Battle of Britain by John Frayn Turner

Author:John Frayn Turner [Turner, John Frayn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781783034079
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2010-08-18T21:00:00+00:00

Heinkel 111 over the familiar outline of the River Thames during the onslaught on London.

Hurricanes climbing to intercept enemy bombers.

Short-range Me 109s joined them and the whole lot proceeded across the Channel towards the London area. This initially precluded a successful interception by any of the 11 Group squadrons based at Manston, Hawkinge, Detling, Gravesend and Redhill, because they were too near the coast. A single incident confirms and clarifies this situation: on its very first operational sorties out of Kenley, 616 Squadron lost five out of twelve fighters on the climb without touching the enemy.

So far as the 12 Group Wing was concerned, it seemed to them at Duxford that most times they were sent for as an afterthought, or to do what used to be termed ‘the lunch-time patrol’ when there was no single aeroplane either German or British in the air at all.

For some reason, the 11 Group controllers would not call squadrons off the ground, and more particularly the 12 Group Wing, until the enemy were at operational height and leaving the French coast. If you look at the map and measure the distance to the 11 Group stations mentioned, the error of this thinking was self-evident. On several occasions, while the Duxford Wing was at readiness, Bader received telephone calls from the Duxford controller saying:

‘Stand by, the Germans are building up over the Calais area.’

Every time, Bader asked: ‘Can we take off now?’

Every time he received the inevitable answer: ‘No, you must wait until 11 Group ask for you.’ Duxford to Tilbury was, and still is, forty-three miles. If the Wing had taken off when the Germans were building up over the Pas de Calais area, Bader and his team could have been in the Ashford/Tonbridge area under favourable conditions to control a battle of their own seeking.

‘Laddie’ Lucas summed up Bader’s views on this aspect of the Battle of Britain:

‘Douglas’s thinking was that he should be able to get these Wings into the air and into the right position to be able to attack the enemy aircraft as they were coming in to their targets, on the approaches to the targets. What he contended was that if you could get these aeroplanes up together, place them right, give them the right information, supply the right commentary, then it was up to Douglas as Wing leader to make the best use of it. His basic thinking was not only to get the aeroplanes off together and as quickly as possible, but that proper warning be given and proper decisions regarding control. The difficulty with the Duxford Wing was probably to get off the ground in time to discharge the tactics that Douglas believed to be necessary to fulfil his role. Too often he found himself climbing up as hard as he could bloody well go, while the enemy were already coming in – so he would have lost all the advantage of height and sun and so on.’

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