FIERCE BATTLES

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21202, 27 August 1940, Page 5

FIERCE BATTLES

43 PLANES DOWN GOOD “BAGS” SECURED THRILLING ENCOUNTERS (Official Wireless) (Received August 27, 11 a.m.) RUGBY, August 26 During one of the fiercest air battles of the war, fought near Portland on Sunday evening, 43 enemy raiders were brought down, six of them falling to anti-aircraft gunners. The remaining 12 of the 55 raiders brought down during the day were destroyed in other engagements. In the Portland air battles 12 Spitfire pilots achieved remarkable success. They had been on patrol for 40 minutes when they saw an enemy formation, comprising large numbers of Dornier 17 bombers and twin-engined Messerschmitts, crossing the Dorset coast, with a protective screen of Messerschmitts 109’s circling round them. The Spitfires dived down, each of the 12 choosing a target. Four minutes later ten Spitfires were returning to the base, having brought down three Dorniers, six Messerschmitts 110’s and three Messerschmitts 109’s. Of the two remaining Spitfires pilots one had jumped to safety by parachute on land and the other had been picked up by a steamer. Meanwhile other fighter pilots were busy with the rest of the raiders. Fifteen Messerschmitts 110’s were trying very hard to shake off three Hurricane pilots who kept diving at them, making one attack after another until three Messerschmitts went down in a vertical dive, one machine broke away from the formation out of control, and another spun down with smoke pouring from it. Crippled by a Messerschmitt cannon shell, another pilot in the same squadron fell out of the fight. At once the next pilot in his section sent the attacking Messerschmitt crashing down after him. Good “Bags” Secured When they added up their victories the Hurricane squadron was able to claim six—four Messerschmitts 110’s and two Messerschmitts 109’s—though they knew that their bullets probably shattered three others. A second Spitfire squadron also brought down six enemy planes and seriously damaged five more during this strenuous hour. Their victims were Messerschmitt and Jaguar fighter bombers. They met waves of them, stepped one above another from 18,000 feet, and attacked methodically section by section. Six German raiders destroyed by shells from light anti-aircraft guns in the Portland battle fell between 5.30 and 6 p.m.