made repeated quick, steep turns very near the ground in order to give my pursuers a more difficult target. Once one of them went too high and lost sight of us under his engine cowling. My radio operator Kurt Schwarz fired at him. The Hurricane rolled to the right and I almost rammed it as I had also just made a right turn and was flying roughly parallel to a slope. Then my other two pursuers lost sight of me, they fired over the crest of the hill. I continued to stay low at maximum speed until the middle of the Channel, when Kurt Schwarz pounded on my shoulders with his fist and screamed: “Let up!” The Hurricanes had not followed us any further.”
Having lost eight of its aircraft and crews, V.(Z)/LG 1 joined the German units that were taken out of combat. The morning had not gone well for the Luftwaffe. Its next effort would be against the Bristol works at Filton.