HOLIDAY COMBATS

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 91, 14 October 1940, Page 8

HOLIDAY COMBATS

PILOT'S SUCCESSES

(British Official Wireless.)

RUGBY, October 12,

An Air Ministry bulletin tells how a squadron leader, possessor of the D.F.C. and bar, spent his "day off" today. He went to visit a squadron of which till lately he was flight commander. He took the air with his own comrades and destroyed a Messerschmitt 109, the twentieth enemy aircraft he has brought down.

"We took off just before 9 a.m.," he said. "Looking round at about 18,000 feet I saw a dogfight going on behind me. There were about 20 Me 109's, some in pairs and others flying on their own. They were just milling about at anything from 1000 feet above us to 2000 feet below.

"I noticed two flying in line astern about 150 yards apart. The leading Messerschmitt looked to be the offensive partner, so I got in a quick squirt at the rear one and he wheeled straight down into the blue. I went straight on to the leading Me and gave it a long burst. This pilot was quite good. He played round for a while but eventually I got him. I left him as he was going into cloud at 4000 feet; a great deal of smoke was already coming from him and his right wing was down. The pilot baled out."

A few weeks ago when he was still flight commander with a former squadron, this airman had a similar experience. He was coming to London on leave, and as he had some way to go and his Spitfire was in need of slight repairs he was allowed to fly it to a London aerodrome. There he was told that an air raid was going on. He obtained permission to go up, and near the coast he found two Junkers 88's at 1500 feet flying together. He overtook them, swung round, and made a head-on attack. Both dived to sea level. He attacked again and one went straight down into the sea. The other hit the Spitfire with a cannon shell. He managed to get back 35 to 40 miles and finally baled out over land.