Australians in the Battle of Britain. 21 October 1940. Des Sheen

Australians in the Battle of Britain. 21 October 1940.

There was no operational flying for Des Sheen and 72 Squadron on 21 October 1940. I wonder, then, if Des’s mind drifted back to 21 October 1939 which had been a red letter day, not only for Des but for Australia. Just nineteen days after his 22nd birthday, Des shot down a Heinkel He115 floatplane. It was his first victory and he was the first Australian to engage the Luftwaffe in combat.

Des later described that battle as ‘really good fun—as exciting a five minutes as anything you could wish for’. As there is nothing of interest happening on 21 October 1940, I’ll tell you all about that action packed day.

In the early afternoon, an enemy force was detected approaching a convoy off Spurn Head. 72 Squadron was alerted. A Flight was scrambled at 2.15 p.m. and B Flight’s Blue section was put on readiness. Green section, led by Des in Spitfire K9959, was scrambled at 2.30 p.m. He and Flying Officer Thomas ‘Jimmy’ Elsdon were ordered to proceed to Spurn Head and soon sighted a loose formation of 12–14 aircraft, which they identified as Heinkel He 115 three-seater floatplanes.

 Des and Elsdon intercepted the formation about 15 miles south east of Spurn Head. As the Spitfires neared, the three enemy subsections ‘split up and employed individual evasive tactics of steep turns, diving, climbing and throttling back’.

 Des ‘fired all I had at one of them’, attacking from ‘dead astern’, at about a hundred yards distance. Then:

‘as I closed on my He 115, its rear gunner attempted to put me off my aim by blazing away with his weapon, but I soon silenced him. The next burst may have killed the pilot for the Heinkel started to fly very erratically, and with this I turned away to look for another target.’

Des and Elsdon continued to attack until they had to break off through lack of ammunition.

In all, seven Heinkels were shot down that day, including Des’s and one by Elsdon. It was the last time any sizeable force of He 115s entered British waters.

Initially, Des didn’t ‘actually claim the floatplane as destroyed, but was later credited with a confirmed victory’.

Sometime later, he spoke on the In England Now radio program. He told the listeners about that day’s successful convoy defence, noting ‘that seven German aircraft and crews [were] lost and nothing to show for it at all. They didn’t hit a single ship’.