BATTLE OF BRITAIN 100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE
When the Tigers arrived at ‘The
Bump’ it soon become apparent that
bomb damage at the station had
been immense. The centre section of
every H-block was destroyed, and the
hangars were laid flat. Servicing of the
aircraft was pretty much done in the
open and the airfield was always in a
constant state of repair.
Due to the many bomb craters,
the old practice of mass formation
take-offs was halted. On at least one
occasion the amount of equipment
littering the airfield nearly led to a
potentially fatal accident. A Spitfire
came in a little too low and one of the
oleo legs hit an excavator and sheared
straight off. A textbook emergency
landing was made with little damage
to the rest of the airframe.
The operational pace didn’t give 74
Squadron too much time to unpack as
it was called to action over the Thames
estuary just after arrival. Two Bf 109s
were claimed destroyed during this
action by Fg Off W H Nelson and Plt
Off P C B St John.
Two days later 60-plus Bf 109s
were engaged over the Maidstone/
Gravesend area. Individual dogfights
broke out with Malan targeting one
fighter and watching as black smoke
streamed from it before it went into a
vertical dive. Plt Off B V Draper took
on seven fighters sending one of them
down in flames and St John claimed
a third.
Unfortunately, it was not a one-sided
exchange. During this action Plt Off A
L Ricalton flying Spitfire II P7360 was
shot down and killed, crashing near
Hollingbourne, Kent.
While on patrol with 66 Squadron
on October 20, a force of 30-plus
enemy fighters was sighted coming
up from the south flying at around
29,000ft. In the ensuing melee Flt Lt
Mungo-Park hit one, which entered
a spin down to 4,000ft where its tail
detached. Plt Off Stephen attacked
four Bf 109s and saw one of his targets
break up and crash into a wood.
Plt Off Draper claimed another, but
he was hit in the radiator and had to
initiate a forced landing. Sgt T B Kirk
in P7370 saw large pieces of wing and
fuselage falling away from his target,
but he was in turn shot down. He died
from his wounds nine months later.TALLY HO!
In company with 92 Squadron on
October 22, more fighter-on-fighter
combat took place. Over Ashford,
Kent, at 30,000ft (9,144m), the ‘Tally
Ho!’ was called and both units dived
into the fray. Malan and Mungo-Park
both sent one plummeting into the
sea. Plt Off St John was lost in this
attack, his Mk. II P7431 crashing at
South Nutfield, Surrey.
Plt Off Bob Spurdle had a lucky
escape when he had to leave P7364 in
a hurry. As the New Zealander floated
earthwards in a semi-conscious state,
a German fighter turned towards him
and sent a number of bullets his way.
Fortunately for Spurdle his squadron
was looking out for him and fellow
‘Kiwi’ Plt Off E W G Churches
and Plt Off Stephen squashed the
German’s intent of killing a ‘sitter’.
They continued to circle Spurdle until
he landed in a ploughed field - minus
his boots.
He had descended four miles and
was extremely cold, but thankfully
alive. He was soon being interviewed
by the press once they got a whiff of
the story.
Vectored over Maidstone on October
27 at 30,000ft, 66 and 74 tackled a
formation of approximately 30 Bf
109s that had cruised into the area
7,000ft below. Individual combats
broke out with Stephen getting a‘flamer’ and Nelson putting a ’109
into the ground two miles south of
Rochester airfield.
Plt Off P Chesters went one better
and forced his victim to land at
Penshurst airfield in Kent. Chesters
promptly landed beside his victim
to accept his surrender. [This was Bf
109E-4 3525 of 3/JG 52, operating
from Coquilles in France, flown by
Feldwebel Lothar Schieverhofer - ED.]
Transferred just four days earlier
from 611 Squadron, Sgt J A Scott
was flying his first patrol during this
combat when he was shot down and
killed, becoming 74 Squadron’s last
loss of the battle.
Nobody had seen what happened
to his Spitfire II P7526, which had
left the factory just ten days earlier. It
crashed to the ground, exploding at
Dundas Farm, Elmsted near Ashford.
The unit’s last combat in the
momentous conflict took place on
October 29. Three Bf 109s were
claimed destroyed, along with three
probables. The third probable was an
He 111, a type that was a rare sight
during this period; it was last observed
diving away south of Dungeness.
Officially, October 31 was determined
as the last day of the Battle of Britain.
Without doubt, 74 Squadron’s
actions during the Battle of Britain,
like so many other units involved,
were its finest achievement and should
be remembered as such.
If the recently announced plans
to add two further Eurofighter
Typhoon squadrons to plug today’s
capability gap goes ahead, it would
be appropriate if the powers-that-be
turned to the Tigers to fulfil this role.The author would like to thank Bob
Cossey from the 74 `Tiger’ Association
for his help and guidance in preparing
this article.Below
A Spitfi re II of 74
Squadron in 1941.
WWW.2IMAGES.COMJanuary 2018 FLYPAST 75