65 Squadron, Tangmere, 4 September 1940Bad weather has scrubbed flying of late, but while the respite is welcome, replacements for pilots and aeroplanes have been slow to arrive. So when the call to action comes, near to mid-day, we can again muster just nine Spitfires. I should be grateful, because the roster shows we have seven serviceable, with none under repair!
The weather today isn't much improved, as you can see. Apparently, it's a bit better in the target area, but not by much, as it turns out.
So where is the target? The mission's a scramble, and I'm pleased that defensive 'covering' patrols are now rarer, as they should be. Multiple enemy aircraft are reported to be closing on our fighter base at Biggin Hill, south-south-east of London, at 14,000 feet. We are vectored directly to Biggin, then to patrol the area, so that even if we don't bump directly into him, we will ready and waiting when the wily Hun arrives.
I dither about whether or not to open the cockpit canopy and so I'm a little slow in getting away. The boys are keen about their take-offs, and like to get away smartly when they can.
Here's our route and the target area. The other two airfields inside our triangular patrol pattern will be Croydon to the north, and below that and west of Biggin, Kenley.
I start climbing hard, leaving the others to catch up. Visibility is poor and it's still raining. Soon, the fields below will disappear into vague, featureless greyness.
I can only hope we'll be above all the murk by the time we get up to fourteen thousand. In the meantime, I ask for a fresh Vector from the Controller. He tells me we're still on course, but the enemy is now at sixteen thousand.
At about ten thousand feet, I level off slightly as we come into clearer skies, the better to have a good look around and enable the boys to avoid straggling.
There's nothing to be seen but grey clouds and Spitfires...
...so up we go again.
We can now see the ground below us in several directions, but not an awful lot else. I don't recognise any landmarks.
If this works and we meet the Huns, it will be another of those 'wonders of modern science' jobs, because I am doing no more than following directions from the ground. Which admittedly is how the system is supposed to work. The problem is those clouds - the Chain Home early warning stations look only out to sea, and inland, we're reliant on sightings from Observer Corps posts. Stout fellows, they are no doubt, but fingers crossed, they will not lose track of the enemy now!
...to be continued!