10.23 The Pounding Of 11 Group Airfields Continues And The Night Skies Are Busy
10.23 the Pounding of 11 Group airfields Continues and the night skies busy.
August the 30th
Day; Feint raids on shipping, then heavy attacks on south-eastern airfield. Raid on Luton.
Night; Main target Liverpool. Single raids over wide area.
Weather; Fair. Channel and Straits clear. (1)
Reverting to earlier practice the first raid of the day was on shipping in the Thames Estuary, however this was a feint to draw of fighter cover. At ten thirty a major formation was detected over Cap Gris Nez, flying at fourteen thousand feet, three waves flew over at half hour intervals and totalled over one hundred aircraft. Despite the GCI/PPI stations at Willesborough and Langtoft tracking the raids as they left the French Coast above the cloud cover, that was currently at seven thousand feet, the eleven group controllers at Uxbridge were slow to identify that rather than joining the attack on the shipping in the Thames Estuary the targets were the sector stations in Surrey and Kent.
To counter this no less than sixteen squadrons were scramble with some squadrons from Twelve Group to the north of London being tasked to provide cover for Biggin Hill, Kenely and Croyden. Due to an error by Uxbridge the squadron guarding Biggin Hill was below the cloud layer at seven thousand feet whilst the bombers high above found a gap and managed to hit the air field sowing the landing ground with delayed action bombs. Even as this raid disappeared back to France another mass attack was observed building to the west of Calais, as this formation of over fifty aircraft crossed the channel it split up into smaller elements to attack a number of airfields at Biggin Hill, Shoreham, Tangmere and Kenley.
Eight squadrons were tasked to oppose these attacks and most of the bombers were intercepted and driven off before their targets were bombed. Purely by happenstance damage to a main power distribution station had cut the power the CH and CHL stations at Beachy Head, Whitstable, Fairlight, Foreness, Rye, Pevensey and Dover. These stations unlike the GCI/PPI stations did not have their own generators and a huge gap was created in the long range detection system at a crucial time. The GCI/PPI stations and those Coastal Defence RDF stations that had been modified could continue to detect raids but as their range was less than half that of the CH/CHL stations the warning times were much shorter and the task of intercepting before the targets were bombed became far more difficult.
As this latest round of raids faded from the screens around half past four in the afternoon yet another raid crossed the coast at Dover, several waves of aircraft headed to attack Kenley, North Weald, Slough (Hawkers at Langley being the probable target), Oxford and Biggin Hill yet again. Over forty bombs hit the airfield at Detling causing major damage by destroying buildings, setting fire to fuel stores and cratering the runways. The estimate was that the airfield could be made operational again by the following morning. The worst attack of the day came on the back of this raid when around six o’clock a small raid of ten bombers out foxed the defences by flying low up the Thames Estuary before cutting south to carry out a low level bombing attack on Biggin Hill. Compared to the attacks suffered by this station over the previous days this one was small but its effects were disastrous. The one thousand pound bombs destroyed the armoury, hangers, stores, barracks and workshops The met office was blown to pieces and the water, power and gas lines all cut, the telecommunications line were also cut in three different locations on or north of the airfield. Casualties were high, with thirty nine killed and a further twenty six injured. Despite all of this damage Biggin Hill continued to land, service and send aircraft off.
As the sun sunk below the horizon in the west Fighter command started to count the cost of the days endeavours. The RAF had again flown over one thousand defensive sorties whilst recording over fourteen hundred enemy ones. The RAF losses were twenty five aircraft whilst the Luftwaffe lost forty. The ratio was not high enough in favour of the RAF and Dowding and the other commanders were aware of this, the only saving grace was that of the twenty five RAF pilots shot down no less than seventeen of the pilots had survived.
As the darkness deepened the aircraft of Luftflotte three took to the night sky again with Liverpool as their primary target. Tonight’s raids headed north crossing the coast to the west of the Isle of Wight. If the leaders of Luftflotte Three thought there would be a weaker defence to the west of London they were mistaken, though there was still a gap in the GCI/PPI RDF coverage in mid-Wales the bombers heading for Liverpool again had to contend with night fighters under the control of no less than ten GCI/PPI stations. Single aircraft on diversionary missions meant that far more stations than this had an active night. It was quickly noted early in the night that single or pairs of aircraft were attacking those airfields already targeted during the daylight raids. Over night, Calshot, Rochfort, Northweald, Biggin Hill, Hornchurch, Thorny Island, Debden and Detling all had unwanted visitors these raids had the hall marks of nuisance raids intended to wear out the defendants as well as delay and disrupt the repair and recovery work.
August the 31st
Day; Fighter Commands Heaviest losses. South-east and eastern air fields again main targets.
Night; Heavy raid on Liverpool. Light attacks from north-east coast to Portsmouth.
Weather; Mainly fair. Haze in Estuary and Straits. (1)
If the previous day had seemed a hard struggle then today would prove the lie, from eight in the morning the attacks came in never ending waves. The day started with a sweep of Me 109’s destroying all the balloons at Dover. This Attack by Me 109’s was followed by waves of bombers with heavy fighter escorts once again targeting airfields when Duxford and Debden and North Weald were the principle targets. Despite the four PAC squadrons engaging both the escort and bombers with their now customary total disregard for danger or convention, still over one hundred bombs struck Debden causing major damage. Whilst the PAC was thus engaged Duxford was saved from a similar fate by the timely intervention of 137 Squadrons from Wittering in twelve Group who swooped into the attack from altitude, diving through the high escort, only firing at targets of opportunity before slashing through the bomber force and climbing hard for a second pass.
Within the hour another one hundred plus aircraft raid crossed from Calais attacking Eastchurch again and also heavily strafing Detling as well. Just after noon a third attack was detected approaching Dungeness, consisting again of one hundred plus aircraft this raid split into two separate components as it crossed the English coast. Half headed for Biggin Hill and Croydon. Biggin hill was bombed from high altitude, once again the airfield was heavily hit and much of the repairs carried out since the previous days raid negated. To split the defences the simultaneous raid on Croydon was carried out at less than two thousand feet by a dozen bombers, doing considerable further damage. Again Biggin Hill lost all it’s communications as the lines were cut once more.
The second half of the raid had headed for Hornchurch, all three squadrons at Hornchurch had been scrambled, both 602 and 74 squadron were able to get off in time but 152 squadron were still refuelling and rearming. The last flight of four spitfire were caught on the ground as the bombs began to fall and all the aircraft written off, fortunately despite some hair raising experiences, including one spitfire being blown upside down as it took off and another having a wing sheered cleanly off on it’s take off run, all the pilots survived relatively unscathed. Under the cover of these two major attacks the Luftwaffe made opportunistic attacks on the Coastal RDF stations between the Thames Estuary and the Isle of Wight. Damage was done to the stations at Whitstable, Foreness, Dunkirk, Rye, Beachy Head and Pevensey. Having effectively punched a hole through the CH and CHL lines these attacks were not followed up and all the stations were returned to service by the following morning.
Through necessity the entire spectrum of RDF systems developed so far were being adapted and utilised to give redundancy and flexibility within the tracking system. Both AA Command and the Coastal Defences were now reporting air activity to the filter rooms as a matter of routine and their operators were getting as skilled in reading their scopes as their RAF counterparts.
The days activity was not yet concluded at five thirty a further raid consisting of Ju 88’s accompanied by bomb carrying Me 110’s swept in at low level to hit the south eastern airfields yet again. Among the airfields targeted were both Biggin Hill and Hornchurch, where despite further damage being added to that inflicted earlier both airfields were declared operational by the following morning.
Nightfall did not bring an end to the onslaught just a change in the modus operandi. Nuisance raids of one to three aircraft were wide spread and the majority of the GCI/PPI stations south of the Scottish border had a busy night. For the fourth consecutive night Birkenhead and Liverpool were the principle targets. For the first time the Fourteen Group Night Fighters based at Banff were staged south to join the Thirteen Group Night Fighters in interdicting aircraft north of a line between Liverpool and London. This was the first time that every available night fighter in the UK flew at least one sortie, a select few actually flew more than one, usually this was because they had to either rearm of refuel.
One Bisley NF from Ten Group had been scrambled at dusk from Bicester to intercept an intruder from a Luftflotte three base on the Cotin Peninsular approaching the coast at Studland in Dorset. This Bisley was vectored to intercept what was probably a weather fight for the subsequent raids on Liverpool and gave chase from the coast all the way to Liverpool being passed from GCI/PPI station to station along the track. The pursuit was continued as the aircraft turned west across the Irish sea and was only broken off when the enemy aircraft flew beyond the range of the GCI/PPI station at Trewan sands. Despite the Biseley having gained an RDF contact on the intruder it became clear that it was heading for Irish airspace so the pursuit was broken off and the Bisley direct to RAF St Valley to refuel and rearm. The target had been fired at, at long range in an inconclusive engagement. The Bisley crew took off as soon as their aircraft was ready and were vectored onto enemy aircraft over Liverpool. An RDF contact was achieved and the crew began to stalk the intruder as this time it flew east. Managing to maintain contact as the enemy aircraft crossed the Pennine gap in the GCI/PPI network. The enemy aircraft was flying at a speed almost equal to that of the Bisley and eventually the chase was abandoned as the intruder left the RDF coverage of the East Anglian coast.
Having turned back towards land the Bisley and it’s crew were directed on to another intruder approaching the Essex coast by the GCI/PPI station at Trimley Heath, this enemy aircraft appeared to be heading for London and the plot actually showed that it’s tract would take it directly over Fighter Command headquarters at Stanmore. Once more the Bisley crew obtained an RDF contact and pursuit was joined at full power as the Night Fighter slowly gained on the target aircraft. As the intruder approached Stanmore the Night Fighter Pilot being made aware by the GCI/PPI station at Bourscombe of their location and track decide to engage as soon as the target was in rage so as to interrupt a possible bombing attack. Tracer flashing past the intruders cockpit appeared to have the desired effect at it dived away and threw of the night fighter in contact. Despite losing RDF, the GCI/PPI controller patiently guide the Bisley pilot to regain contact by cutting across the enemy aircrafts curving track, having gained contact again the pursuit continued but this time the Luftwaffe pilot had his throttles fully open and was running for home at a speed the Bisley could hardly match. As the pursuit crossed the coast near the Durrington GCI/PPI station the pursuit was called of and the Bisley Night Fighter instructed to return to base at Bicester.
On route Near Reading another RDF contact was made and after talking to the GCI/PPI station controller at Boarsombe again the pursuit was on as no IDF signal was forthcoming from the suspect contact. Once more pursuit was joined this time to the south west. Just to the west of the Isle of Wight and south of the Bristol Channel there was a cluster of four overlapping GCI/PPI stations that had spent the entire night tracking the coming and goings of Luftflotte Three as those aircraft headed from their bases in France north to Liverpool and thence south again to France. Now from the East came one intruder hotly pursued by a very frustrated and tired Bisley Night Fighter crew. Despite having no less than four Night Fighters already active in their coverage zone the GCI/PPI station at Cricklade quickly passed those Night Fighters covered by the adjacent stations to the south and west of them, off to those controllers so that Boarscombe could hand their contact and pursuit to them. This event was the culmination of hours of practice and practical experience gained in the proceeding weeks. The coordination between plots required was only possible due to the dedicated open line telephone network installed between all the GCI stations and the sector control rooms.
On this occasion the transition between stations and continued tracking of the pursuit was achieved but once more the intruder turned towards the coast and ran for home. Frustratingly as the target overflew Bournemouth the range began to open despite the Bisley’s throttles and engines being pushed to the limit. With no other option the Bisley pilot expended his remaining ammunition in a long, long range burst of fire at the receding enemy aircraft. Even as the escaping air from the charging system announced that the Bisley’s ammunition was exhausted, a growing orange glow appeared in the direction of the enemy aircraft. With his engine temperature dangerously high and rising the Bisley pilot throttled back and turned towards the coast. Having landed at Warmwell to refuel, full throttle pursuit really does consume a lot of fuel in a short period the pilot and his RDF operator took off once more to return to their home base at Bicester, arriving there as the sun rose. For all the efforts of the ground controllers, ground crews and the aircrew themselves, a long nights work had resulted in the simple statement, “three enemy aircraft pursued, two engaged, one damaged” and that Bisley crews aircraft carrying the name the ‘Weary Wanderer” painted on the nose from that day on.
All through the night work had gone on to restore as many of the Eleven group airfields to operational status as possible after the days attack, craters were filled in, fires extinguished and communications restore once more. typical of the unsung heroism of this work was the fate of an unexploded delayed action five hundred pound bomb that had landed on the field at Duxford. This eminent danger was dealt with, with out fuss by connection a one hundred yard long tow rope around the fins of the bomb and using the Concrete encased Armadillo truck to tow the bomb to a secluded part of the airfield boundary where it was quietly left to determine the time of own demise. So August 1940 ended most definitely with a bang and not a whimper in the minds of all at Duxford and indeed within Fighter Command as a whole.
(1) Daily summary quoted verbatim from the The Narrow Margin by Derek Wood and Derek Dempster
August the 30th
Day; Feint raids on shipping, then heavy attacks on south-eastern airfield. Raid on Luton.
Night; Main target Liverpool. Single raids over wide area.
Weather; Fair. Channel and Straits clear. (1)
Reverting to earlier practice the first raid of the day was on shipping in the Thames Estuary, however this was a feint to draw of fighter cover. At ten thirty a major formation was detected over Cap Gris Nez, flying at fourteen thousand feet, three waves flew over at half hour intervals and totalled over one hundred aircraft. Despite the GCI/PPI stations at Willesborough and Langtoft tracking the raids as they left the French Coast above the cloud cover, that was currently at seven thousand feet, the eleven group controllers at Uxbridge were slow to identify that rather than joining the attack on the shipping in the Thames Estuary the targets were the sector stations in Surrey and Kent.
To counter this no less than sixteen squadrons were scramble with some squadrons from Twelve Group to the north of London being tasked to provide cover for Biggin Hill, Kenely and Croyden. Due to an error by Uxbridge the squadron guarding Biggin Hill was below the cloud layer at seven thousand feet whilst the bombers high above found a gap and managed to hit the air field sowing the landing ground with delayed action bombs. Even as this raid disappeared back to France another mass attack was observed building to the west of Calais, as this formation of over fifty aircraft crossed the channel it split up into smaller elements to attack a number of airfields at Biggin Hill, Shoreham, Tangmere and Kenley.
Eight squadrons were tasked to oppose these attacks and most of the bombers were intercepted and driven off before their targets were bombed. Purely by happenstance damage to a main power distribution station had cut the power the CH and CHL stations at Beachy Head, Whitstable, Fairlight, Foreness, Rye, Pevensey and Dover. These stations unlike the GCI/PPI stations did not have their own generators and a huge gap was created in the long range detection system at a crucial time. The GCI/PPI stations and those Coastal Defence RDF stations that had been modified could continue to detect raids but as their range was less than half that of the CH/CHL stations the warning times were much shorter and the task of intercepting before the targets were bombed became far more difficult.
As this latest round of raids faded from the screens around half past four in the afternoon yet another raid crossed the coast at Dover, several waves of aircraft headed to attack Kenley, North Weald, Slough (Hawkers at Langley being the probable target), Oxford and Biggin Hill yet again. Over forty bombs hit the airfield at Detling causing major damage by destroying buildings, setting fire to fuel stores and cratering the runways. The estimate was that the airfield could be made operational again by the following morning. The worst attack of the day came on the back of this raid when around six o’clock a small raid of ten bombers out foxed the defences by flying low up the Thames Estuary before cutting south to carry out a low level bombing attack on Biggin Hill. Compared to the attacks suffered by this station over the previous days this one was small but its effects were disastrous. The one thousand pound bombs destroyed the armoury, hangers, stores, barracks and workshops The met office was blown to pieces and the water, power and gas lines all cut, the telecommunications line were also cut in three different locations on or north of the airfield. Casualties were high, with thirty nine killed and a further twenty six injured. Despite all of this damage Biggin Hill continued to land, service and send aircraft off.
As the sun sunk below the horizon in the west Fighter command started to count the cost of the days endeavours. The RAF had again flown over one thousand defensive sorties whilst recording over fourteen hundred enemy ones. The RAF losses were twenty five aircraft whilst the Luftwaffe lost forty. The ratio was not high enough in favour of the RAF and Dowding and the other commanders were aware of this, the only saving grace was that of the twenty five RAF pilots shot down no less than seventeen of the pilots had survived.
As the darkness deepened the aircraft of Luftflotte three took to the night sky again with Liverpool as their primary target. Tonight’s raids headed north crossing the coast to the west of the Isle of Wight. If the leaders of Luftflotte Three thought there would be a weaker defence to the west of London they were mistaken, though there was still a gap in the GCI/PPI RDF coverage in mid-Wales the bombers heading for Liverpool again had to contend with night fighters under the control of no less than ten GCI/PPI stations. Single aircraft on diversionary missions meant that far more stations than this had an active night. It was quickly noted early in the night that single or pairs of aircraft were attacking those airfields already targeted during the daylight raids. Over night, Calshot, Rochfort, Northweald, Biggin Hill, Hornchurch, Thorny Island, Debden and Detling all had unwanted visitors these raids had the hall marks of nuisance raids intended to wear out the defendants as well as delay and disrupt the repair and recovery work.
August the 31st
Day; Fighter Commands Heaviest losses. South-east and eastern air fields again main targets.
Night; Heavy raid on Liverpool. Light attacks from north-east coast to Portsmouth.
Weather; Mainly fair. Haze in Estuary and Straits. (1)
If the previous day had seemed a hard struggle then today would prove the lie, from eight in the morning the attacks came in never ending waves. The day started with a sweep of Me 109’s destroying all the balloons at Dover. This Attack by Me 109’s was followed by waves of bombers with heavy fighter escorts once again targeting airfields when Duxford and Debden and North Weald were the principle targets. Despite the four PAC squadrons engaging both the escort and bombers with their now customary total disregard for danger or convention, still over one hundred bombs struck Debden causing major damage. Whilst the PAC was thus engaged Duxford was saved from a similar fate by the timely intervention of 137 Squadrons from Wittering in twelve Group who swooped into the attack from altitude, diving through the high escort, only firing at targets of opportunity before slashing through the bomber force and climbing hard for a second pass.
Within the hour another one hundred plus aircraft raid crossed from Calais attacking Eastchurch again and also heavily strafing Detling as well. Just after noon a third attack was detected approaching Dungeness, consisting again of one hundred plus aircraft this raid split into two separate components as it crossed the English coast. Half headed for Biggin Hill and Croydon. Biggin hill was bombed from high altitude, once again the airfield was heavily hit and much of the repairs carried out since the previous days raid negated. To split the defences the simultaneous raid on Croydon was carried out at less than two thousand feet by a dozen bombers, doing considerable further damage. Again Biggin Hill lost all it’s communications as the lines were cut once more.
The second half of the raid had headed for Hornchurch, all three squadrons at Hornchurch had been scrambled, both 602 and 74 squadron were able to get off in time but 152 squadron were still refuelling and rearming. The last flight of four spitfire were caught on the ground as the bombs began to fall and all the aircraft written off, fortunately despite some hair raising experiences, including one spitfire being blown upside down as it took off and another having a wing sheered cleanly off on it’s take off run, all the pilots survived relatively unscathed. Under the cover of these two major attacks the Luftwaffe made opportunistic attacks on the Coastal RDF stations between the Thames Estuary and the Isle of Wight. Damage was done to the stations at Whitstable, Foreness, Dunkirk, Rye, Beachy Head and Pevensey. Having effectively punched a hole through the CH and CHL lines these attacks were not followed up and all the stations were returned to service by the following morning.
Through necessity the entire spectrum of RDF systems developed so far were being adapted and utilised to give redundancy and flexibility within the tracking system. Both AA Command and the Coastal Defences were now reporting air activity to the filter rooms as a matter of routine and their operators were getting as skilled in reading their scopes as their RAF counterparts.
The days activity was not yet concluded at five thirty a further raid consisting of Ju 88’s accompanied by bomb carrying Me 110’s swept in at low level to hit the south eastern airfields yet again. Among the airfields targeted were both Biggin Hill and Hornchurch, where despite further damage being added to that inflicted earlier both airfields were declared operational by the following morning.
Nightfall did not bring an end to the onslaught just a change in the modus operandi. Nuisance raids of one to three aircraft were wide spread and the majority of the GCI/PPI stations south of the Scottish border had a busy night. For the fourth consecutive night Birkenhead and Liverpool were the principle targets. For the first time the Fourteen Group Night Fighters based at Banff were staged south to join the Thirteen Group Night Fighters in interdicting aircraft north of a line between Liverpool and London. This was the first time that every available night fighter in the UK flew at least one sortie, a select few actually flew more than one, usually this was because they had to either rearm of refuel.
One Bisley NF from Ten Group had been scrambled at dusk from Bicester to intercept an intruder from a Luftflotte three base on the Cotin Peninsular approaching the coast at Studland in Dorset. This Bisley was vectored to intercept what was probably a weather fight for the subsequent raids on Liverpool and gave chase from the coast all the way to Liverpool being passed from GCI/PPI station to station along the track. The pursuit was continued as the aircraft turned west across the Irish sea and was only broken off when the enemy aircraft flew beyond the range of the GCI/PPI station at Trewan sands. Despite the Biseley having gained an RDF contact on the intruder it became clear that it was heading for Irish airspace so the pursuit was broken off and the Bisley direct to RAF St Valley to refuel and rearm. The target had been fired at, at long range in an inconclusive engagement. The Bisley crew took off as soon as their aircraft was ready and were vectored onto enemy aircraft over Liverpool. An RDF contact was achieved and the crew began to stalk the intruder as this time it flew east. Managing to maintain contact as the enemy aircraft crossed the Pennine gap in the GCI/PPI network. The enemy aircraft was flying at a speed almost equal to that of the Bisley and eventually the chase was abandoned as the intruder left the RDF coverage of the East Anglian coast.
Having turned back towards land the Bisley and it’s crew were directed on to another intruder approaching the Essex coast by the GCI/PPI station at Trimley Heath, this enemy aircraft appeared to be heading for London and the plot actually showed that it’s tract would take it directly over Fighter Command headquarters at Stanmore. Once more the Bisley crew obtained an RDF contact and pursuit was joined at full power as the Night Fighter slowly gained on the target aircraft. As the intruder approached Stanmore the Night Fighter Pilot being made aware by the GCI/PPI station at Bourscombe of their location and track decide to engage as soon as the target was in rage so as to interrupt a possible bombing attack. Tracer flashing past the intruders cockpit appeared to have the desired effect at it dived away and threw of the night fighter in contact. Despite losing RDF, the GCI/PPI controller patiently guide the Bisley pilot to regain contact by cutting across the enemy aircrafts curving track, having gained contact again the pursuit continued but this time the Luftwaffe pilot had his throttles fully open and was running for home at a speed the Bisley could hardly match. As the pursuit crossed the coast near the Durrington GCI/PPI station the pursuit was called of and the Bisley Night Fighter instructed to return to base at Bicester.
On route Near Reading another RDF contact was made and after talking to the GCI/PPI station controller at Boarsombe again the pursuit was on as no IDF signal was forthcoming from the suspect contact. Once more pursuit was joined this time to the south west. Just to the west of the Isle of Wight and south of the Bristol Channel there was a cluster of four overlapping GCI/PPI stations that had spent the entire night tracking the coming and goings of Luftflotte Three as those aircraft headed from their bases in France north to Liverpool and thence south again to France. Now from the East came one intruder hotly pursued by a very frustrated and tired Bisley Night Fighter crew. Despite having no less than four Night Fighters already active in their coverage zone the GCI/PPI station at Cricklade quickly passed those Night Fighters covered by the adjacent stations to the south and west of them, off to those controllers so that Boarscombe could hand their contact and pursuit to them. This event was the culmination of hours of practice and practical experience gained in the proceeding weeks. The coordination between plots required was only possible due to the dedicated open line telephone network installed between all the GCI stations and the sector control rooms.
On this occasion the transition between stations and continued tracking of the pursuit was achieved but once more the intruder turned towards the coast and ran for home. Frustratingly as the target overflew Bournemouth the range began to open despite the Bisley’s throttles and engines being pushed to the limit. With no other option the Bisley pilot expended his remaining ammunition in a long, long range burst of fire at the receding enemy aircraft. Even as the escaping air from the charging system announced that the Bisley’s ammunition was exhausted, a growing orange glow appeared in the direction of the enemy aircraft. With his engine temperature dangerously high and rising the Bisley pilot throttled back and turned towards the coast. Having landed at Warmwell to refuel, full throttle pursuit really does consume a lot of fuel in a short period the pilot and his RDF operator took off once more to return to their home base at Bicester, arriving there as the sun rose. For all the efforts of the ground controllers, ground crews and the aircrew themselves, a long nights work had resulted in the simple statement, “three enemy aircraft pursued, two engaged, one damaged” and that Bisley crews aircraft carrying the name the ‘Weary Wanderer” painted on the nose from that day on.
All through the night work had gone on to restore as many of the Eleven group airfields to operational status as possible after the days attack, craters were filled in, fires extinguished and communications restore once more. typical of the unsung heroism of this work was the fate of an unexploded delayed action five hundred pound bomb that had landed on the field at Duxford. This eminent danger was dealt with, with out fuss by connection a one hundred yard long tow rope around the fins of the bomb and using the Concrete encased Armadillo truck to tow the bomb to a secluded part of the airfield boundary where it was quietly left to determine the time of own demise. So August 1940 ended most definitely with a bang and not a whimper in the minds of all at Duxford and indeed within Fighter Command as a whole.
(1) Daily summary quoted verbatim from the The Narrow Margin by Derek Wood and Derek Dempster