The Battle of Britain - 15 September 1940: Now commemorated as "Battle of Britain Day", today was the day people in Kent and London witnessed large battles between Fighter Command and the Luftwaffe. German casualties were heavy, although not nearly as heavy as was claimed at the time. Many would remember the Dornier, part of which fell on the forecourt of Victoria station in London, having been attacked by a number of fighters. Sadly the idea that it was deliberately rammed by a Hurricane of No 504 Squadron holds little water. Large formations of German aircraft were detected building up across the Channel at around 11 am. A second attack would follow at lunch time. Squadrons from Nos 10, 11 and 12 Groups all took part in the actions against these formations. Just before noon, a Hurricane of No 229 Squadron from Northolt crashed at Staplehurst railway station in Kent; the Belgian pilot, Pilot Officer Georges Doutrepont, was killed, as was 18-year-old booking clerk Charles Ashdown, who had agreed to change his shift that day to help a colleague. Not long after the tragedy at Staplehurst a Spitfire of No 609 Squadron crashed and burned out near Kenley. The dead pilot, Pilot Officer Geoff Gaunt, a pre-war weekend flyer with the squadron, was not found until four days later. His comrade David Crook, in his book Spitfire Pilot, would remember Geoff Gaunt as: "This very gallant and delightful friend". No 609 Squadron also achieved success, as evidenced by the spectacular results in the camera gun of Flight Lieutenant Frank Howell as a Bf 110 was destroyed over Hastings. This was one of the occasions during the Battle when the Prime Minister visited the No 11 Group operations room at Uxbridge. The drama of this occasion would stay particularly in his mind. At the end of the day the Luftwaffe was even further from gaining the air superiority demanded by Hitler than it had been at the beginning. Battle of Britain Day will be commemorated today at the National Memorial to the Few - as it is every year and will be long into the future.
Posted on: Sun, 15 Sep 2013 06:31:45 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015