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last of which took six aircraft over Dunkirk and Cap Gris Nez
on the afternoon of July 8, as part of a four squadron Rodeo,
together with Spitfires from 82, 122 and 154 Sqns., all of the
“Hornchurch Wing.”
No. 64 Sqn. was officially declared “non-operational” at
midnight on Wednesday, July 8th, in anticipation of converting
to the Spitfire F. Mk. IX. The next couple of weeks were spent
on hard practice flying, the first formation flight taking place
on July 19th, before the squadron flew to Martlesham Heath on
the Suffolk coast the following day for a week’s Air Firing camp,
working 24 hours on, and then 24 hours off. Some of the off time
was spent at “The Bull” or “The Crown,” both popular pubs in
nearby Woodbridge! The squadron returned to Hornchurch on
July 27th, in preparation for going fully operational the following
morning when they would be at Dawn Readiness.
The night of July 27–28 proved to be eventful, as the Luftwaffe
raided Birmingham with a force of some 70 bombers, of which
10 were claimed as destroyed, with a further 3 probables, and
10 more damaged. With its new Spitfires, No. 64 Sqn. was ready
for action, and at 12:10hrs on Tuesday July 28 they took part
in their first Rodeo, together with the Mk. Vs of 81, 122, and
154 Sqns. They rendezvoused over Pevensey Bay, then flew to St.
Valery, where they jettisoned their drop tanks at low level, and
began a climb. When they reached 31,000 feet they were over
Le Harvre. Nothing of interest was seen, except while heading
back towards the U.K. they noted a group of four Fw-190s
heading back towards France at 11,000 feet. The Spitfires were
over Fecamps at the time and too high to attack, so the enemy
fighters were ignored. BR601 was flown by P/O H.F. Withy on
this, its first operational sortie, and landed back at Hornchurch
at 14:00hrs. The squadron commander, S/Ldr. W.G.G. “Smithy”
Duncan Smith DSO, DFC, flew the first production F. Mk. IX,
BR581 while the rest of the squadron flew virtually all of the first
batch of Supermarine-built F. Mk. IXs.
Two days later, 64 Sqn. flew top cover for the Hornchurch
Wing during a morning “Circus” over Abbeville, St. Omer,
and Le Touquet. That evening, the squadron flew an evening
“Ramrod” over Dunkirk, St. Omer, and Calais. (“Circus” was
the RAF code name for a daylight bombing mission, which was
heavily escorted by fighters with the primary goal of drawing
enemy fighters into combat. A “Ramrod” was a similar bombing
raid, but the primary goal was for the bombers to destroy their
ground target.)
During the morning raid, F/Lt. Kingaby bagged a Fw-190
while flying BR600, but the other pilots were “spooked” when
the Attack Controller warned that a Typhoon had been brought
down by friendly fire. However, the evening was a different story,
with S/Ldr. Duncan Smith (BR581), P/O Stewart (BR977), and
P/O “Mike” Donnet (ex-Belgian Air Force, and later Lieutenant
General Baron Michel G. L. Donnet CdG, CVO, DFC, in BR624)
all downing Fw-190s. W/C Finlay (BR596) claimed another as
damaged, while “Smithy” and Lt. Arne Austeen (Norwegian,
flying BS105), shared another. In the book Spitfire into Battle,
Smith describes this engagement: “About half-way between the
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