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

It took them ten minutes of intensely stressful flying to climb some 10,000
feet, but eventually Ulrich was able to order them to roll out at the top of
their climb and set course for home, which was effectively downhill all the
way. By holding their nerve and keeping their discipline, not one of them
had been lost.
Amongst those British fighters entering this latest fight were the
Spitfires of 616 Squadron, now part of Bader’s Duxford Wing. Cocky
Dundas had rejoined the squadron on 13 September, by which time they
had already been withdrawn from Kenley after two harrowing weeks and
sent to Kirton in Lindsey in Lincolnshire. Five days later, however, they
were ordered south to Fowlmere, a satellite of Duxford, to join the 12
Group big wing, although they were to fly back to Kirton each evening.
Cocky had been understandably wracked with fear at the prospect of
combat flying once again, but on the first sortie with the wing he had been
astonished to hear Douglas Bader calmly call down to the ground controller
to arrange a game of squash. Cocky could not believe that someone with tin
legs, leading five squadrons, could have been thinking about anything other
than the job in hand. Yet the conversation had a very calming effect on him;
he noticed his nerves finally begin to settle.
Now, on 27 September, Bader was leading them again. 11 Group
squadrons had already set amongst the enemy formations by the time Bader
brought them in high, still flying a tight, solid wedge. ‘We came together
with the Messerschmitts in a monstrous explosion of planes,’ noted Cocky,
‘and there developed immediately a dogfight of exceptional size and fury.’
Collision seemed likely at any moment. Cocky turned and twisted, sweating
with both exertion and excitement and sick with fear. Then – that strange
phenomenon that never failed to surprise him – the sky was suddenly clear
again, and Cocky dived down and headed back to base.
While Cocky was fighting for his life over the Thames estuary, his
brother John was attacking a simultaneous raid towards Bristol. John’s
prowess as a fighter pilot was growing. With more than ten confirmed
victories to his name, he had shot down one a day for the past three days,
and now got another as 609 Squadron intercepted the enemy over Swanage.
For David Crook it was a traumatic engagement. They had dived down on a
formation of bomb-carrying Me 110s, which, seeing their attackers, had
flung themselves into a defensive circle. David was flying just behind Mick
Miller and watched as his friend flew head on into one of the Zerstörers.