Page 75 - All About History - Issue 27-15

FORGOTT THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN

THE LIFE OF
A BATTLE OF

BRITAIN PILOT

From dawn until dusk every day for
16 weeks, Fighter Command’s pilots
had to be ready to meet the Nazi
threat in the skies
04.00HRS Wokenatdawn
All fighter pilots’ days started at dawn Bader was shot
with a cup of tea brought to them by a down over
junior rank. They wash and dress before France in 1941
and captured.
being driven in lorries to the dispersal While a POW, he
area. Here, by the runway, they eat breakfast – if tried to escape
they have the time – and wait.
so often that the
Germans ended
10.00HRS “Scramble!”
up confiscating
By mid-morning, the radar stations start his tin legs
picking up incoming enemy aircraft. The
dispersal area phone rings. The duty
officer answers, nods his head, then
clicks on the tannoy and shouts “Scramble!” into the
receiver and across the airfield.
10.07HRS Into the air
Having raced to their planes, clambered
into their parachutes and climbed into
their aircraft, which fitters will already
have started for them, pilots begin to
taxi down the runway and take to the air.
10.10HRS Mission briefing
With the planes now airborne, through
their headphones they hear “vector two
five zero, bandits 200 plus, angles three
zero”, which is code for them to steer a
course for 250 degrees, where more than 200
enemy aircraft are incoming at 30,000 feet.
10.15HRS Bandits dead ahead
Enemy planes are spotted heading in
from the east with the sun behind them. Douglas Bader
A dogfight begins, as planes begin one-
on-one duels with the German fighters,
or go after the slow-moving bombers that are NATIONALITY: ENGLISH
bristling with guns. RANK: SQUADRON LEADER, 242 SQUADRON
This legendary ace lost both his legs in a pre-war flying accident, but that
10.40HRS The fight ends
German fighters can only fight over didn’tstophimhelpturnthebattleinBritain’sfavour
English airspace before their fuel starts
running out. The RAF pilots then either At the age of 30, Douglas Bader according to the report he later gave an intelligence
chase them back over the Channel or was older than most RAF pilots officer, his wing “had to wait until Spitfires and
pick off any remaining bombers. and his leadership was to prove Hurricanes engaging the enemy broke away.” Once
11.00HRS Return to base 07 inspirational to the younger men they had, Bader sent his Spitfire force to attack the
Those pilots that haven’t been shot
down return to base. Upon landing they under him. This was especially German fighters, while he and his Hurricane pilots
are interviewed by an intelligence officer true when, on 15 September, the got stuck into the bombers.
who compiles a combat report detailing Luftwaffe launched its largest attack against London Typically Bader led from the front, most of the
any enemy and RAF planes that have been shot
down or damaged. in the mistaken belief that Fighter Command was time getting the first kill. His report reveals: “[Bader]
so stretched it could destroy its remaining aircraft in opened fire at 100 yards in a steep dive, and saw
15.00HRS Second duel of the day one go. The skies were filled that day with 1,500 large flash behind the starboard motor of the Do17
Pilots are scrambled again. At the height
of the campaign, pilots flew combat aircraft and the dogfights lasted until dusk. as its wing caught fire. He attacked another E/A
missions two or even three times a day. With the fighter squadrons attacking in ‘big (enemy aircraft) but it was difficult to get them
wing’ formations of up to 60 planes – a tactic Bader in his sights as the sky was so full of Hurricanes
20.00HRS Dismissedatdusk endorsed – the RAF inflicted colossal damage on queuing up to attack E/A. As all the bombers were
As dusk approaches, after 16 long hours
of suspense punctured by minutes of the Luftwaffe at little cost to themselves. For Bader destroyed S/Ldr Bader’s comments are worthy of
extreme violence in the skies, the pilots it would prove a particularly successful day. repetition. ‘It was the finest shambles I’ve been in.
are stood down. Those who have Just after noon, his wing ran into a great mass For once we had position, height, and numbers’.” He
survived end their day with a pint at the local.
of aircraft, both British and German, outside was right, 15 September proved to be the tipping
of London. In fact, the skies were so busy that, point of the entire campaign.
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