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

Once again, the Prime Minister watched the plots moving on the table
and the lights moving to ‘engaged’. Conscious of Park’s growing anxiety,
he asked, ‘What reserves have we got?’
‘There are none,’ Park replied. All his available squadrons were now
airborne.
An enormous aerial battle was now taking place. The bombers were
doing their best to reach their targets but the number of Tommy fighters was
putting them off, just as it had Peter Stahl a few days earlier. Plenty of
bombs were scattered over Kent and Sussex, but most fell on south-east and
east London. The fighters were having their own private battles. Tony
Bartley was caught up in a dizzying swirl of aircraft over east London. Tom
Neil attacked a vic of eight Dorniers, aiming for the last on the right of the
formation. Somehow, everything fell into place and he found himself dead
astern and just below, buffeted about in its slipstream. He opened fire at
close range and bits of aircraft immediately fell off. He fired again, worried
he was almost too close, and then two objects hurtled towards him too
quickly for him to evade, and as they shot past his head he realized they
were two of the crew bailing out. ‘I veered away,’ he noted, ‘shocked at
what I had just achieved.’
Dolfo Galland suffered no such feelings of remorse as he led his
Geschwader down on to Bader’s big wing. It was a perfect bounce, an
attack with the benefit of height and sun, and Dolfo set the tone by tearing
down upon the Czechs of 310 Squadron, hitting one Hurricane so hard huge
pieces of metal were torn from it. At the last moment, he leapt over the
stricken machine and straight through the formation, hitting a second
Hurricane. By the time Bader’s force realized what was happening, Dolfo
and his 109s had sped on past. Dive, attack and run – it was the most
effective way of taking on fighters. Glancing back, he saw two parachutes
drifting downwards – his thirty-third and thirty-fourth victims. Climbing
again, he made for the stream of bombers heading back from London,
which were being mercilessly snapped at by Park’s fighters.
Meanwhile, Hans-Ekkehard Bob, recently promoted Staffelkapitän of
the 7th Staffel, had been hit in the cooling system and, quickly disengaging,
turned for home. With his engine temperature rising alarmingly, he
switched off, knowing that his engine would otherwise seize. Refusing to
even consider ditching in England, he now attempted to glide home. But
having put his 109 into a gentle glide, he saw that his propeller was still