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

distracted by thinking about their formations and the sequence of a
particular attack, rather than keeping their wits about them.
Yet although a large number of Fighter Command’s squadrons had seen
action in France and over Dunkirk, the month’s respite had not been used to
collate and disseminate the lessons learned. Dowding may have developed a
supremely advanced defence system, but in the crucial area of fighter
tactics he had not been so forward thinking. This was because he believed it
was too late in the day to start rewriting the tactic book. He was, however,
underestimating the speed with which men in battle adapt.
Instead, it was left to individual squadrons, commanders and pilots to
learn and change on their own initiative. Some did, others did not.
Fortunately for 609 Squadron, George Darley was not going to let all his
pilots be killed in such an unnecessary manner. He began drumming into
them the importance of working as a team, of each pilot constantly looking
out for enemy aircraft above, behind and below. In the days that followed,
he was unable to persuade the ground controllers to use the entire squadron
rather than individual flights and sections, but the kill–loss ratio did
improve; at least, no-one was getting killed, although two of the pilots were
shot down by a single, diving Ju 88. They both bailed out safely, returning
to the squadron in one piece, albeit rather humiliated. John Dundas also
improved his record from Dunkirk by sharing in the destruction of an Me
110 and the probable kill of a Dornier17. Darley had not made himself
popular with his plain speaking, but the men of 609 were quick to realize
that he was a man worth listening to. David Crook, for one, soon began to
admire him greatly. His experience, imperturbability, and sound good sense
were precisely what the squadron needed.
Darley’s plans to keep his squadron alive were given a boost on 13 July,
when 152 Squadron was posted to Warmwell. Since it was a Spitfire
squadron, the pressure on 609’s groundcrew was at last alleviated. Most
could now remain at Middle Wallop because there was enough support at
Warmwell to house the entire squadron during the day. ‘From now
onwards,’ noted David Crook, ‘we generally flew as a complete squadron,
which is a very much more formidable and powerful adversary than three
aircraft only.’
In terms of numbers of single-seater aircraft, the Luftwaffe had only a small
advantage over Fighter Command, but overall Göring’s men had enormous