The Battle of Britain Five Months That Changed History, May—October 1940 by James Holland (z-lib.org).epub

Luftwaffe at that time. He was suddenly even more aware of his
inexperience.
For a moment he couldn’t think of what he should do, then remembered
that a Hurricane was supposed to be able to out-turn a Dornier. He
immediately yanked his plane into a very tight turn, as tight as he could fly
it without blacking out, and pulled the ‘tit’, which increased boost for a
short period of time. The Hurricane lurched forward and after only half a
turn he began to see the rear quarter of the Dornier. ‘So there were the two
of us,’ he explains, ‘a bloody great Dornier in a vertical bank, and me in my
Hurricane also in a vertical bank on his tail but with no ammunition.’
Meanwhile the Dornier’s rear-gunner had begun firing at him.
This, Bee knew, was not a healthy position to be in, but at least the
enemy now knew the Hurricane had a superior turning circle. If he reversed
the turn, he realized, the Dornier would never come after him. And nor did
it. As Bee looked back, the Dornier was banking away from his own circle
and beginning to level out in the direction of the German lines. ‘And as he
did so,’ Bee recalls, ‘he waggled his wings. He was saluting.’
The following day, Bee chased a ‘Hun’ and saw Brussels and Tournai
burning fiercely. In the afternoon, the squadron was about to attack some
Stukas when they were pounced on by Me 109s. Bee chased after one but
found the Messerschmitt was too fast for him to catch. On the 17th, Bee’s
flight were about to go on patrol when the ‘Raid approaching – all aircraft
off the ground!’ order came through. By now well-practised at this art, the
best part of fifty Hurricanes at Lille-Marcq were all airborne inside five
minutes. Once airborne, they carried out a mass patrol, but now presented
too obvious a target and were soon being dived upon by more 109s. In a
trice, two Hurricanes were plunging towards the ground.
So it continued: raids on the airfield, patrols, scrambles, some enemy
knocked out of the sky, some of their number sent earthwards. On Sunday,
19 May, they were visited by Air Vice-Marshal C. H. B. Blount, the
commanding officer of the Air Component. ‘Having a good time, chaps?’
he asked them. ‘Which,’ Bee pointed out, ‘sounded rather strange to pilots
who had been fighting and standing by to fight from dawn till dusk for eight
days with about three hours’ sleep a night and only spasmodic shifts for
meals.’