Des Sheen was
languishing in hospital. He expected he would be back in action soon and was
unimpressed when he discovered ‘I’m now on sick leave for a month, which is
nonsense in my opinion. I’ve had about a week and feel OK except for a bit of a
stiff knee’. Bill Millington too was still in hospital, and while he recovered,
79 Squadron was ordered to Pembrey in South Wales to rest and reform. One of
the last things his old CO did before he cleared his desk was sign the
recommendation for Bill’s immediate DFC.
Peter Moore was
still at 5 OTU Aston Down carrying out his Hurricane conversion.
7 September was
an incredibly busy day for Fighter Command in the London area but Ken Holland
was having a quietish time at Warmwell, though he was on duty. On the day
London was blitzed, Ken Holland and 152 Squadron’s Green Section were out on a
patrol. Ken was Green Three. Two of his section chased a Dornier 215 over Lyme
Regis but Ken ‘saw nowt’. By the 8th it was clear that London had had a major battering
and fears of an invasion were reinvigorated. Ken recorded a ‘Big Invasion flap’.
Even so, there was ‘no flying all day’.
It was also
quiet up north. John Crossman was off on 24 hours leave, and decided to catch
up with friends at Sutton Bridge. Not quite at the same time, but an
interesting counterpoint anyway given the extensive fires in London that
afternoon and night, as John flew over the Yorkshire moors, he watched the
acres burning from incendiaries dropped the night before. He noted that three
thousand acres had been set alight but ‘it was all open hilly country and was
only the heather and gorse burning so no damage was done’. He returned to
Acklington on the 8th. The trip in a Magister took 2 hours and 20 minutes as he
was flying into a strong head wind.
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