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

Now, at a little before 11 a.m., French time, he was taking off from
Cherbourg, where the Gruppe had flown to earlier, and heading out over the
Channel.
The growing plot over the Cherbourg peninsula had been picked up by
radar early, giving the controllers at 10 and 11 Group Headquarters plenty
of time to alert their squadrons. With no convoy currently in the Channel, it
was also clear that the raiders must be heading for a coastal target, and as
the plot developed it seemed likely that Portland was the target.
Already at Warmwell was 609 Squadron, which had been hastily
scrambled and told to patrol over Weymouth Bay at angels 24. By ten, only
five minutes after Siegfried Bethke had taken off, 609, along with 1 and 145
Squadrons, was already airborne. Within the next quarter of an hour, aircraft
from five further squadrons were also scrambled, including 87 Squadron
from Exeter.
As they headed out over the Dorset coast, 609 Squadron’s pilots saw the
armada heading across the Channel. John Dundas was astonished. ‘More
Huns than I ever imagined I’d see together in one piece,’ he noted. In fact,
there were around a hundred Me 109s and Zerstörers. Squadron Leader
Darley took his squadron up to around 25,000 feet, then, with the sun
behind them, and with a thousand feet of height to their credit, he gave the
order to attack. ‘We came down right on top of the enemy formation,’ noted
David Crook, ‘going at terrific speed, and as we approached them we split
up slightly, each pilot selecting his own target.’ He now saw an Me 110
Zerstörer ahead, cutting across him. Opening fire, David realized he had not
allowed enough deflection, but closing up he opened fire again, this time at
almost point-blank range. Smoke burst from the German’s port engine, then
he turned to the right and stalled. David was so close, he only narrowly
avoided hitting the Zerstörer’s port wing, ducking instinctively as it flashed
past him.
Below he could see Hurricanes also attacking, while above were many
more enemy fighters. Unable to find another target in a good position to
attack, and thinking it was a rather unhealthy spot to find himself in, he
dived down out of the fray, and headed back to Warmwell. John Dundas,
meanwhile, managed to hit another Me 110, but was then peppered himself.
The squadron landed back in ones and twos, having left the fight in full
swing as more squadrons arrived on the scene. To everyone’s amazement,