Hurricane Squadron Ace: The Story of Battle of Britain Ace, Air Commodore Peter Brothers, CBE, DSO, DFC and Bar

by Nick Thomas

  With closing speeds in excess of 500 mph there was little chance of destroying an enemy aircraft with machine-gun fire, while the tactic had high risks attached. Head-on collisions were not uncommon, enemy aircraft breaking in the same direction as the fighter, or neither breaking in time. Meanwhile, the rear gunners got a clear shot as the fighters wheeled by. The enemy’s fighter cover generally placed themselves above and to the rear of the bombers, ready to catch the attacking fighters in a crossfire, or to dive down onto them as they exited the cone of fire provided by the enemy air-gunners.

  Brothers recalled how ominous the sight of larger formations could be. It wasn’t unusual for the Hurricanes to be facing odds of six, seven, eight, or even ten to one, ‘The German planes blackened the sky, all stacking up with fighters on top and below a vast bomber formation. You thought, where do we start on this lot?’

  During the engagement Squadron Leader Crossley (flying N2461) claimed one Ju 88 destroyed, with a Bf 110 probably destroyed over Sevenoaks:

  ‘While being vectored back to base from Dover we met about eighty Ju 88s and Me 110s heading towards us. We attacked the main body almost head-on, and then I singled out a straggling formation of three 88s just behind and took the starboard one from in front and below [firing half his ammunition]. It immediately caught fire and started to spin. This was seen by P/O Pain in Blue Section. A moment later I opened fire [at 250 yards, using the remainder of his ammunition] from behind and below at a 110 who came across my front. After a fairly long burst his port engine caught ablaze, and a stream of white smoke, possible petrol or coolant, poured from behind the starboard engine. He went down steeply in a SE direction.’

  (signed) S/Ldr M Crossley.

  His Wingman, Red 2, Pilot Officer Barton (flying P3900), claimed two Bf 109s probably destroyed:

  ‘As I was chasing a Ju 88 southwards from Base at about 15,000ft, several 109s appeared just overhead going northward. I saw them turn, so I left the bomber and started to turn round quickly to the right. A 109 appeared to make a halfhearted dive at me and shot round in front of me in a climbing turn to the right. I fired bursts at him, turning inside him and firing at one quarter deflection. Bits flew off and white smoke came from his engine. He wobbled and turned over. Another 109 did exactly the same thing and I dealt with him in exactly the same way. White smoke came from his engine and from his starboard wing root. He went down.’

  (signed) Barton.

  Sergeant Bayley (Red 3) damaged a Bf 109, firing 1,200 rounds:

  ‘I followed Red 1 into a full frontal attack on a formation of twenty Ju 88s and after a burst of two or three seconds [at 250 yards] broke away behind the formation. Red 1 turned round to make astern attack, and I made a head-on attack from underneath on two Me 110s which were escorting the Ju 88s. I was only able to hold this burst for about two seconds [at 200 yards]. I came down on the formation which immediately formed a defensive circle. I fired a short burst at the nearest E/A and climbed away again. I repeated this twice [each burst at 150 yards] and finally got a long burst in from behind the rear E/A, I saw my tracer hitting and he dived vertically for the clouds.’

  (signed) E.A. Bayley Sgt.

  Meanwhile, Pete Brothers (flying N2921 ‘L’) led ‘B’ Flight into the engagement over Westerham, personally claiming one Bf 110 destroyed:

  ‘I was leading Blue Section, in company with Red Section, when I sighted approximately eighty Ju 88s escorted by twenty Bf 110s. I dived through the formation of Ju 88s and fired a short burst at two, with no apparent success. I was in a poor position when I broke away and I had to give chase. I eventually caught up [with] an Me 110 cruising behind the Ju 88s and fired all my rounds into him from below and behind. His port engine was smoking badly and he slowly turned to port and dived through the clouds. I followed him down and he hit the sea about twelve miles due south of Brighton.’

  (signed) Peter M. Brothers F/Lt.

  Brothers noted in his logbook, ‘Raid on B.H. one hr. (confirmed) one Do 17’, adding later in pencil, ‘actually it was a Ju 88 of II./KG 76’.

  The Ju 88 was notoriously difficult to bring down, as Brothers explained, ‘the best way was to make a head-on attack, killing the crew’.

  Pilot Officer Pain (flying P3147) claimed one Ju 88 probably destroyed:

  ‘I attacked a Ju 88 in the rear of the formation [150 yards with about four, two second bursts] and saw bits fall off the port engine and tail assembly. He jettisoned his bombs almost immediately. I pulled away as there were several more E/A behind and above, and I exhausted my ammunition on them.’

  (signed) Plt Off J. Pain B Flight.

  Sergeant Pearce (flying R4106) claimed one Bf 109 destroyed over Heathfield, firing all of his ammunition with a five second burst at 350–100 yards, with three, three second bursts at 200–150 yards and a five second burst at 100 yards:

  ‘Acting as rear guard to the squadron I followed them in beam attack from above on large formation of Do 17s [forty Do 17s at 14,000ft] without visible result or return fire. Me 110s above [twenty Bf 110s at 20,000ft] and behind climbed to avoid action. Saw five Me 109s [at 15,000ft] below and picked one which half rolled and dived away, after several bursts from about 150 yards using the remainder of ammunition. One hexagonal panel about eighteen inch across and two smaller fragments fell off E/A, and transparent honeycombed pieces about two foot square struck starboard mainplane, knocking off [my] inner gun panel. glycol came from E/A which dived into 10/10 cloud. My own aircraft was almost uncontrollable without panel.’

  (signed) Sgt L. Pearce.

  No. 610 Squadron was also scrambled and made an interception over Dungeness, where they engaged a force of fifty Ju 88s and their escort of twelve Bf 109s at 25,000ft. During the course of the dogfight they claimed one Bf 109 and one Ju 88 destroyed for the loss of Acting Flight Lieutenant (90344) William Henry Cromwell Warner, AAF (flying R6802 ‘Z’), one of their most experienced pilots and flight commanders. He is remembered on the Runnymede Memorial, Panel 5. Warner was 21-years-old.

  Also involved in the same combat were Nos. 56 and 501 Squadrons.

  As a result of the day’s combat, two enemy aircrew were in the cells at Biggin Hill awaiting collection for interrogation. One, an air-gunner, was entertained by the pilots of No. 610 Squadron, the other, a hauptman, was ‘claimed’ by No. 32 Squadron, ‘We shot a 109 chap down near Biggin. He bailed out and was picked up by the police and put in the guardroom at Biggin. We found out and we got him out and took him over to our dispersal.

  ‘We had the wing of a 109 propped up against the wall of the hut, which Flying Officer Rupert Smythe had shot down [sic]. He’d come back to Biggin Hill with it on the roof of his car. We said to the German, “One of your 109s!” All he said was “maybe”; he spoke very good English, but he wasn’t going to commit himself.

  ‘We took him inside and gave him a drink. We had some booze illegally in the dispersal hut.’

  Brothers adding, ‘Another of the squadron’s trophies was a machine gun from a Ju 88 and the tail fin from an He 111, onto which Pniak had chalked “Made in Germany, finished in England!”’

  Brothers continued: ‘The Luftwaffe officer was taken for a drink in the officer’s mess. In good English he said, “May I have paper and pencil?”

  We said, “Why?”

  He said, “Tomorrow, when the Luftwaffe blackens the sky and you lose the war, I want to write all your names down to make sure you are well-treated.” And we laughed and laughed. He couldn’t understand it.

  “Why are you laughing?”

  “Oh you poor fellow! You are going to lose!”’

  Brothers’ personal opinion of the Luftwaffe pilots he came up against in the air was quite favourable, ‘They [German pilots] were bloody good! Most of them had fought in Poland and they were so experienced, and they were arrogant to the extent that they were all-conquering.’

  Brothers explained that not everyone was able to view the German pilot simply as a fellow aviator. Sat stone
y-faced in the corner were the three Poles, ‘if we hadn’t have kept an eye on them, they might have attacked him – but I guess I would have wanted to do the same if I had had to leave my homeland to the will of the Nazis’.

  That night the traitor, William Joyce, known as Lord Haw Haw, made his regular radio broadcast, threatening, ‘This is Germany calling, Germany calling; yesterday our mighty Luftwaffe bombed Croydon from the map, soon it will be your turn, Kenley and Biggin Hill’.

  Meanwhile, in a bizarre incident, a local councilor from Sevenoaks telephoned Group Captain Grice, complaining that his squadrons were making interceptions over the town which led to the Luftwaffe bomber crews jettisoning their bombs on his constituency. The councilor requested that the Station Commander tell his pilots to intercept the enemy elsewhere! The Group Captain’s reply was no doubt brief and to the point.

  On the following day Luftwaffe activity was minimal, with only a handful of enemy reconnaissance aircraft crossing the Channel, causing Crossley to note in the squadron’s unofficial diary: ‘Not a single sausage, scare, flap or diversion of any description today. Amazing. Heavenly day too.’

  Sometimes a lack of activity was a bad thing, as Brothers explained: ‘The worst part was being on the ground, waiting, because your mind could then stray to your chum who you’d just been to see in hospital who’d been badly burnt, and start thinking “Oh Christ that could be me one of these days!”’

  Brothers was probably referring to ‘Grubby’ Grice, who only a few days earlier had suffered hand and facial burns. Grice’s burns healed relatively quickly, aided by the fact that he was almost immediately immersed in salt water.

  A very young Pete Brothers with his mother, Maud, at the family home. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  Pete sitting in the driving seat of the family’s Coventry-built Crouch car, pictured outside the family home. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  Pete’s father, Jack Brothers. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  Studio photograph of Pete Brothers, then aged seventeen. Note the lapel badge with its winged motif, possibly an early Lancashire Aero Club badge. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  Brothers as a civilian pilot (1935). (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  Pre-war training with No. 32 Squadron, 17 May 1937. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  Pete Brothers on a mock-scramble, 17 May 1937. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  Brothers pictured in full ceremonial dress, 1939. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  Pete and Annette’s wedding day photo taken on 22 March 1939. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  No. 32 Squadron’s ‘A’ Flight’s Gloster Gauntlets in squadron formation. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  Pete’s ‘B’ Flight, No. 32 Squadron, May 1939. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  Line-up of Officers, Biggin Hill Staff, 1940. Centre front row, Group Captain Grice with ‘Humph’ Russell to the right. (NJT Collection via PMB)

  No. 32 Squadron’s ‘B’ Flight, early 1940. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  No. 32 Squadron Hawker Hurricane, Biggin Hill, 1940. (NJT Collection via PMB)

  Flight Lieutenant Michael Crossley receiving the DFC from the hand of His Majesty King George VI. (NJT Collection via PMB)

  Flight Lieutenant P.M. Brothers pictured between scrambles, 1940. (NJT Collection via PMB)

  No. 32 Squadron at their advanced landing ground at Hawkinge, August 1940. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  No. 32 Squadron, August 1940. Standing: (l-r) Pfeiffer, Humpherson, Gardner, Crossley, Grice, Pain. Seated: (l-r) Eckford, Pniak and Wlasnowalski. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  Pete Brothers during the Battle of Britain, August 1940. (NJT collection via PMB)

  Brothers flying a Spitfire Mark Vb with No. 457 Squadron. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  Pilot line-up of No. 457 Squadron, March-April 1941: (l-r) F/Lt North, Sgt Clark, Sgt Burgess, P/O MacLean, Sgt Munro, P/O Newton, Sgt Blake, Sqdn/Ldr Brothers (CO), P/O Edwards, F/Lt Sly, Sgt Parbery, P/O Russell, P/O James. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  No. 457 Squadron in loose formation over RAF Redhill, spring 1941. (NJT Collection)

  No. 602 Squadron’s pilots, many of whom served under Brothers. (Top) Sgt Gourlay, Sgt Atkins, Sgt Sorge, Sgt Spence, Sgt Turner. (Middle) F/O Hargreaves, P/O J. Yates, Sgt W.W.J. Loud, Sgt Jones, Sgt Codon, Sgt Hanscon. (Bottom) F/O Sampson, F/L Bocock, S/L M.L. ff. Beytagh, F/L Niven, F/O J. Topham (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  Members of No. 602 Squadron at Peterhead, mid-July 1942. (NJT Collection via PMB)

  Humorous crest and motto. Mock-up of the arms and crest of No. 52 Operational Training Unit, Aston Down, 1943. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  Brothers (back row, fifth from left) attending No. 10 Senior Officer’s Course at RAF Cranwell, February 1945. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  A post-war studio photograph of Brothers. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  Pete’s Auster in Kenya, 1947. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family).

  No. 57 Squadron line-up at RAF Waddington in preparation for their service in Malaya. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  No. 57 Squadron’s Lincolns in formation. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  Pete Brothers pictured en-route to Singapore in one of No. 57 Squadron’s Lincoln bombers. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  No. 57 Squadron’s Lincolns in Singapore during the Malaya Emergency. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  Wing Commander Brothers and his crew alongside his Valiant bomber, RAF Marham, 1958. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  Pete’s Valiant bomber, RAF Marham. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  Military Air Traffic Operations (MATO), RAF Uxbridge posting 1966. Pete pictured centre. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  A-O-C Conference 1968 (PMB not in photograph). (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  Pete Brothers in his last appointment, as Head of the RAF’s Public Relations. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  Pete with Carolyne Grace’s privately owned Spitfire ML407. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  Air Commodore Pete Brothers on his appointment as Master of the Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators, 1973. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  Pete celebrating his 80th birthday with some special friends, (l-r) Christopher Foxley-Norris, Dim Strong, Peter Reynolds (son-in-law of Dick Abrahams), Mark Wallington (PMB’s son-in-law), Dusty Miller, Pete Brothers, Ken Rees, a Great Escaper and married to Annette Brothers’ cousin, Mary. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  Spectating at the Bentley Priory fly-past, H.R.H. Prince Charles and Pete Brothers. (Pete Brothers Collection via the family)

  Chapter 8

  One Day’s Battle: 18 August

  Continuing their assault on the RAF’s airfields and infrastructure, the Luftwaffe launched further mass attacks during 18 August, hitting Fighter Command’s airfields at Biggin Hill, Kenley, North Weald and Hornchurch, along with RAF Gosport and RAF Thorney Island.

  The first large-scale raid of the day, postponed from 0900 hours due to bad weather, had started to form up on the other side of the Channel by about 1230 hours. A force of 300 enemy aircraft was approaching the coast, heading for Hornchurch, sixty He 111s of I./KG 1 making for the Sector Station at Biggin Hill.

  Meanwhile, low-flying Do 17s from 9./KG 76, twenty-seven Do 17s of I. and III./KG 76 (the latter escorted by Bf 109s from JG 51), and twenty-one Ju 88s of II./KG 76 (escorted by twenty Bf 110s III./JG 51 led by Hannes Trautloft) were approaching Kenley. Fighter cover and diversions were provided by Bf 109s of JGs 3, 26, 51, 52 and 54 and Bf 110s of ZG 26 targeting Kenley and Croydon. It should be noted that 9./KG 76 was a specialist low-level attack squ
adron commanded by Hauptman Joachim Roth, who was lost during the raid. They would reach landfall at Beachy Head, following the Brighton to London railway towards their target, where they dropped their twenty 110lb bombs at 50 – 100ft.

  In answer to the possible threats to Kenley and Biggin Hill, the controller scrambled Nos. 64 and 615 Squadrons (based at Kenley), along with Nos. 32 and 610 Squadrons. Also entering the fray were No. 111 Squadron; six of their Hurricanes were lost in defence of Kenley airfield, with Flight Lieutenant Connors killed-in-action. Flight Lieutenant (40349) Stanley Dudley Pierce Connors, RAF, was the son of Pierce Frederick John Patrick and Norah Muriel Connors; husband of Marjorie Violet Connors, of North Berwick. He was 28-years-old and was buried in North Berwick Cemetery, Section B, Grave 123.