The Battle of Britain was picnic, according to Angie.
Well, this is what the
survivors say :
"Q: When the German fighters engaged you, did they all come down mob-handed, or did they send down just a portion of their force, leaving a top cover reserve?
John: I cannot give you an honest answer to this question, as
with their superior speed, height, and armament, I ran for cover, hence I am still in the land of the living. But my opinion is that if there were twelve or more, some would obviously have kept top cover.
Q: To what do you attribute your survival in the Battle?
John:
I had to have been very lucky, but that was not all.
The
four days that 253 spent in France was the longest and most harrowing I spent during the whole war.
We lost our CO and both flight commanders, and one third of our pilots. I was dead lucky, completely inexperienced and in the hands of the Gods. My first melee lined up on a Me110, to find I had not switched on my gunsight. Having done that I found that I had not switched on the gun button after which I had nothing left to fire at. I forgot all about my tail, and would have been easy meat for anyone, however I survived. But on my way back to Lille Marq, I spied a 109, fifty feet below me, going the same way. The poor bugger never stood a chance, I fired from within 100 yards, all my bullets going into him. I must have killed the pilot as he slowly went into a steep dive, no-one leaving the aircraft until it hit the ground. That was my first victory. It shook me considerably, as it so easily could have been me. I learned then to never stop looking around and above, which held me in good stead later on.
I also saw that the German fighters were a lot better than we had been led to believe, and that
to attack them head-on with their two cannon was suicide.I also learned that the best evasive action to take when attacked from above was to turn into them and dive at the same time.
I have very good eyes, and was made "tail-end Charlie" during the Battle, weaving around looking for the enemy, and reporting anything to the leader.
I attribute all the above to my survival."
-An interview with John Greenwood, who fought with 253 Sqn. during the Battle of Britain in Hurricanes, from August 30 1940 when he was posted to December 1940. The interview was conducted by e-mail in March-April and June 2004.It`s always a bit shocking to see the contrast between Angie`s dreamworld, and how the people who had been there tell it. And also the Big picture... the RAF already lost
over 50% of it`s senior officiers by August, Squadron Leaders and Wing Commanders...
Now Angie may claim the opposition was sucked and was inferior beyond grasp, but reality shows a different picture.
Ie. the losses sustained over Dunkirk in just a few days speak for themselves.
I am sure Angie will come up with an excuse.
"They emptied the Thames".
And a bit on the Spitties undercarriage...
"September, 1943, saw the first extensive combat use of the Spitfire... Appearantly, it was decided to provide air support for the operation from a force of Royal Navy carriers equipped mainly with Seafire IICs and LIICs. The Seafires brough down a few German and Italian aircraft, partly because the tactics were predominantly defensive and many of the raiders were bomb-carrying JaBo Bf 109s and FW 190s. But in 713 sorties, no fewer than 42 of the 120 Seafires involved had been lost or written off, including 32 wrecked in landing accidents, while 39 more of the fighters had been damaged in deck accidents. Altough the operation served it`s purpose of providing air cover until the land forces could provide secure airstrips, the Seafire force had virtually ceased to exists by Salerno D-Day plus 3. The bad experiance of Salerno not unnaturally coloured the Navy`s subsequent view on the Seafire; altough the development of a Seafire version with a stronger undercarriage was initiated shortly after the Salerno operations, it was to be another 3 years after this aircraft, the Seafire 17, entered service. Meanwhile, deliveries of purpose built American carrier fighters to the Fleet Air Arm were picking up speed, and the Seafire suffered by comparison."See Bill Sweetman`s 'Spitfire', in 'The Great Book of WW2 Airplanes', page 314.
Hmm, 4.4% loss rate/sortie ALONE to landing accidents...
