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

Squadrons were also moved around from other groups and placed
temporarily under Park’s charge. One of these was 616 Squadron, which
until 27 May had been based in Leconfield in Yorkshire and hence part of
13 Group. That morning, the squadron had made the one-hour flight down
to Rochford in Kent, relieving 74 Squadron. That same afternoon it had set
off for a patrol over Dunkirk but had engaged nothing. Not so on its second
patrol the following morning when, at around 9.45 a.m., it ran into around
thirty Messerschmitts of JG 26.
The first Hugh ‘Cocky’ Dundas saw of these enemy aircraft was as the
squadron approached the coast. Two Skuas of the navy’s Fleet Air Arm
were swooping past him in the opposite direction, clearly in a hurry. As he
craned his neck, he saw why: five 109s, their black crosses and swastikas as
clear as day, were diving away and behind to his right, and from the lead
Messerschmitt came thin trails of grey smoke as the pilot opened fire. In a
trice, the group had faded to specks, disappearing beneath the dense smoke
cloud that rose above Dunkirk and spread like a shroud down the Channel
as far as the eye could see.
Cocky had only the briefest moment to absorb his first view of this
fearsome enemy because suddenly his section commander, George
Moberley, was wheeling in a climbing turn. Following, Cocky heard the
confusion of garbled voices over his R/T. Then there was another 109,
curving round with a bright yellow nose. More feathery trails of smoke spat
from it and lights of cannon fire flashed from the propeller hub. Red flashes
of tracer arced lazily towards them then seemed to suddenly accelerate as
they streaked above Cocky’s wing. With a sudden stab of pure fear, Cocky
realized he was being fired upon, so he banked his Spitfire hard into a tight
turn, the blood draining from his head from the force of negative gravity.
The aircraft began to judder on the brink of a stall, but as it straightened out
his head cleared and ahead of him he saw a mass of twisting, turning
planes. More bullets and cannon shells seemed to be hurtling towards him,
so he instantly flung himself into another turn. Coming out of it once more,
a 109 sped across his windscreen and instinctively he opened fire, his plane
juddering as his eight machine guns rattled.
Cocky felt close to panic in that first dogfight. Instinct made him keep
turning and twisting his neck, but rather than a compelling urge to shoot
down the enemy, it was a desire to stay alive that drove him. At last, he felt
it safe to straighten out and was amazed, as so many pilots were in the first