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

It was now too late. Suddenly the aircraft was falling, swooping down
in a trail of smoke and fire. At around 7 p.m., Walter Rubensdörffer
ploughed his aircraft into a tree-studded bank at Bletchinglye Farm, near
Rotherfield. Both he and his crewman were killed instantly.
‘Today there took place the greatest and most successful air battle of all,’
scribbled Jock Colville. At No. 10, the Prime Minister had been fed with
regular updates, and with the numbers of downed enemy aircraft apparently
rising by the minute he finally decided to drive over to the nerve-centre
itself, Fighter Command HQ at Bentley Priory, with General Ismay in tow.
When they got there, every single available aircraft in 11 Group was
airborne, with nothing at all left in reserve. Ismay felt sick with fear. As he
watched in silence, the plotters and controllers as calm and measured as
ever, his panic passed and the fighting died down. Afterwards, as they drove
back, Churchill turned to Ismay and said, ‘Don’t speak to me; I have never
been so moved.’ Five minutes later, he muttered, ‘Never in the field of
human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few.’
On returning to Downing Street, Churchill told Jock to ring
Chamberlain, who was in the country recovering from a recent operation
for his cancer.
‘The Lord President was very grateful to you,’ Jock told Churchill
afterwards.
‘So he ought to be,’ the PM replied. ‘This is one of the greatest days in
history.’