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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 1002.PDF
PHASE I August r:j8H A fighter St»fions NORTH©LT ** ^fidfo^' MIDDLE V -. T 'BIGGIN4 V s* 1 HILL \ . w * tournMMMitii ^ ~*W«* a*9'* ready to start up, and take off, the moment the leader gets his orders from the Controller. In good weather conditions and when there is reason to anticipate an attack, squadrons are perforce kept at a high state of '' preparedness'' which is relaxed as much as possible when the weather deteriorates. The broad prin- ciple is usually to keep one part of the force at '' Readi- ness," a second part at " Advanced Available " and a third at "Normal Available." When the attack develops, the Readiness'' Squadrons are ordered off in appropriate formations and the '' Available '' Squadrons are ordered to " Readiness " and used as a reserve to meet a second or a third attack or to protect aerodromes or vulnerable points such as aircraft factories. Controller's Task These orders are issued by the Controller whose function it is to study the Operations Room Map and put a suitable number of aircraft into the air at selected points to inter- cept the oncoming raids, or to cover vulnerable points. His duty also is to keep a constant watch on his resources so as not to run the risk of being caught by a third or fourth wave of raids, with all his squadrons on the ground "landed and refuelling." It must be remembered that the endurance of a modern fighter aircraft, if it is to have ample margin for full throttle work, climbing and fighting, is limited. Allowance must also be made for the journey back to the parent station, especially if visibility is bad. With the tracks of the enemy raid and of his own fighters both before his eyes, the Controller's task of making an interception is in theory a comparatively simple mathe- matical problem. He is in constant touch with his fighters by radio telephone, is able to give them orders to change course from time to time, so as to put them in the best position for attack. Once the fighters report that they have '' sighted the enemy," the Controller's task is over, except that he may have to give them a course to bring them back to their aerodromes when the battle is over. The '' enemy sighted '' signal, the " Tallyho," is at once transmitted to Group H.Q. and recorded on the Squadron state indicator. The Red Letter day for any Group was on September 27th, PHASE H ^ ^|9^*'r Station O Anws Attacke when, in No. n Group, 21 Squadrons out of 21 ordered up were able to report " enemy sighted." Phase 1. August 8th-i8th. The machines employed were mostly Ju 87's, He ill's, Do 17's and Ju 88's, with fighter escorts of Me 109's and ' Me no's in unwieldy -* formations 5,000ft. to 10,oooft. above the bombers they were pro- tecting. In all, twenty- six raids were made during these ten open- ing days. Commencing on August 8th two convoys were fiercely attacked, one of them twice. Sixty enemy aircraft in the morning and more than a hun- dred soon after mid-day, deployed on a front of over twenty miles, tried to sink or disperse a con- voy off the Isle of Wight. They succeeded in sink- ing two ships.. In the afternoon at 4.15 more than a hundred and thirty appeared over an- other convoy off Bourne mouth. This they were able to disperse but they lost fairly heavily in doing so. The enemy renewed the assault three days later, choos- ing as his targets the 'towns of Portland and "Weymouth, as well as convoys in the Thames Estuary and off Har- wich. 5 In these attacks •-*» — TO
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