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

31
First Combat
IT HAD BEEN A miserable day. The pilots of 609 Squadron had woken at their
new base of Middle Wallop, near Salisbury, at 4.30 a.m., and had then
flown down to a forward airfield at Warmwell, south of Dorchester. The
weather had been terrible and when, at around 9 a.m., a report had come
through that enemy aircraft were attacking shipping off Portland, David
Crook and Peter Drummond-Hay had set off to investigate in low cloud. In
fact, it had been so low it was actually covering the top of the hills. Spotting
a gap where a road ran through a narrow valley towards the sea, they roared
through it, at tree-top height, causing two cyclists below to throw
themselves into a ditch in alarm. They found nothing out at sea, so,
disappointed, had returned to Warmwell.
The rest of the morning and afternoon had been spent sitting inside their
dispersal tent listening to rain pattering down on the canvas, smoking,
reading and feeling increasingly bored and frustrated. David and Peter had
made plans for their twenty-four-hour leave to London the following day,
but otherwise there had been little chat between the men.
Much had happened to the squadron during the past few days. The
attacks on Portland and convoy OA178 on 4 July had prompted swift
action. Radar had clearly not been able to pick up German aircraft quickly
enough for the fighter squadrons to intercept – at least not that far west at
any rate – so 609 had been posted from Northolt to the sector station of
Middle Wallop. From there it would move daily to Warmwell, near the
Dorset coast.
Needless to say, Dowding deplored the use of his precious fighters to
protect Channel convoys and requested that all merchant shipping, even
coastal freight, be routed via Scotland and the west coast. This suggestion
was turned down by the Admiralty with Churchill’s support, not only
because he argued that there was the urgent need for coal traffic to London
and the south, but also, bizarrely, because they feared a loss of face should
they abandon the east coast. Furthermore, they argued that the east-coast
convoys acted as bait for the Luftwaffe north of London out of enemy