10.53
The Germans keep coming by and by night.
October 19th
Day, Isolated patrols and reconnaissance.
Night. London, Liverpool, midlands and Bristol main targets.
Weather. Cloudy in Channel, mist in Northern France clearing later. (1)
After another quite morning due to the weather but with conditions improving a large formation of Me 109’s gathered over the Pas de Calais before heading for Kent. In the prevailing conditions interceptions were difficult and most were fairly inconclusive as the German fighters dove for the cloud cover when intercepted. By the end of the day the RAF claimed seven fighters for the loss of two of their own fighters.
The night fighters also faced trying conditions in their efforts to intercept the enemy bombers but success were recorded.
(1) Daily summary quoted verbatim from the The Narrow Margin by Derek Wood and Derek Dempster
October 20th
Day, Fighter-bomber raids on south-east and London.
Night, Heavy attacks on London and industrial centre in the midlands.
Weather. Mainly cloudy in most districts. Channel and Straits cloudy, Hazy.
Due to the weather the first of five waves of fighter bombers did not appear on the RDF screens till almost ten Am. In what was now becoming a well rehearsed and choreographed aerial ballet RAF squadrons rose into the sky to oppose the intruders. A total of almost five hundred sorties were flown, resulting in sixteen enemy aircraft destroyed for the lost of four RSF fighters.
Whereas the day had been relatively quite the night time sky was in real terms as busy as ever. Three hundred bombers attacked London over night once again doing serious damage to the cities railway system. Further afield Coventry was bombed with Armstrong-Siddley being amongst the factories damaged. Whilst bombers were destroyed by both night fighters and guns the numbers were not sufficient to deter the Luftwaffe. However the attrition was steady and as more night fighter squadrons became operational the losses would mount.
(1) Daily summary quoted verbatim from the The Narrow Margin by Derek Wood and Derek Dempster
October 21st
Day, Sporadic raids on capitol. Liverpool and West Country.
Night, London, Wolverhampton, Coventry, Birmingham and Liverpool main targets.
Weather. Mainly cloudy with fog and intermittent rai. Visibility poor.
Making the best of the poor weather to day the Luftwaffe despatched multiple single raiders across the country, Whilst most attack were on London Me 110’s carrying bombs were used to attack targets in the West country and as far north as Liverpool. Large formations pf defensive fighters were not practical in the prevailing conditions so most interception were carried out by flights of four fighters under GCI control. For no loss to themselves the RAF fighters manged to shoot down ten of the daylight raiders.
Night time targets were Liverpool, the midlands and London. Flying conditions again were not conducive to successful night time interceptions and the London gun zone was again given permission to fire at unseen targets by RDF prediction. If nothing else the sound of the guns gave Londoners some sense that they were being defended.
- Daily summary quoted verbatim from the The Narrow Margin by Derek Wood and Derek Dempster
October 22nd
Day. Quiet morning and afternoon.
Nigh, London, Coventry and Liverpool main targets.
Weather. Widespread fog in the south, clearing to rain later. Visibility poor. (1)
Poor weather curtailed almost all operations in the south-east of England. In Eleven Group only the stations in the west at Tangmere, Kenley and Biggin Hill were able to launch aircraft. As the fog cleared in the early afternoon to be replaced by drizzle and rain, some activity was recorded by the RDF stations of a raid building over France. The plots firmed up into three raids of thirty aircraft each and raids on Kent and London were expected, in line with the latest instructions of the AOC Eleven Group the controllers at Uxbridge brought squadrons forward and ready squadrons scrambled for height on designated patrol limes. There were no raids towards London instead the there formations headed for a convoy in the Dover straits and a departing east coast convoy in the Thames Estuary. The standing Patrol got to the convoy in the straits just in time to disrupt the attack and a readiness squadron from Hornchurch got to the Thames Estuary and by attacking without the advantage of hight managed to break up that attack as well.
(1) Daily summary quoted verbatim from the The Narrow Margin by Derek Wood and Derek Dempster
October 23rd.
Day. Mainly reconnaissance.
Night. London and Glasgow raided. Minelayer off Yorkshire coast.
Weather. Low cloud and drizzle. Visibility poor. (1)
The day was the quietest so far during the campaign with only ninety sorties flown in daylight hours.
Most of the RAF’s six losses in the day were due to landing and take off accidents in the poor conditions. No pilots were killed but one was seriously injured. For the Luftwaffe it was a little worse they lost one aircraft in combat, two more crashed on landing due to battle damage and a further four aircraft were written of in various accidental ways.
The night attacks were concentrated on London and the free fire policy for the anti-aircraft within the London gun areas. Though some kills were claimed by both guns and the few night fighters that did sortie in the conditions, none were confirmed by wrecks or other evidence. Further north in Scotland an attack was mounted from Luftwaffe bases near Stavanger on the port of Glasgow. With better flying conditions the night fighters managed to score two confirmed kills and in a rare success one bomber was brought down by barrage baloon.
(1) Daily summary quoted verbatim from the The Narrow Margin by Derek Wood and Derek Dempster
October 24th
Day, Very quite.
Night. London and Birmingham main targets.
Weather. Overcast and hazy in Channel, clearing to starlit sky at night. (1)
Another day of low activity due to the inclement weather. Enemy probing reconnaissance patrols kept the standby squadrons busy as due to the conditions standing patrols were not practical. Today also illustrated how far the GCI system had come and how the daylight fighter squadrons were getting proficient in making intercepts under their control. In this case an intruder was detected by the CH RDF station at Holy Cross in East Anglia, this contact was passed to the GCI station at Neatishead, The sector controller at Coltishall had scrambled a fight of fighters to intercept and handed them of to the controller at Neatishead GCI to make the interception. As the intruder headed for the Midlands, control was passed to Langtoft GCI and then onto Boarsecrofte GCI near Bedford as the raider turned south and was finally shot down hear St Neots in Huntingdonshire. In the afternoon there were series of nuisance raids which kept the eastern squadrons busy with a total of almost five hundred sorties flown. In total the Luftwaffe lost eight aircraft through the day without loss to the RAF.
Through the night London was attacked by fifty bombers whilst another seventy attacked other cities, principally Birmingham. A number of the attackers were intercepted and shot down by the night fighters. One enemy bomber was seen to crash in flames into the of Beachy Head.
- Daily summary quoted verbatim from the The Narrow Margin by Derek Wood and Derek Dempster
October 25th.
Day. Fighter-bomber raids on Kent and London.
Night, Italian Air Force raids Harwich.
Weather, Fair but overcast. (1)
Early attacks this morning by formations of Do 17’s were met and repulsed by squadron strength formations of fighters. The only result of these raids for the Luftwaffe was to once again indicreminetly spray their bomb loads over the countryside, villages and occasionally the towns of Kent. These sparodic raids continued through the daylight hours and Fighter Command flew over nine hundred sorties, shooting down twenty five enemy aircraft for the loss of ten. Five pilots from the downed RAF fighters were safely recovered.
One notable occurrence on this day was the first raid on the UK by the Itallian airforce. Sixteen BR.20S took off as night fell. Their target was the harbour at Harwich. As an entry into the conflict this was not an auspicious one, as one bomber crashed on take off and another two ditched due to running out of fuel!
(1) Daily summary quoted verbatim from the The Narrow Margin by Derek Wood and Derek Dempster