Australia's Few. 11 July 1940

Stuart Walch entered the fray at 11.55 a.m. on 11 July 1940. He and 238 Squadron’s B Flight, who had been patrolling Warmwell, were directed to Portland. B Flight arrived over the Portland naval base at 10,000 feet. The enemy aircraft were at 12,000 feet and so, Stuart, who was Blue Leader, ‘ordered aircraft line astern’ and ‘climbed towards combat’. When they were about three miles south east of Portland, Stuart, in Hurricane P3124, saw one Me 110 diving towards a ship off Portland Bill. He ‘ordered Green Section to stay above in case of escort fighters’. Then, just on noon, he and pilot officers John Urwin-Mann and Brian Considine fired. The twin-engined fighter turned towards Stuart and ‘I fired two/three second bursts from guns’ closing from about 300–200 yards’. Still in line astern formation, Urwin-Mann then made a beam attack. Stuart fired again, this time from 250 yards closing to 50 yards. As the Me 110 straightened out, white and black smoke began pouring from its engine which then caught fire. The Messerschmitt plummeted. Stuart followed it down and ‘saw it crash into sea’. Although it was clearly a shared victory, Stuart was the only one credited at the time with ‘the squadron’s first confirmed scalp’. It was his first victory.