Encounter in the skies
Jason Grumble watched the pilots of 13Th Squadron enter the briefing room. He was their wing commander for a week now and today he would lead them for the first time on a mission.
This was his first command. Normally he would already have had a command at the start of the Battle of Britain but due to reckless flying he had been delegated to ferrying Spitfires from the factory to the different squadrons. But that was all about to change. Command was short on experienced fliers and needed every able pilot to bring the fight to the Germans.
Once all pilots sat down, Jason revealed their target for today: a German airfield in occupied France. Intelligence had revealed that the airfield was defended by a lot of flak so the plan was simple. Each Spitfire would make a single run on the airfield, blasting with all its guns and cannons at whatever target flashed through their cross-hairs.
After synchronizing their watches all pilots, including Jason left for their aircraft.
The entire squadron formed up above the airfield. Jason led his wing towards the coast. One of the first things he had done when arriving at the airfield, was implement the rotte system of the Germans. They called it the finger four formation. Instead of the closed V-formation each flight now consisted of two aircraft: a wing-leader and and wing-man. The wing-leader was responsible for the attack, while the wing-man guarded his wing-leader. Without having to worry about the formation, the wing-man had more time to scan the sky for danger and the wing-leader could now focus on the attack, knowing that his wing-man would always be on his right or left.
The entire squadron passed Dover harbor. Jason tipped his wing to look down into the harbor. The harbor still formed a tempting target for the Luftwaffe, but this time they would bring the war to their doorsteps.
Above the German airfield a young German pilot circled in his Me-109. Dieter Tot had just joined the Luftwaffe. He was still in training during the Blitzkrieg and could only read in the newspapers about the easy victory for the German armed forces.
He had also been to late for the Battle of Britain. Hardly anybody spoke about that battle. Most pilots acknowledged that they had failed to bring the RAF to its knees. Publicly the pilots never complained, but indoors some veterans had told Dieter how dangerous these missions were. Most of the time the Me-109's had only enough fuel for 10 minutes, after which they had to return. Off course they could not cover the bombers long enough. If a pilot made a slight calculation error, he was forced to land in England or worse he had to ditch in the freezing channel.
But now it were the RAF fighters who had to run the gauntlet. RAF-fighters were spotted heading for the airfield and the base commander had scrambled all the fighters to intercept the British fighters. Dieter hoped he would score his first kill today, because he had read about the Luftwaffe aces like Galland and wanted desperately to belong to that select group of elite fighter pilots.
Jason lead his Spitfires across the French coastline. There was some sporadic anti-aircraft fire, but nothing be worried about.
"All Knights, stay in formation and follow my lead"
One by one each flight-leader acknowledged his orders. Jason wanted the fighters to arrive simultaneously at the enemy airfield in order to overflow the enemy defenses.
"Jerry's twelve o'clock high!" yelled his wing-man over the radio.
From high above, Dieter dove towards the Spitfires. The German pilots had been smart enough to climb to a higher altitude so that they could dive on their prey. But apparently the Brits had spotted them too. They all broke formation like a flock of sparrows. Dieter singled the lead aircraft out and dove towards it.
Jason spotted the Me-109 diving towards him. But his Spitfire was better in turns, so he quickly rolled the plane on its side and pulled hard on the stick. The Me-109 roared behind his back. It was probably a rookie pilot, who had exchanged height for speed but now learned the hard way that if you dive to fast you easily miss your target.
But the reckless German attack had at least succeeded in spreading the British formation. Spitfires were twisting around in the skies in a desperate attempt to shake off the German pursuers. Jason realised that if they would press on their attack, they would be easy pickings for the Germans.
"Yellow flight, attack bandits, Green flight Attack bandits. Red flight follow me".
Hopefully Yellow and Green flight could keep the Germans busy while he made a run for the airfield with Red flight.
There was the airfield! Jason could already spot the parked aircraft. Apparently the anti aircraft gunners were not expecting them or they thought he was a Me-109 returning home. They would pay for that mistake. Jason flew low to the ground, almost blowing away some tents on the edge of the airfield. He first fired his machine-guns, before using his cannons as he got within range. Concrete plumes shot up from the ground were the shells landed. At least two aircraft disappeared into the plumes as Jason roared overhead.
Dieter cursed. His dive had placed him well beyond the reach of the Spitfire-leader, who was no heading for the airfield. "Hans, cover me", with his wing-man covering him, Dieter went after the Spitfire. To is dismay he had to watch the fighter perform a strafing run on the airfield. Those stupid anti-aircraft gunners had failed to notice the RAF-insignia.
The Spitfire turned left as he pulled out of his strafing run. Now was histime! Dieter squeezed the trigger, sending shells and bullets towards the Spitfire. But he misjudged the distance and speed of the Spitfire. All shells flew harmlessly behind the aircraft. But now the Spitfire pilot was warned about his pursuer and began jinking all over the sky.
Jason had not seen the Me-109 on his tail, until the tracers whizzed by. Now he was again relying on the superior maneuverability of his Spitfire to save him. The Me-109 had to turn wide, which left an opening for Jason. He immediately turned towards the Me-109. But the German pilot had spotted the danger and turned also towards Jason. The two fighters scissored around each other, neither one of them achieving an advantage.
Jason knew this could not last forever, so on the next pass he immediately turned the Spitfire around. It worked! He was on the tail of the German. But the German would not be an easy target. He dodged and weaved as Jason tried to line up for a shot.
Repeatedly Jason fired short bursts, but already running out of cannon ammo, the smaller caliber bullets could do not much harm to the German.
Dieter flew like his life depended on it and it did. The Spitfire pilot clung to his tail like a dog to a bone.
"Hans, help me, I need help"
He had to fight against the panic running through his veins. The spitfire would chew him up if he made a mistake
"Dieter, turn left, lead him to me"
His wing-man was behind the Spitfire, if he turned left the Spitfire would fly straight into the firing line of Hans.
Jason spotted the reflection behind him in the rear view mirror and quickly broke to the right. Just in time! Tracers were whizzing by where he had been just before.
It was time to call it a day. Without cannon ammunition and with only a few bullets left it would be better to head back for home. Jason continued his sharp turn to shake of the German. Too bad the other one got away, he would have like to score his first kill. But at least he lived to fight another day.
Dieter was relieved. Shaken he flew back to the base. Much to his surprise the Spitfires had not made a lot of damage. Most parked aircraft had some nasty holes in them but nothing that could be repaired in a day or two. The British attack was a nuisance but without bombs a Spitfire was a pretty harmless platform to attack ground targets.
As Jason crossed the coastline, he pondered on his first mission as wing commander. Not all Spitfires had made it to the airfield but at least some of them got some kills. Unfortunately four Spitfires would not return home with the rest of the squadron.
Jason hated it but he knew would have to write to four wives or mothers today, explaining why their sons got killed today.
End of this Chapter
