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

‘There they are!’ exclaimed Moyra. Shielding their eyes against the
glare of the sun, they saw twenty or so aircraft fighting, and soon a bomber
plunged towards the ground, smoke billowing behind, and then, following
after, a parachute drifted down. Jock spotted a dive-bomber scream towards
the airfield at Thorney Island. Vast explosions followed, and huge plumes
of smoke began rising from the airfield. It was all over in a few minutes,
although another attack seemed to be going on near Portsmouth. ‘When
peace was restored,’ noted Jock, ‘Moyra, Jean Meade and I sat on the
terrace in high spirits, elated by what we had seen.’
Siegfried Bethke was due to have been taking part on that raid, but his
Messerschmitt had developed ignition problems and so he had returned.
Julius Neumann, however, had been flying that afternoon, providing escort
for twenty-eight Ju 87s of I/Stuka 77. Leading the 6th Staffel of III/JG 27,
Julius spotted a number of tiny specks just as they crossed the coast.
Recognizing them as British fighters, he led his Staffel towards them.
Julius always felt nervous before any sortie – it was a natural enough
feeling – but once in the air such feelings soon disappeared; he had a job to
do, and he found there was little time for feeling scared. Now, as he turned
towards the British fighters, the adrenalin beginning to flow, he felt quite
calm and in control of his machine. Yet it was not his aircraft at all. Back on
the 15th, during the last of three sorties over southern England, his personal
mount, Yellow 3, had been hit and on arriving back in France he had been
forced to crash-land with his wheels up. Although he escaped unscathed, his
Messerschmitt had not, and now he was flying a different plane, Yellow 6.
Nor did he have his usual mascot with him. His girlfriend had given him a
white silk scarf – which he was wearing – and a miniature teddy bear,
which normally hung from the side of his cockpit. It had not, however,
followed him into his borrowed machine.
It did not occur to him that somehow this mission was jinxed, but now
both 43 and 601 Hurricane Squadrons were tearing towards both his Staffel
and the Stukas they were supposed to be protecting. As they tussled with
the Hurricanes, Julius and his Staffel were unable to go and help the Stukas.
All he could do was try to inch the dogfight down lower towards them, and
thereby give them some protection, but his efforts did not seem to be
working. Rather, his Staffel was now completely split up as planes wheeled
and dived.