“Red leader, rendezvous angels ten over grey beach.”
Angels ten? Far too low. He had no intention of repeating yesterday’s disaster when ops sent them over Dunkirk at 10,000 feet. Three dozen Messerschmitts dove out from the sun and cut the squadron to ribbons. But arguing with ops was like kicking a rubber wall.
“Red leader, copy,” Jameson said into his oxygen mask. He glanced down at the fuel gauge. Plenty for his plan.
He rocked the stick, waggling his wings to get the attention of the other aircraft. Woody, his wingman, looked over. Jameson pointed upward and held up two fingers. Woody nodded and the three Hurricanes climbed to 20,000 feet, throttles wide open.
Down to his left he could see the port of Calais, the ships crowding the harbor. Five minutes later they were over Dunkirk itself. From this altitude, the lines of men waiting on the beach looked small as fleas.
Woody’s voice crackled across the receiver. “Stukas, Jimmy.”
Sure enough, two dozen of the German dive bombers were streaking in at 15,000 feet, preparing to make their run. Jameson toggled the switch to “fire” and jabbed the button to test his guns. The deafening clatter shook the aeroplane.
“Right,” he said. “Come on, Woody.”
He pushed his Hurricane into a screaming dive.
Ops should always trust the man on the ground. Or in the air, in this case.
There were a lot more Hurricanes at the beginning of the Battle of Britain than any other fighter type. They were almost as good as the Spitfires, and better than the early Messerschmitts and Focke-Wulf 190s the Germans used. The Hurricane also had a thick wing that made for a stable firing platform, so the eight .303 machine guns could do a lot of damage. I’ve studied quite a few of the transcripts of R/T communications during the battles, so I tried to capture some of that here. The British made a practice of sounding so calm as to be bored when engaging in radio communications. It’s exciting stuff.
Exciting air action. In a way, it made me think of Royal Air Force (RAF) Hawker Hunter pilot Alan Pollock flew his jet under the Tower Bridge on April 5, 1968. Bold stuff.
I wish I could have been able t get out onto my balcony last week, I would have been able to share photos. There was a long display by a Hurricane and Spitfire.
This is a good story with good action in it.