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

once more. The rest of the pilots, having a last drink before leaving, dived
for the cover of the neighbouring wood as the bombs began falling, so that
almost every other tree had a prostrate form behind it. ‘It was an interesting
experience,’ noted Bee, ‘listening to the whistle of the bombs and having
guessing competitions with one’s next-door neighbour as to where the next
one would land, while a nightingale would absolutely on no account be
diverted from his solo in an oak overhead.’ After the raid, Bee eventually
secured a lift to Lille from their French interpreter, Capitaine Lasseud of the
Armée de l’Air.
At Vassincourt, 1 Squadron had also had a busy day. After his first
victory, Billy Drake had safely made it back and had then flown again
around midday when ‘B’ Flight were ordered to provide cover for RAF
bombers attacking Luxembourg. They never found the bombers, but did run
into some Dorniers and, above them, some 109s. Recognizing that they
were in a hopeless position to attack with the German fighters hovering
above, Prosser Hanks ordered them not to attack. Just then a vic of three
Hurricanes from a different squadron pounced on the Dorniers. A moment
later, the 109s were peeling down on them like hawks, and in a trice one of
the Hurricanes was tumbling to the ground in flames.
Back on the ground again, the entire squadron was ordered to move, to
nearby Berry-au-Bac. ‘B’ Flight took off again, and this time Billy and
‘Boy’ Mould shared in shooting down a Heinkel 111 bomber. Arriving back
down at Berry, they were soon bombed again. Fortunately, although some
of the bombs landed close to the prostrate pilots, most fell wide, killing a
neighbouring farmer and his son. Later that evening they took off again on
yet another patrol. Smoke was now rising from several towns and villages.
The airfield at Reims Champagne had been badly bombed. Here and there,
farmhouses burned, angry flames and smoke pitching into the sky. They
eventually went to bed as dusk fell. At 2.45 a.m. they would be woken
again. ‘There was a feeling that total chaos was reigning,’ says Billy.
‘Germans were everywhere and we were constantly being bombed. In
between we were flying four or five times a day.’
However exhausting it may have been, at least 1 Squadron’s pilots were
all still alive. The same could not be said for far too many of the pilots and
crew of the Fairey Battle squadrons. During the winter and spring, Battles
had already proved themselves unsuited to the task given them. Singleengine
machines, they were designed as two-seater day bombers, but they