Australians in the Battle of Britain. 27 August 1940

Ken Holland was up at 5.00 a.m. and down to the flights for a long wait until Green Section scrambled late in the morning. Pilot Officer Beaumont and Flying Officer O’Brien shared a destroyed. Ken may not have had anything to do with the victory but Ken headed into Weymouth to have a celebratory drink anyway.

Meanwhile, it was all ago at Biggin Hill and Acklington. 32 Squadron at Biggin Hill had had more than their fair share of the action so far. They badly needed a rest. But you can’t rest without a ready replacement. Bill Millington’s 79 Squadron had had a quiet few weeks of it at Acklington and so, they were ordered south and 32 Squadron were ordered north.

John Crossman, who had only arrived back at Biggin Hill the night before from his operational training, had barely enough time to ‘pack enough stuff for three weeks and put it in a big troop carrying plane to be taken up north’. He managed to dash off a note to his family to let them know he was leaving Biggin Hill but expected to be back in three weeks. It was only a brief missive, though, as ‘we have to crack off soon’.

 

The irony of it was that he was well rested, or at least had had no chance to be battle weary. He desperately wanted to get into combat and yet his squadron had just been retired from the immediate aerial arena for the time being.  

 

Here's John all ready to take to the skies. Not in August 1940 but in Winter 1940 when it was bitterly cold.