The Battle of Britain (43 page)

The squadron left France on June 18. On July 20 he shot down a Bf 109 and was given a DFM. During August he was credited with a Ju 87 confirmed and one probable (same combat), a Do 17 and Do 215 damaged, a Ju 88 destroyed, two Bf 109s destroyed and one damaged, and one Bf 110 probably destroyed. On September 2 he shot down a Bf 109 on one sortie and another 109 and a Do 17 on his next. On the 5th he got two more 109s in the same fight. On the 7th he went on leave.

When he rejoined the squadron on the 13th it was at Kenley and the weather was cloudy. The Operations Room telephoned 501's dispersal hut to ask for a volunteer to intercept a Heinkel that was scudding about in the London area. The message warned that, as the whole of the south-east was cloud-covered, the volunteer would probably not be able to land and he would have to bale out. Ginger Lacey took the job on. At 14,000ft (4,270m) over solid cloud he was steering courses given on the radio by the Ops Room controller until, after a long stalk, he says, ‘I saw it, slipping through the cloud tops, making for the coast. I didn't know where I was, because I hadn't seen the ground since taking off. I dived on him and got in one quick burst which killed his rear gunner.' The Heinkel dropped into cloud and Lacey throttled back and followed. The bomber broke cloud and Lacey saw the dead gunner being pulled away. Someone else manned the gun and fired at him. A gaping hole appeared in the bottom of Lacey's cockpit. His entire radiator had been shot away and his Hurricane was burning. He fired all his ammunition at the Heinkel before baling out. He came out of cloud in time to see it crash. When he returned to Kenley he learned that this aircraft had bombed Buckingham Palace.

By the end of October he had 18 victories, which made him one of the highest-scoring pilots in the Battle of Britain, to add to his five in France. He won a bar to the DFM, was commissioned, then went on to command a squadron and achieve a total score of 28 confirmed. He continued serving after the war.

ALBERT GERALD LEWIS
was a South African who joined the RAF before the war and went to France with 504 Sqn on May 10, 1940. He is credited with nine enemy aircraft before returning to England and shooting down another nine in the Battle, to win a DFC and bar.

REGINALD THOMAS LLEWELLYN,
a pre-war member of the RAF, opened his score as a sergeant on 213 Sqn, with two Bf 109s, and an He 111 on May 29, 1940. He shot down three Ju 88s, four Bf 110s and a Bf 109 in August, and two 110s and a Do 17 in September. He was given a DFM and a commission, and survived the war.

ERIC STANLEY LOCK
was in the RAFVR. In May 1940 he joined 41 Sqn. On August 15 he destroyed a Bf 110. During the rest of the Battle of Britain he claimed two He 111s, two Ju 88s, a Do 17, an Hs 126, a Bf 110 and 13 Bf 109s, and was decorated with the DFC and bar. He was killed in action in 1941, his final score 26.

AENEAS RANALD DONALD MACDONNELL
was commanding 64 Sqn when he shot down two Ju 87s and a Bf 109 in July 1940. He ended the Battle of Britain with a DFC and a score of 9½ confirmed, mainly Bf 109s, and three unconfirmed.

ADOLPH GYSBERT MALAN,
a South African, acquired his nickname, ‘Sailor', because after leaving school he became a cadet on the training ship
General Botha
. Instead of the merchant marine, he joined the RAF in 1935 and became a flight commander on 74 ‘Tiger' Sqn in 1938. He opened his account over Dunkirk with three confirmed victories, then on the night of 18/19 June, in conditions of bright moonlight, he shot down two He 111s. During the Battle of Britain, he bagged four Bf 109s, a Do 17 and a Ju 88, and added a further three Bf 109s before the end of the year. As the Biggin Hill Wing Leader in 1941, he shot down another 13 Bf 109s, ending with a total score of 27 confirmed with another seven shared, three unconfirmed, three probables and 16 damaged.

ANDREW McDOWALL
belonged to 602 Sqn, Auxiliary Air Force, before the war. On July 24, 1940, flying a Spitfire at night, he shot down an He 111. In August he destroyed a Bf 109 and an He 111. In September he claimed a Bf 109, a Bf 110 and a Ju 88; then in October and November he added four 109s and a Ju 88 to his score of 11 and two shared. He scored no further victories, but rose to command the first Meteor jet fighter squadron.

ARCHIE ASHMORE McKELLAR
was a pilot officer on 602 Sqn, AAF when the war began. Before the Battle of Britain he shared in the destruction of two He 111s. In August 1940 he was a flight lieutenant on 605 Sqn and claimed an He 111 destroyed and three probables on the 15th. On September 9 he fired at an He 111 that exploded and destroyed the bomber on each side of it. On the same sortie he shot down a Bf 109. Another feat attributed to him was the shooting down of five Bf 109s on October 7, four of them in ten minutes. When he was killed on November 1, 1940 in a presumed fight with a Bf 109, he was considered to have 20 victories (17 confirmed, three shared) to justify his DFC and bar.

WILLIAM LIDSTONE McKNIGHT
was a Canadian who joined the RAF in 1939 and 615 Sqn, in France, in May 1940. He shot down a Bf 109 before the squadron returned to England and he was posted to 242 Sqn. Between May 28 and October 18 his score read: five Bf 109s, six Bf 110s, two Do 17s, two Ju 87s, and an He 111. He had a DFC and bar, but was killed in action in January 1941.

DESMOND ANNESLEY PETER McMULLEN
of 54 Sqn shot down a Bf 110 in May 1940, over Dunkirk. In July he bagged a Bf 109. In August he got three 109s. In September he claimed a Do 17 before being posted to 222 Sqn, with whom he destroyed two 109s that month. In October he got three more 109s. He also shared in numerous kills. Later in the war he commanded 65 Sqn and ended with 17 victories and five shared and a DFC and bar.

JAMES WINTER CARMICHAEL MORE,
known as ‘Hank', a pre-war member of the RAF, went to France in April 1940 to take command of 73 Sqn. During that month and May he destroyed a mixed bag of Bf 109s, Ju 87s and He 111s. He was given a DFC and after a short rest returned to the squadron but had no victories in the Battle of Britain and was killed later in the war.

GARETH LEOFRIC NOWELL,
a sergeant on 87 Sqn in France, personally shot down or shared in destroying nine of the enemy in one week of May 1940. These included Bf 109s, Hs 126s and Do 17s. He shot down one more 109 and was rewarded with the DFM and bar, and was severely wounded on May 23. He lived to see the end of the war, by which time he had shot down two more enemy aircraft.

NEWELL ORTON,
nicknamed ‘Fanny', a flying officer on 73 Sqn, was one of the three more successful pilots in the Battle of France, with 15 victories, including many unconfirmed or probables, which brought him a DFC and bar. He was instructing during the Battle of Britain but shot down two Bf 109s when commanding 54 Sqn in 1941. In a fight in which he probably destroyed another Bf 109 on September 17, 1941, he was shot down and killed,

IAN BEDFORD NESBITT RUSSELL
was an Australian who joined 609 Sqn in November 1939. In May 1940 he went to 609 and later to 607. He is credited with 10 victories in May. Details are confused by loss of records and his death in action on May 31, by when he had a DFC.

JOHN EVELYN SCOULAR
joined the RAF pre-war and by the outbreak was a flight lieutenant on 73 Sqn, which at once went to France. He was credited with 12 victories during May 1940 and by the end of that month was one of the only two original pilots still with the squadron. He was awarded a DFC.

HARBOURNE MACKAY STEPHEN,
who joined the RAFVR in 1937, was one of the most prominent performers in the air fighting of May to October 1940. He first joined 605 Sqn but was posted to 74 in May 1940. After sharing in the destruction of two Hs 126s and a Do 17, his first victory was a Bf 109 on May 27. During the Battle of Britain he was credited with shooting down three Bf 109s and a Ju 88, with two 109s and two 110s unconfirmed, two probables and four damaged. By the end of the year he was credited with nine victories and eight shared and had a DSO, DFC and bar. He later became a wing commander in India.

JAMES ERIC STORRAR
of 145 Sqn opened his score with a Bf 110 on May 23, 1940, and a Do 17 next day, followed by two Bf 110s on the 27th and an He 111 on June 11. On July 27 he shot down a Bf 109, and two Ju 87s on August 8, and shared in three other claims. He survived the war to attain wing commander rank and a bar to his DFC.

EDWARD ROWLAND THORN
was a sergeant pilot on 264 (Defiant) Sqn with Leading Aircraftman Barker as his air gunner. On May 28 they destroyed three Bf 109s and a Bf 110, two Ju 87s on the following day, and an He 111 on the 31st. For these feats they both got the DFM. Both were promoted to flight sergeant. On August 24 they got a Ju 88, on the 26th two Do 17s, and a Bf 109 that was shooting them down. They made a crash landing. They had one more success before being given bars to their decorations. Thorn went on to win a DSO and a DFC and bar and command 169 Sqn before being killed. Barker survived the war.

ROBERT ROLAND STANFORD TUCK
joined the RAF in 1935. After serving with 65 Sqn he joined 92 as a flight lieutenant on May 1, 1940. On the 23rd he shot down three Bf 110s over Dunkirk, and two Do 17s on the following day, which brought him a DFC. He destroyed a Ju 88 one night and another by day on August 13. On the 14th he got two more of the same. With a bar to his DFC, he was promoted to command 257 Sqn and opened his score with them by shooting down a 110 on September 15. He had four more victories during the
Battle. In December he was awarded a DSO and in March 1941 a second bar to the DFC. In 1942 he was shot down over France and captured and escaped in 1945. He was credited with a total of 27 and two shared.

PERCIVAL STANLEY TURNER
joined the RAF before the war and in 1940 went to 242 Sqn. In May he got four Bf 109s in the Dunkirk area. In June the squadron moved to France and he took out three more 109s before returning to England. His Battle of Britain record was two Do 17s. At the end of the Battle his total was nine, with three unconfirmed and one probable. A group captain by the end of the war, he had a DSO and a bar to his DFC.

GEORGE CECIL UNWIN
was a sergeant on 19 Sqn when war was declared. By May 1940 he was a flight sergeant. He shot down an Hs 126 and a Bf 109 that month. In June he destroyed a Bf 110. In August and September he shot down six Bf 109s and three Bf 110s. His decorations were DFM and bar.

WITOLD URBANOWICZ
was in the pre-war Polish Air Force. When Germany seized Poland he made his way to England, joined the RAF and was posted to 145 Sqn. In August he destroyed a Bf 109 and a Ju 88. Next he was posted to 303 Sqn. On September 6 he shot down a Bf 109, on the 7th a Do 17, on the 15th two Do 17s, an He 111 on the 26th, and two Ju 88s, a Do 17 and a Bf 109 on the 27th. Three Bf 109s and a Do 17 fell to his guns on September 30. This gave him the highest score by a Polish pilot flying with the RAF and earned a DFC. In April he became Leader of the Polish Wing. In 1944, when, at the age of 38 he was unable to continue on operations with the RAF, he transferred to the USAAF and shot down two Japanese Zero fighters.

JOHN WOLFERSTAN VILLA,
known as ‘Pancho' joined the RAF before the war and in 1940 was on 72 Sqn. He shot down a Bf 109 on September 1, 1940, a Bf 109 on the 2nd, and on the 15th two 109s and a Do 17. He got an He 111 on the 27th, was awarded a DFC, and added a 109 on the 28th and a Do 17 on October 11. Joining 92 Sqn to command a flight, he destroyed a 109 and a 110 before the Battle of Britain ended. He took command of 65 Sqn in August 1941 but was grounded in 1943 with sinus trouble, by which time his victories numbered 13 and four shared.

JOHN TERRANCE WEBSTER,
having joined the RAF in 1938, was a flight commander on 41 Sqn by the time war broke out. He opened his score with a Bf
109 on May 31, and followed it with a Do 17 on June 1. By September 5 his score had risen to 11 and two shared, consisting of nine Bf 109s, the Do 17, and an He 111 at night. On this date he was killed in a mid-air collision with another Spitfire.

RONALD DEREK WIGHT,
who was on 213 Sqn at the outset of war, was a flight lieutenant when the squadron went to France on May 1940. He shot down four enemy aeroplanes and shared in others before returning to England later that month. On the 27th he sent down two Bf 109s over Dunkirk, another two the following day and two more on the 31st. He was decorated with a DFC and his score was rated as 10½. In August he was killed when leading three Hurricanes against 60 Bf 110s.

PATRICK PHILIP WOODS-SCAWEN
entered the RAF before the war, joined 85 Sqn and went to France in September 1939. On May 19, 1940 he got three Bf 109s. When he returned to England – with a DFC – his score stood at 6½. He bagged a Do 17 in July. In August he shot down a Bf 110 and, again in one day, three Bf 109s. In addition he had shared in many victories. On September 1 he was shot down and killed, without knowing that his younger brother Charles, a regular officer on 43 Sqn, had been killed in action the previous day.

A

Adlertag,
83
,
88
,
197

Admiral Scheer,
21
,
22

Advanced Air Striking Force,
19–20
,
22
,
29
,
30–31
,
32

see also British Air Forces in France

Air Component,
19
,
20
,
29–31

see also British Air Forces in France

Air Transport Auxiliary,
118

Airborne infantry, German,
29

Airfields attacked,
130–32
,
145–53
,
198
,
221–35

Albert Canal bridges,
29
,
31–2

Allard, Flt Lt ‘Sammy',
247

Allen, Johnnie, killed,
140