After Italy entered the war, the Le Luc airfield was bombed by the Italian Air Force. Fortunately, the precious Spitfire was unharmed but the support Hudson, which was not camouflaged, was destroyed. The Spitfire was sent home and the remainder of the small RAF party, including Des Sheen, left Toulon on the 17 June. Upon his return to England, Sheen continued photographic reconnaissance work over Germany and Holland until 29 July when he rejoined 72 Squadron, by then based at Acklington. His old CO, Ron Lees, was no longer there. Lees had finished his two years in charge and with the rank of Acting Wing Commander had been posted to the Headquarters of 13 Group for Air Staff Operations Training duties. He’d handed the squadron over to Squadron Leader Anthony Collins who was transferred from Coastal Command. Collins had led the squadron down from Acklington to Biggin Hill on 31 August, swapping places with 610 Squadron which was being rested. As he landed at Biggin Hill, Sheen was shocked by the condition of his new surroundings.2
Biggin Hill had been hammered by the Luftwaffe. It had been hit particularly hard the day before. Just after 1 p.m., instead of having a couple of hours respite between attacks, Kesselring began an assault sending waves of bombers and fighters over the south coast of Kent at twenty-minute intervals. It seemed that the Germans were building up toward their ultimate goal – invasion.
Twenty-two Fighter Command squadrons were in action that day, some of them as many as four times and almost all of them at least twice. At 4.00 p.m., again without pause, the third and perhaps heaviest group of raids began to build up. During the next two hours large and small formations of enemy aircraft flooded in over Kent and the Thames Estuary. The Junkers Ju 88s that appeared over Biggin Hill at 6 p.m. were only in a small attacking group of nine planes, but the havoc caused by their bombs was far worse than that of any previous attack.
The airfield was taken completely by surprise. Six of 79 Squadron’s Hurricanes managed to scramble and escape before the bombs started to fall, but what followed was wholesale destruction as the workshops, cook houses, sergeants’ mess and WAAF quarters were wrecked and 90 per cent of the station’s transport was damaged or destroyed. All electricity, water and gas mains were cut and two parked aircraft were reduced to scrap. The airmen’s shelter was pulverised by a direct hit and all those who had crammed in a few moments earlier were killed. Another bomb hit the airwomen’s shelter causing the concrete walls to cave in, crushing and smothering those inside. Everyone outside started digging furiously to try and free the trapped women. Ambulance and stretcher parties stood by waiting. One-by-one they were carried out. Some were barely recognisable because of the dirt and blood on their faces. Others were dazed and bruised but all, except one, were alive. Corporal Lena Button from Tasmania was the only WAAF killed.3 Altogether, thirty-nine personnel perished and twenty-six were injured.
It was the results of this bombing that had shocked Desmond Sheen as he landed at his new surroundings. This was also why 72 Squadron was moved to Croydon.
Taking advantage of cloudless conditions on the 1st, the Luftwaffe began building up its first raid around 10.20 a.m. After the usual diversionary feints, sixty bombers escorted by sixty fighters advanced on Dover where the force split into two groups. The German plan was for each to split up again so that four targets could be hit: Biggin Hill, Detling, Eastchurch, and London docks.
In a scramble from Croydon, 72 Squadron was directed onto a formation of Dorniers coming in south of the Thames. Over Beachy Head, Des Sheen lined up one bomber but before he could fire, a glance behind revealed that six Messerschmitt 109s were after him. The situation was the same for all of the 72 Squadron pilots and in the frantic dogfight that took place three Spitfires were shot down. One pilot was killed and one wounded. Two other Spitfires had to forcibly land.
One of the aircraft shot down was that flown by Desmond Sheen. In a twisting, turning encounter he managed to break free of the six 109s but not before his engine was hit by a cannon shell and caught fire. The Australian bailed out. As he floated down, Sheen was high enough to survey a vista that would live in his memory forever. On his right he could see explosions from bursting bombs in the Dover area with answering anti-aircraft fire from the defences. On his left he could see bombs falling on the London docks. The air was pungent with the acrid smell of cordite and it throbbed to the engines of the bombers. This was punctuated by the whining, straining sounds of fighters as they dived, climbed and twisted somewhere above. Not far off an Me 109 fell in flames. A parachute blossomed out but its harness must have been faulty because the airman dangling beneath suddenly disconnected and fell. Another 109 turned towards him but there was a Spitfire on its tail. Both planes curled away and merged into the panorama. Sheen landed lightly in the middle of a field.4
At Biggin Hill, the funeral of those killed in the earlier raids was held in the small cemetery beyond the airfield. There were over fifty coffins beside the newly dug graves but not enough flags to lay over them all. Even as the ceremony was being conducted, the air raid sirens wailed and Biggin Hill suffered its fifth raid in forty-eight hours. As the noise of the bombing faded away, the dead were finally laid to rest.
The airfield’s runway was so pitted and scarred by craters that the returning Hurricanes of 79 Squadron had to be diverted to Croydon. It was out of service until late afternoon but even then it was not left alone.
The Luftwaffe’s last wave of operations began around 5.30 p.m. when several formations swept in over the coast of Kent. They were mostly fighters and, following AVM Park’s instructions, the RAF fighters avoided contact. However, there were small groups of bombers among them and fifty aircraft bombed Hawkinge and Lympne while a small formation of Dorniers bombed Biggin Hill again, its third raid in one day. Nevertheless, effective communications were re-established within an hour, and by working through the night the airfield was made operational again the next day.
Up until midnight the Luftwaffe was relatively quiet but after that over 100 bombers carried out widespread single and small-scale attacks. The most spectacular German success occurred between Swansea and Neath where six 10,000 ton oil storage tanks were set ablaze.
Early the next morning, the Luftwaffe built up a heavy raid behind Calais. RDF indicated formations of thirty and forty aircraft and shortly afterwards the Germans came in swiftly over Dover, with forty Dornier Do 17s closely escorted by Messerschmitt 110s and high-flying Messerschmitt 109s. This was a change of tactics. Prior to this, early morning German sorties had been confined to single reconnaissance aircraft. Many sector controllers were caught by surprise because, as usual, they only had standing patrols up over their airfields. The incoming raiders broke up to make separate attacks on Eastchurch, North Weald, Rochford and Biggin Hill.
No. 11 Group despatched eleven squadrons altogether but only five of these made contact. Consequently, as nine Spitfires from 72 Squadron, which Tony Collins had led forward to Hawkinge satellite airfield for the day, were heavily engaged over Maidstone, nine Dorniers slipped through and carried out a sharp, low-level thrust at Biggin Hill.
Shortly afterwards, 72 Squadron’s former CO, Ron Lees, turned up flying his own Spitfire. He had kept track of the squadron’s activities and now, with a week of leave from his duties at 13 Group HQ, he had decided to join it for the day. During heavy engagements through the day, Collins was wounded (for the second time in two days) and Lees took over. Unfortunately, as Lees was leading the squadron in the afternoon on his first sortie, he too was wounded. He crash-landed back at Hawkinge with a lacerated thigh. Although his aircraft, Spitfire K-9840, was damaged, it was able to be repaired. Instead of spending his leave with his companions, Lees spent time in hospital.5
Pressure from the Luftwaffe continued all day. At 3.15 p.m., yet another large raid was detected over Calais. Again 250 German aircraft came in over Dover and fanned out over Kent to various targets. Biggin Hill was hit again and so were the airfields at Detling, Kenley, Eastchurch and Hornchurch.
One potential target of speci
al concern to Hugh Dowding and Keith Park was Brooklands airfield where the Hawker and Vickers companies had factories. The two commanders were worried about the possibility of an enemy move to bomb aircraft factories as the next stage of the offensive. To meet this potential threat, Park and Brand maintained a standing patrol of fighters from Tangmere and Middle Wallop along a line from Weybridge to the south coast over Guildford.
On this day the duty fell to 234 Squadron, but the squadron’s Operations Record Book gives conflicting information concerning the activity. The Form 450 ‘Summary of Events’ sheets state that one security patrol was carried out over Guildford by twelve aircraft, and also during the day there was one interception scramble by two aircraft. On the other hand, the Form 451 sheets ‘Detail of Work Carried Out’ list two separate patrols by twelve aircraft in two flights, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Pat Hughes in his usual aircraft, Spitfire X4009, led both, taking the six aircraft of ‘B’ Flight off first at half-past ten to patrol Guildford at 15,000 feet. ‘A’ Flight followed five minutes later led by Flight Lieutenant Cyril Page who had rejoined 234 Squadron at Middle Wallop back on 19 August. The squadron was back on the ground just after midday.6
They were up again at 2.45 p.m. patrolling Brooklands to Kenley at ‘Angels 10’. On this occasion they were ordered forward to tackle the enemy aircraft fanning out over Kent, but unfortunately this left enough of a hole in the defences for enemy raiders to break through to Brooklands airfield for the first time. The Germans had been briefed to attack the Hurricane factory but instead their bombs fell on the Vickers works where Wellington bombers were being assembled. Damage was described as moderate but to Dowding and Park this was an ominous sign of what could be ahead.
Elsewhere, the force sent to raid Hornchurch was so successfully disrupted by RAF fighters that fewer than a dozen bombs fell within the airfield’s boundaries. The story was far worse at Eastchurch, which suffered badly when its bomb dump was hit and the resulting explosion demolished practically every building nearby. Water mains and sewers were smashed, five aircraft were destroyed and the communications system was put out of action.
Meanwhile, 234 Squadron landed back at Middle Wallop between 4 and 4.15 p.m. after a frustratingly ineffective search for enemy aircraft.
The hammering of 11 Group continued. Around 5 p.m. a fourth major attack appeared over Dungeness. The Germans were after the airfields again; Eastchurch was struck a second time and a hangar was destroyed. Casualties for Eastchurch for the day were four killed and twelve wounded. Detling received approximately 100 bombs that wrecked a hangar and rendered the airfield unusable for two hours.
Soon afterwards 72 Squadron was up again, heavily involved in combat over the Thames Estuary. The squadron’s records noted that it had been ‘a hell of a day’ but on the credit side it could claim eighteen victories.
Darkness brought some respite for the defences until 1.30 a.m., when individual raiders were plotted coming in over East Anglia. Seventy-five bombers from Luftflotte 3 flew over with impunity during the next few hours, approximately half of them carrying out mine-laying operations while the rest conducted scattered raids on Liverpool, the Midlands and south Wales.
The weather conditions next day, Tuesday 3 September, were dark and overcast but in the south it became fine and warm as the day progressed. As usual, it was Park’s 11 Group that bore the brunt of the assault, but this time most of the heavy fighting took place over Essex, north of the Thames and the Thames estuary, well away from 234 Squadron at Middle Wallop.
During the morning action, Richard Hillary of 603 Squadron, the son of an Australian diplomat, had his Spitfire shot up by an Me 109. Despite being trapped, his cockpit erupting into a mass of flames and the canopy jamming as his Spitfire fell in a spin, Hillary finally managed to bail out and pull the ripcord after a desperate, painful struggle to escape. The parachute brought him down into the sea near the seaside resort at Margate. Observers on shore had seen him fall but the Margate lifeboat had difficulty finding him. It searched for three hours in vain. The crew was about to give up when one man spotted the floating parachute. Hillary was drifting in and out of consciousness. He was finally lifted to safety but he had suffered cruelly; once a handsome young man, he had been grotesquely mutilated by the fire.7
Another Australian, Desmond Fopp from Adelaide, suffered a similar fate. While flying with 17 Squadron from Debden, a Messerschmitt 110 put a cannon shell into the radiator of his Hurricane and it blew up. He was immediately surrounded by flames. In severe pain he succeeded in escaping from the blazing machine and fell several thousand feet before pulling his ripcord. As he floated down he realised that his vision was impaired but he could see that his uniform was smouldering. Suddenly he crashed through the leaves and branches of trees. He had come down into a wood in Essex. Freeing himself from his parachute harness, Fopp staggered blindly through the trees until he reached a clearing. He was at once confronted by farm labourers armed with pitchforks. They were ready for anything and Fopp was in such a state that they were unable to tell whether he was British or German. The vigour of his language dispelled their doubts but he was close to exhaustion and by now hardly able to see. Gentle hands covered his burns until an ambulance arrived.8
Besides Desmond Fopp’s Hurricane, 17 Squadron lost one other aircraft and its pilot. On the credit side, claims were lodged for the destruction of two Me 110s and two Do 17s plus two Me 110 probables.
Another attack developed in the afternoon but it was smaller than the morning raids and successfully beaten off. For 10 Group and 234 Squadron at Middle Wallop the day was quiet and no actions were recorded.
So ended the daylight fighting on this day that marked the first anniversary of the start of the war. It was twelve months ago that Neville Chamberlain had made his solemn declaration. On this day, too, Desmond Sheen’s promotion to flight lieutenant was recorded in the London Gazette.
Although low cloud at night hindered German operations, about sixty raiders reached London and other scattered targets. The General Aircraft Company at Feltham in Middlesex was damaged.
On Wednesday 4 September, the weather was fine and warm over the south of England while in the north there was occasional rain accompanied by strong winds. Several squadrons from 12 Group moved southwards closer to 11 Group to act as reinforcements for the units around London.
In accordance with the Luftwaffe’s Operations Staff Orders which had been issued on 1 September, the targets for Luftflotte 2 were divided between sector airfields and aircraft factories, the latter to try and halt the seemingly endless flow of fighters and equipment to British squadrons.
The first major raid in the morning concentrated on the airfields, with the Germans coming in via Dover and the Thames Estuary. Dover’s barrage balloons received their usual harsh treatment and Lympne airfield was strafed. At Eastchurch, bombs made six large craters on the runway and destroyed ration stores.
Large concentrations of German aircraft were detected by RDF around noon. By 1 p.m. about 300 enemy planes crossed the coast at Beachy Head, Hastings, Folkestone and Dover. Fourteen RAF fighter squadrons were scrambled and out of these nine made contact. The squadrons on the edge of the danger zone were ordered up to cover the sector stations.
Near Testerton, Spitfires from 72 Squadron encountered two formations of German escort fighters but almost immediately they formed defensive circles. Desmond Sheen checked that there were no other enemy aircraft above before he attacked a Messerschmitt 110 about to join one of the circles. As he fired, smoke came from the 110’s port engine but Sheen was closing in too fast and he had to break away. As he climbed again for height he looked around for other aircraft but there were none to be seen. One instant the sky had been a mass of planes, now … nothing.
Patrolling over Tangmere, the twelve Spitfires from 234 Squadron led by Pat Hughes had spiralled up to 15,000 feet by 1.20 p.m. Down below on the airfield, the Hurricanes of 601 Squadron were taking off. Pat spotted two
groups of German aircraft. About fifty twin-engine Me 110s were coming in over the coast while fifteen others were already circling over Haslemere lower down. Detailing Red, Yellow and Green Sections to attack the larger formation, he led Blue Section down after those over Haslemere. As soon as the Spitfires were sighted the 110s formed their usual defensive circle. Pat attacked the leading Messerschmitt head on, firing two short bursts. His aim was deadly. The 110 reared up and another short burst struck its fuselage, causing it to erupt in flames. It crashed just north of Brighton. Seconds later the Australian came in directly behind another 110 and fired briefly twice, as usual closing right in from 100 to twenty-five yards. The heavy escort fighter rolled over onto its back and crashed, diving vertically into the ground and blowing up about ten miles north-east of Tangmere.
Suddenly Pat realised he was being surrounded by three more Messerschmitts and noticed a fourth 110 slipping behind him into a firing position. Manoeuvring wildly, he fired three snap bursts to break up their circle and this caused one to dive away. He pounced after it and emptied the remainder of his ammunition into it. With one engine appearing to catch fire, it turned slowly towards the coast. Both engines were now burning. It could not get far. As if to make sure, a stray Hurricane appeared on the scene and delivered a short burst into it just before it hit the water.
The German escort fighters had suffered badly on this day and 234 Squadron alone claimed a record fourteen Me 110s and one Do 17 destroyed plus seven Me 110s damaged for only one damaged Spitfire. It was the squadron’s best day so far. Bob Doe kept up with Pat as he too claimed three Me 110s destroyed; Mike Boddington two; Zbigniew Olenski one; Alan Harker one; Zygmunt Klein one; Pat Horton one destroyed and one damaged; Bill Hornby one destroyed and three damaged; Jozef Szlagowski one Me 110 destroyed and the Do 17 destroyed; George Bailey two damaged; and Keith Lawrence one damaged. Olenski’s was the damaged Spitfire but he was uninjured.9
A Spitfire Pilot's Story: Pat Hughes: Battle of Britain Top Gun Page 19
