THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN-July 10th 1940, just 83 Years ago-

THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN-July 10th 1940, just 83 Years ago-

On This Day in the Battle of Britain:JULY 10th 1940-

The heavy clouds of the dawn along with the driving rain made most of the pilots turn over and take advantage of a 'lie-in'. In these conditions, the Germans made the most of the cloud cover and made photographic reconnaissance flights over possible and probable targets, but the Dornier 17s that usually made these flights often suffered heavy losses. But being as no 'scramble' calls were made during the early hours of this day by Fighter Command it was believed that the German Luftwaffe enjoyed the freedom of the skies although most kept out over the sea but keeping the distant English coastline in sight.

0730hrs (7.30am): 66 Squadron (Spitfires, Coltishall) got a 'scramble' call and one section took off into the driving rain after the Chain Home radar station at West Beckham had picked up a blip on the radar.

 (RAF aircraft carried a sensor unit attached underneath the fuselage which would show up on the radar screens as a friendly aircraft). The section was led by Pilot Officer Charles Cook and soon as they climbed first through the driving rain, then through the thick cloud they broke out into brilliant sunshine at about 10,000 feet. P/O Cook was given a vector bearing that led them in the direction to where the enemy aircraft was last spotted.

 It was radar that gave the RAF the upper hand in the Battle of Britain, it was an early warning system that informed Fighter Command that not only were enemy aircraft approaching the English coast, but it also told them the exact location, direction and with the aid of the Observer Corps, type of aircraft and about how many. Very often in the early stages of the war, the Germans could not understand as to why, whenever they were on a mission, the RAF was always there to meet them before they could reach their targets.

0815hrs (8.15am): 66 Squadron finally spots the enemy, a lone Dornier 17z of Kampfgeschwader 3 (KG3) possibly on one of those recon missions. 

As the Spitfires peeled off one by one, engines roaring, the crew of the Dornier spotted them and soon it was weaving and sliding in a desperate effort to evade the gunfire from the Spitfires. The gunners in the Dornier tried in vain in warding off the Spits but to no avail, the Spitfires continued to harass the bomber and in the melee P/O Cookes windscreen was hit and a hole developed in the canopy letting in extremely cold air.

 Then one of the Spitfires came up from underneath firing at the Dornier with all eight Browning's and went in close and the Dornier went into a banking glide bellowing smoke until it hit the sea between Yarmouth and Harwich. A couple of hours later, the three Spitfires of Pilot Officer C.A.Cooke, Pilot Officer J.A.P.Studd and Sgt F.N.Robertson landed back at Coltishall and rejoiced at their success.

Prior to July 10th when the RAF was busy regrouping, London was preparing its barricades and defences and indeed a quiet time for all, the Germans as mentioned previously were busy probing the RAF by attacking small convoys and other shipping in the Channel hoping that they would lure the fighters into battle. But at about 1030hrs (10.30am): Weather was still inclement, wet and miserable with shallow visibility, a Dornier on a recon flight and with an escort of about 20+ Bf109s was picked up on both Dover CH and Foreness CHL radar stations. 

74 Squadron Hornchurch (Spitfires), in conditions that now seemed to be improving, were directed to the location where the enemy had been spotted. But the damage had been done, the Dornier had spotted a very large convoy (The convoy was code named "Bread") in the Channel heading towards the Dover Straits.

Immediately the German radio operator dispatched a message giving the location of the convoy, size and its present course. The Spitfires of 74 Squadron (Hornchurch) located the Dornier and the Bf109s and as was the usual course, headed for the slower Dornier first, but not before the highly manoeuvrable 109s turned and got the Spitfires in their sights. Two of the Spitfires were hit, but not bad enough to put them out of action, but they kept their course and as they approached firing range of the Dornier opened fire. 

Immediately the front cockpit of the bomber exploded in smoke and flame, there would have been little chance of survival of the pilot and any other member who were with him. (There is actually no account of this Dornier crashing in the sea, but Len Deighton in his book "Battle of Britain" states that the Dornier, although damaged got home safely). 

The Dornier went down low and the Spitfires weaved and turned and engaged in combat with the Messerschmitt escort. Two Spitfires that were hit and were forced to return to Hornchurch while the other four remained for a while where only one Bf109 was hit and received only minor damage. 

The enemy was reinforced by another group of about 12 aircraft later just as the Spitfires of 610 Squadron, (Gravesend) arrived and the remaining four Spitfires of 74 Squadron returned back to base. 610 Squadron scored no 'kills' but managed to stop the 109s and they headed back towards the French coast.

In this combat, 74 Squadron Hornchurch had two of its Spitfires damaged during operations over the Channel while one Spitfire of 610 Squadron had to make a force landing at Hawkinge after being hit during the same combat.

The transmission that the Dornier made at 1030hrs must have been received loud and clear, because at 1350hrs(1.50pm): British radar picks up a strong signal that indicated that a German formation had been detected coming across the French coast just west of Calais and heading in the general direction of Folkestone. It seemed obvious what they were after, this was the largest number of bombers ever seen coming across the Channel. The main force was 24 Dornier 17s spread in three groups, 30 escorting Bf110s and 20+ Bf109s. 

The 'scramble' order went out to Manston, Biggin Hill, Croydon, Hornchurch and Kenley. Manston dispatched the Hurricanes of 56 Squadron (North Weald) who had been operating there, Biggin Hill dispatched 32 Squadron (Hurricanes), Croydon dispatched 111 squadron (Hurricanes), Hornchurch dispatched the Spitfires of 74 Squadron while Kenley sent out six Spitfires of 64 Squadron towards the closing stages of the battle.

The Dorniers turned and headed for the Channel convoy code named 'Bread' just as 74, 56, 32 and 111 Squadrons arrived on the scene. The Spitfires of 74 Squadron and the Hurricanes of 56 and 32 Squadrons engaged combat with the Bf109s and the Bf110s while the Hurricanes of 111 Squadron went straight in and attacked the Dorniers. 

The skies off the coast at Folkestone became a maze of vapour trails snaking in all directions. It was a tough dogfight with neither side gaining the upper hand, Flying Officer J Mungo-Park in a Spitfire swept past a Dornier and the resulting hit saw the bomber drift down towards the water of the Channel, another Spitfire of 74 Squadron scored a hit on one of the Bf109s and saw it head in the general direction of France and safety. 

As the dogfight continued, the Dornier formation started to break up as many of the fighters began to harass them like dogs snapping at their tails, Flying Officer Tom Higgs of 111 Squadron attacked a Dornier firing many rounds towards the bomber that was desperately trying to evade the Hurricane, but Higgs was seen to close fast and bounce off the wing before falling seawards out of control with one wing missing. The Dornier also spun out of control when its wing also came off and hurtled to a watery grave. 

Both aircraft crashed into the Channel and a rescue launch that was soon on the scene picked up the pilot of the Dornier and another member of the crew, but there was no sign of the rest of the bombers crew or of Tom Higgs. His body was later recovered on 15th August off the Dutch coast. He was claimed by a German fighter who hit him causing him to lose control and strike the bomber or to misjudge in evading the fighter and strike the bomber, perhaps hidden under his nose or wing?

This was the first major battle of the Battle of Britain, and considering the amount of aircraft that were in the air Higgs was the only British fatality, three Hurricanes were damaged as well as four Spitfires, two Dorniers were shot down and ten of the escort fighters. As far as the convoy "Bread" was concerned, only one ship was sunk the rest were not even attacked and continued their journey. Higgs came from the North of England-Olham in Lancashire and is one of the Northern Few.

".......for this victory, we must thank the radar in which placed us in readiness and allowed us to send our fighter squadrons out to meet them. I think that the way that these brave pilots stopped the convoy being attacked shows the maturity attained since France"-

ACM Sir Hugh Dowding remarking on this encounter July 10th 1940

Three sources of information indicate this battle in the Channel as a decisive victory for the RAF. Len Deighton's book claims that the RAF lost one aircraft and the Luftwaffe lost eight. Richard Bickers in his book claims that the RAF lost six while the Luftwaffe lost thirteen, although this figure could have included the losses in the battles in the west of England.

 Another source indicated that this battle in the Channel made the Luftwaffe take notice of the RAF because they had lost one Dornier, seven Bf109s to the RAF's only casualty, a Spitfire.

Yet two personal stories come out of this painting a rather different picture. You compare these with the historical accounts above:

"It is difficult to describe my feelings during the next few days. We had just lost three pilots in thirty-six hours, all of them in fights in which we had been hopelessly out- numbered, and I felt that there was now nothing left to care about, because obviously from the law of probability, one could not expect to survive many more encounters of a similar nature....."

Pilot Officer D.M Crook 609 Squadron RAF

From the Luftwaffe, comes this account:

"The convoy had been sighted between Dover and Dungeness. Our briefing took only a few minutes and within half an hour of being airborne we had sighted the coast of Kent. 

The Channel was bathed in brilliant sunshine...A light haze hung over the English coast, and there far below us, was the convoy, like so many toy ships with wispy white wakes fanning out behind. As soon as we were observed, the ships of the convoy dispersed, the merchantmen maneuvering violently and the escorting warships moving out at full speed. Anti-aircraft shell peppered the sky. Our fighters now appeared. We made our first bomb run, and fountains leapt up around the ships....

By now the fighter squadrons of the Royal Air Force had joined in, and the sky was a twisting, turning melee of fighters....My wing was in the air for three hours in all. We reported one heavy cruiser and four merchant ships sunk, one merchant ship damaged, and eleven British fighters shot down or damaged. We had lost two bombers, two twin engined fighters and three single engined fighters during the course of this engagement."

Werner Kreipe III KG 2 Luftwaffe.

1530hrs (3.30pm): But it was a different story in the west. Hugo Sperrle dispatched 60+ Ju88 bombers to attack the the targets of Swansea in Wales and Falmouth in Cornwall 10 Group in the west at this stage had not been formed, so there really was no fighter protection in this part of England.

 But 92 Squadron from Pembury scrambled too late to avoid the bombing by the German bombers. An ammunitions factory was badly damaged at Swansea and Falmouth also suffered considerable damage. Shipping was also hit hard as was destruction to a power station.

Writing for "The New York Times", Frank Kelley wrote of the battle:

"Day long sallies by waves of German bombers against coastal objectives in England, Wales,and Scotland reached a grand climax yesterday in the greatest and fiercest battle in ten and a half months of war when seventy-five Nazi bombers, escorted by forty-five or more fighters roared across the English Channel in two formations and showered bombs on a strongly defended convoy bringing vital food and other supplies to these besieged islands."

Richard Hough & Denis Richards Battle of Britain Hodder & Staughton 1989 p128

RAF Fighter Command Victory Claims this day:

17 Destroyed, 5 Unconfirmed Destroyed and 16 Damaged.

Claimants being:

32 Squadron, 1 Do 17 off Dungeness.

56 Sqn 3 Destroyed between Lydd and Dungeness.

64 Sqn 4 Destroyed.

66 Sqn 1 Do 17

74 Sqn 3 Destroyed including 1 by Johnny Freeborn, who it was an honour to spend time with over two days in Farnborough exactly 10 years ago. Sadly, I attended his funeral later that same year. Johnny told me he was credited with around 15 but felt his total was really between 20 and up to 25 including Probables and Destroyed.

92 Sqn claimed 1 Ju 88 as Unconfirmed Destroyed.

111 Sqn claimed 3 Destroyed.

145 Sqn claimed a Do 17 Destroyed.

242 Sqn claimed a He111 Destroyed.

610 Sqn claimed a Bf109E as unconfirmed Destroyed.

During the Battle of Britain a total of 1715 Hurricanes took part, (which was more than the rest of the aircraft of the Royal air force put together) and almost 75% of the Victories during the Battle of Britain went to Hurricane pilots.

THE CASUALTIES: (July 10th 1940)

0700hrs.Hurricane P3359. 253 Sqn. Kirton-on-Lindsay. (Aircraft destroyed)

Sgt I.C.C. Clenshaw. Killed. (Lost control in bad visibility)

1300hrs. Hurricane P3671. 111 Sqn Croydon. (Aircraft destroyed)

F/O T.P.K. Higgs. Killed in Hurricane P3671. The First of The Few to be killed. Tom came from Oldham in Lancashire. ( He Collided with the wing of a Dornier 17 off coast near Folkestone.

This crashed also- Tom baled out but drowned. Body found washed up in Norway a month later-15.8.40) It appears he either misjudged an attack and in one version, bounced off a wing of the bomber, lost his own wing, where a remarkable image shows this just a split second as it happened, you see a parachute streaming nearby just opening. 

Other versions state he was attacking the bombers and hit by an enemy fighter when was attacked by Oblt. Oesau of III/JG 51 over the Channel off Folkestone. Taking evasive action, he collided with a Do17 and lost a wing at 6,000 feet. He baled out but was killed. The Dornier, of 3/KG 2, crashed near Dungeness Buoy.

Higgs was 23. His body was washed ashore at Noordwijk on 15th August. He is buried in Noordwijk General Cemetery, Netherlands.He was not rescued in time and drowned or was to die of exposure, being left in the sea too long. Most aircrew of the RAF who landed in the sea during the Battle of Britain 1940 were to die before they could be rescued, I think the statistic is around 80% someone told me.

Of the 544 aircrew of RAF Fighter Command killed in the Battle of Britain I was told around 200 or more died after baling out safely but ended up not being rescued in time from the sea.

German Losses

Airmen: 29 | Aircraft: 14

British Losses

Airmen: 2 | Aircraft: 2

Thanks to Battle of Britain Historical Society Site 2010.

Battle Over Britain by F K Mason.

The Narrow Margin by Wood and Dempster.

Battle of Britain-Then and Now by Ramsay.

My added research and posts 2010-2022 across many sites I set up.

Paul Davies