Thanks, guys!
Meanwhile, back in the skies east of London...
...there they are! A small group of specks appears amidst the increasing cloud cover. They’re a bit further left than I was expecting and seem to be heading away from us.
I soon realise I'm almost certainly watching one of our own squadrons! Glancing to my right, I suddenly notice the real raid – a gaggle of twenty-plus bombers with maybe eight close escorts above.
I turn toward the Huns, tempted to go for the bombers. But that will only bring the fighters down on our necks, so I order the escorts attacked. Those odds are nearly even and we have a slight positional advantage.
The Huns sail through some Ack Ack fire, apparently oblivious to the fact we're coming over to set about them.
Both sides flit in and out of cloud. I briefly lose sight of the Huns and get a shock when a neat formation of aircraft suddenly appears and crosses just below, from left to right. At first, I think they’re the bombers, but quickly realise they’re our boys, probably the other squadron I saw earlier.
I’ve drawn a bit ahead of my own companions and regaining sight of the Huns, I slow down slightly while they catch up and I plan my attack. As I watch, one of the escorts turns away from the others, who fly on. My first thought is that he’s been winged by the ground fire and is going home. But I can’t exclude the possibility he’s a hot shot who’s aiming to come around behind us as we go for his friends. So I decide to tackle him and leave the rest to the boys.
I quickly close with the Hun and can soon see for myself that he’s a 109. He’s just flying away, so it looks like my first impression was right.
I close in and give him a couple of zero deflection bursts from dead astern.
The Hun suddenly rears up in front of me and although I don’t notice any impact, I see aircraft parts flying and fear I can’t have completely missed a collision.
However, my kite flies on normally, while the 109 drops like a brick.
In fact, he’s lost a large part of one wing! No doubt about that one.
Time to find out how the others are getting on. Behind me, I can see an air fight in progress. My presence is obviously required!
I wheel around and head for the scene of the action. I can’t initially tell who’s who, so I steer more or less for the middle of the fight. I could have climbed above it and chosen a target more carefully, but with the odds in the Hun’s favour, I feel time is of the essence. Already, Red 2 is reporting he’s having to break off
As I bore in, a fighter flashes past, going the other way. That’ll be Red 2 departing, I expect. I get a brief glimpse of his yellow nose as he zips past.
But hang on! Spitfires don’t have yellow noses - Messerschmitt 109s have yellow noses.
Oh dear!
…to be continued!