Dogfight: The Battle of Britain by Adam Claasen

Author:Adam Claasen
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: ebook, Fiction/General
ISBN: 9781459646728
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant
Published: 2012-12-28T08:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 8

Hard Pressed

Standing in the way of the Führer’s plans was a cadre of RAF pilots up to the task, including Anzac Brian John Carbury. The New Zealander’s entry into the annals of military aviation was by way of a rapid string of victories on 31 August, when he destroyed five enemy machines. His record was set during a particularly nasty day of enemy action when Hornchurch became the focus of Luftwaffe attention. Also caught up in the action were Carbury’s 603 Squadron colleague Australian Richard Hillary and 54 Squadron’s Kiwis, Deere and Gray.

Scotland-based for the opening stages of the battle, 603 Squadron transferred south in August just in time for the critical battles of the campaign. Hillary had only recently joined the unit, but Carbury had been posted temporarily to 603 a year earlier, to facilitate the squadron’s conversion to Spitfires. A graduate of King’s College, Auckland, the former shoe salesman was involved in putting the part-time Auxiliary Squadron on a wartime footing. When the Second World War broke out he was permanently posted to 603. At 6 ft 4 in, Carbury was one of Fighter Command’s more easily recognisable pilots. Yet he was quietly spoken and rarely seen without a pipe in hand. Beneath the calm exterior, Carbury was a gifted pilot. The inactivity in the north had chafed on the airmen of 603 and the posting to Hornchurch had been eagerly anticipated.

By 8a.m. radar operators had deduced that something was brewing on the other side of the Channel, and 603 was scrambled within the hour as the Germans made for Dover and the Thames. The lanky New Zealander spotted the enemy first and led the diving attack on the closest of twenty Me 109s. The Spitfire spat a three-second burst. The withering fire of the eight machine-guns had an immediate effect on the fighter and the Luftwaffe pilot baled out of his inverted machine. After the squadron returned to Hornchurch, a period of relative inactivity lasted until just after midday when they were once again aloft as twin waves of bombers supported by fighters appeared on glowing radar screens. The squadron was vectored onto a formation of fifty aircraft west of Southend, Essex, only to discover they were shadowing friendly fighters.

Back at Hornchurch, Hillary, who had flown all the previous day, had the morning to himself and crawled out of bed with a headache just before noon. He eventually meandered off to the mess for a late breakfast in the stifling August heat. Hillary had just turned down a lift in a lorry by the ground crew, led by a Sergeant Ross, when the controller, over the loudspeaker system, informed the airfield that an enemy formation was headed straight for them. ‘All personnel not engaged in active duty take cover immediately.’ The typically languid Hillary was in no mood to consider such a request seriously and besides, the sky was empty. More wisely, one of his colleagues, Robin ‘Bubble’ Waterston, made a dash for an air-raid shelter and Spitfires that had just been stood down were now wheeling around for an immediate take-off.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.