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

the ship – there was a sharp flash from below. Climbing away, Hajo circled
over it, watching the fire spread. He looked down over the other boats
coming to its rescue, assuming the soldiers must all be jumping off into the
sea. He still had one last bomb so this time dived even lower, hitting a
smaller vessel. ‘The vessel didn’t catch fire,’ noted Hajo. ‘She sank.’
Now, on Friday, 31 May, early in the evening, Hajo had taken off from
Schiphol near Amsterdam, where they were newly stationed, in a large
formation. The weather had improved and although there were still dense
smoke palls over Dunkirk itself, visibility was otherwise good. Their targets
were the beaches and ships lying offshore, to be attacked from the land side.
He was not flying his usual aircraft as it was unserviceable, but had not had
a chance to test his replacement machine; it could not be helped. In any
case, it seemed all right to him as they flew south across Belgium. As usual,
they could see the smoke above the port way before they reached it. Above
them were the fighter escort, so Hajo was happy to keep his steady position
in the middle of the formation.
As they approached the diving line, puffs of flak began to smudge the
sky. Hajo watched the lead aircraft begin to dive, then pulled his own brake
lever, but the brake did not come out. Hurtling downwards, he sped past the
leading machines. The slipstream whistled in a high-pitch screech past the
cockpit and the plane began to shake and rattle. He pulled desperately on
the brake, but nothing happened, so he pulled back the control column in a
long curve in the hope that the aircraft would not break up. The rest of the
formation were now over their targets and dropping bombs. Cursing to
himself, Hajo decided to have another go but suddenly a Hurricane swept
past and then another. Abandoning plans for another attack for the moment,
Hajo climbed to the safety of the smoke cloud, which stank even from
inside his Junkers. All too quickly he emerged out of the top, dropped back
down and came out at the bottom of the pall once more. Suddenly a burst of
fire raked the fuselage. Wires sprang out towards him from the instrument
panel. He wondered whether to jettison his bombs but a brief glance either
side of him told him that both his engines were still working. Dipping in
and out of the smoke cloud, he thought he saw a French fighter but it
disappeared again just as there was a bang and one of his engines packed
up. The wireless operator cried out and the under-gunner groaned. Hajo
could see a dark trail of smoke from his hit engine so now dived steeply,