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

‘Hello, Gannic. Gannic Leader. Carfax calling. Watch out for snappers
above. Many snappers above. Hear me?’
‘Loud and clear, Carfax. Over and out.’
They were now high over Kent, the finger of south-east England spread
out before them, and there to intercept the approaching raid well before it
reached London. Moments later, as he glanced over his starboard wing,
Tony spotted puffs of ack-ack and then huge Vs of bombers. Above, he
could just see the ‘snappers’ – visible by the contrails. Jesus, Tony thought.
He wondered where they would begin. Luftflotte 2 might have been
severely under-strength but being just one of twenty-four Spitfires against
nearly 200 aircraft was a sobering proposition. In no time the formation had
grown, and then they seemed to be hurtling towards each other.
‘Tally ho, right, here they come, chaps,’ someone said and then Brian
led them in, half rolling and tearing into the approaching enemy. Tony was
conscious of Brian opening fire and then a Dornier filled his sights and he
pressed down the gun button himself, the De Wilde bullets clearly striking
the machine. Hastily dropping its bombs, the Dornier had begun to burn.
Sweeping round, Tony drew his bead on a second, and as his guns blazed
saw bits of engine cowling flying off the German bomber. Caught in the
Dornier’s slipstream as he passed, his Spitfire was bucked to one side.
Already he was out of ammunition, his fifteen seconds up, but a second
later his ailerons jolted and two Me 109s flashed by. Shouting a warning, he
then dived away out of the swirling mass and bolted for home, managing to
safely land despite his crippled aileron.
With 92 and 72 Squadrons now heading for home, 603 Squadron joined
the attack, followed by 253 and 501. Meanwhile, six more squadrons had
been scrambled, including 249 Squadron from North Weald. As Tom Neil
headed to join the battle, he found himself flying in and out of cloud before
bursting through at around 15,000 feet over the east of London,
condensation dripping from the canopy. While they were being vectored up
to 17,000 feet, 66 and 41 Squadrons had continued the attack, pecking away
at the German formation, and then, as the bombers approached London, 257
and 504 joined in. This was Pete Brothers’ first serious engagement since
joining the squadron and in the ensuing mayhem he managed to shoot down
first a Dornier and then a Ju 88. Like Tony twenty minutes before him,
however, he was also hit himself, a bullet causing an aileron wire to snap.
He was preparing to bail out but found he could still just about fly the