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

someone as passionate about shooting and air combat as Adolf Galland,
commanding yet more biplanes was clearly unacceptable. Managing to
persuade a doctor to pass him medically unfit to fly in an open cockpit, he
demanded a transfer to a fighter unit. This he was given, but as Geschwader
adjutant the opportunities for flying had been limited, especially since JG
27 was a developing formation and right up until May was still working up
to strength.
Thus on 10 May, ‘Dolfo’, as he was known, was busy supporting staff
operations, liaising with General von Richtofen’s VIII Fliegerkorps, and
ensuring that each Staffel within the Geschwader knew exactly what it
should be doing. Soon, though, he promised himself, he would get up in the
air himself.
It was a hard first day of air fighting. At Méharicourt, only three Blenheims
had been sent out on reconnaissance missions all day. Why so few is not
clear, except that they were not achieving very much. After Pilot Officer
Smith had returned with his aircraft damaged, Pilot Officer Geoff Harding
had been ordered into the air. He had not returned. Later in the afternoon,
after the airfield was bombed, Pilot Officer Dixon was sent off on another
low-level recce mission. By evening, he had also failed to make it back.
‘Two out of three!’ wrote Arthur Hughes. Nor would they return: Geoff
Harding’s Blenheim had been shot down by an Me 109 near Venlo, while
Dixon’s had been hit by ground fire in the same area. Only one man out of
the two three-man crews survived.
In the evening three Hurricanes of 79 Squadron landed, having been at
Biggin Hill to the south-east of London in the morning, then sent to
Manston on the tip of Kent and from there to France. They had been
supposed to spend the night at Mons-en-Chaussée but, having chased a
Dornier, got lost and so landed at Méharicourt instead. Arthur was amazed
to see that one of the pilots was still wearing his pyjamas underneath his
flying overalls.
Meanwhile, 87 Squadron had been ordered back to Lille-Marcq airfield
this time, rather than Lille-Seclin where they had been before. Bee
Beamont, still gripped with dysentery, had spent the morning lying on some
bundles of kit while the groundcrew frantically packed up. The ambulance
that was due to take him back to Lille never turned up and, after staggering
around for it, he stumbled back to the airfield just as it came under attack